No harm in staking a claim for it: BARC director KN Vyas on India’s NSG bid

In a question posed by a PDPU member regarding the recent ‘geopolitical issue of NSG membership’ bid of India and its advantages and setbacks, Vyas averred, “The NSG is an exclusive club of 42 nations. Now there are a set of people who say that we already have whatever we wanted without being member of NSG and subsequently we have been given waiver and then things are coming- I am not denying that. But you must realise that there are always fine prints everywhere.There is a possibility that suddenly if some geopolitical situation changes, India may be denied certain things. So NSG membership is critical in that respect that we would like to retain whatever is there now.”

“Since the basic fact is that in in the NSG any decision has to be taken by unanimity, so if we are inside (NSG), obviously it will be very difficult to go against our interest… Even if we get the energy membership there is a good possibility that embargo on BARC may not be lifted. But this is once again a Ministry of External Affairs and PMO’s desire that whatever happens is reasonably permanent otherwise we may require very large number of reactors and suddenly one fine day NSG may decide that India has violated such and such things(norms) and we are cancelling that,” Vyas added.

Vyas further added: “If you look at presentation that I gave, India sooner or later will need nuclear power stations. Now there is a good possibility that some of the good power stations maybe made by Indian technology and some will have to be imported… There is no harm in staking a claim for it.”

Speaking to technology and engineering students and faculty at the varsity, the scientist also spoke about how nuclear energy will soon be utilised in Ahmedabad through BARC’s recent MoU with the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation signed this year to set up a sewage sludge hygienisation plant in Ahmedabad.

His talk covered a gambit of nuclear applications where Vyas also spoke about the scope of radioisotope production and its various application in the areas of detecting and check the sustainability of ground water reserves, in food irradiation and preservation, sterilization of medical products and developing radiation induced mutant varieties of seeds for food, fodder and bio-fuel and routine irradiation of different items. This technology can be used to control sprouting, infections, ripening and increase shelf-life of crops, sludge hygienation and production of electricity with negligible carbon emission.