Public acceptance for nuclear power in most parts of the world was back to the levels before the Fukushima disaster in Japan and currently 70 nuclear reactors were under construction in various countries, according to Director General of World Nuclear Association, Ms. Agneta Rising.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of 25 Annual Conference of Indian Nuclear Society here on Monday, she said barring a couple of countries, the rest were pursuing their programmes to build new reactors, including China and Russia. Among the upcoming reactors, 30 were in China, five in the United States and another five in Europe.
Referring to Germany’s decision to close down all its nuclear reactors, she said it was a ‘total political decision” and not for safety reasons. She claimed that Germany’s CO2 emissions have increased after closing nuclear power plants as that country was using more coal. She said Germany was not meeting targets to reduce CO2 emissions. “They are not on track”, she added. Describing nuclear energy as the cleanest, she said Sweden almost had no emissions of carbon dioxide, while it was the same case with France. Prof. P. Rama Rao, member Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) referred to the safety track of Indian nuclear programme and said the Fast Breeder Reactor would be an
“eye-catching development” in the world once it gets commissioned in about one-and-half years.
Nuclear Fuel Complex’s Chief Executive, N. Saibaba said Telangana was looking to generate 3000-4000 MWe of nuclear energy and Andhra Pradesh was also planning in similar direction. Atomic Minerals Division (AMD) Director P.S. Parihar said both Telangana and AP States have large deposits of uranium, almost 50 per cent of what was identified so far.
