|
|
PlainSpeak
India’s Energy
Security :
Three Significant Developments
by Dr. Subhash Kapila
Three significant developments in the last ten days promise bright
prospects for India’s long term energy security requirements. These are:
-
The US
Senate passing the Indo-US Nuclear Deal on November 16, 2006
-
The
announcement in the Joint Statement during Chinese President Hu
Jintao’s visit to New Delhi on November 20, 2006 that both countries
would cooperate in the field of nuclear energy, and
-
India
signing the ITER Accord on November 21, 2006 along with seven major
countries for a global project envisaging the construction of an
experimental nuclear fusion reactor which could provide a cheaper
and safer energy source.
The Indo-US Nuclear Deal was exercising India’s official and public
patience ever since news reports started emerging of the opposition and
stalling tactics of the vocal non-proliferation lobby in Washington and
some other lobbyists working for Pakistan who were employing more subtle
approaches. There was a danger that this historic Agreement which
symbolizes the evolving Indo-US Strategic Partnership would lose its
sheen by any further delays on Capitol Hill.
There are still many more wrinkles that the United States needs to iron
out in the reconciliation meetings between the Senate and House of
Representatives drafts which contain conditionalities which India is
unlikely to accept as these do not form part of the June 18, 2005
Agreement signed by President Bush and India’s Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh. However, with President Bush’s personal commitment to get this
deal through, it is expected that with the ushering in of the new year ,
the finalized deal incorporating India’s sensitivities would be through.
The significance of the Indo-US Nuclear Deal lies in that it opens
avenues for India to have access to critical nuclear fuel and
technologies required for civilian nuclear power generation . India’s
burgeoning economy desperately needs alternative power generation means
and nuclear power generation is an essential component of India’s long
range energy security. With this deal through India can initially plan
to increase its present nuclear power generation of 3% of its total
power generation to 8%. It would also act as a building block for
further expansion of nuclear power generation.
China and India in the Joint Statement issued during the just concluded
visit of the Chinese President to New Delhi made references to nuclear
energy cooperation in the following manner: “The two sides agree to
promote cooperation in the field of nuclear energy , consistent with
their respective international commitments” and more significantly that
“International civilian nuclear cooperation should be advanced through
innovative and forward- looking approaches.
At first glance these statements may appear too generalized but their
significance lies in that such references to nuclear energy cooperation
find reference for the first time in official statements between China
and India. It also needs to be noted that in the early 1990’s, China had
supplied critically needed fuel for India’s Tarapur nuclear reactor. So
a precedent exists for China to extend nuclear co-operation in the
energy sector.
India’s joining the ITER Project (International Thermonuclear
Experimental Reactor) is even more significant than the Indo-US Nuclear
Deal as it takes care of India’s long term energy security requirements.
The United States, China, India, Russia, Japan and South Korea and the
European Union signed a $ 12.8 billion agreement to build an
experimental fusion reactor in Southern France. As one report indicates,
it will bring to fruition the physicists dream of harnessing the fusion
that powers the sun to make clean, safe and limitless energy. This
nuclear fusion project reactor would take about eight years to build and
it is expected that a demonstration power plant would be ready only by
2040. As the United States is not hosting the facility this project
would not fall prey to the whims and fancies of US Congress decisions.
Concurrent with the above, India has its own plans and projects for
making its own indigenous thorium-based fast breeder reactors as the
mainstay of its long range energy security requirements in terms of
nuclear power generation. This is not only an energy security
requirement but a strategic imperative also as self-reliance is a key
ingredient of the global power status that India aspires for.
November 26, 2006
Top |
PlainSpeak
The Week of November 26, 2006
Assessing President Hu : Watch his role in
Pakistan and Tibet by Rajinder Puri
India’s Energy Security : Three Significant
Developments by Dr. Subhash Kapila
Asafetida, Sandalwood, Scorpions, Sages & Absurdities
by Gaurang Bhatt, MD
Maldives – Idyllic Beauty Globalizes by Col
Rahul K. Bhonsle
The Challenges in Bihar by Ramesh Menon
Hope: The Flame in our Heart by PGR Nair
Love: The Greatest Power by TA Ramesh
Golden Temple, Amritsar -
A Photo Essay by Sukhdeep Singh
My Child is
Odd by Gary Direnfeld
Mountain Slides of Tista
by VK Joshi
Milton Friedman: A Great
Champion of Liberty by V. Sundaram
B G Shirke - A Vishveswarayya of Post-Independent
India by V. Sundaram
Voices Against Globalization by Deepti Priya
Mehrotra
Relax, There's a Woman on the Job by Elayne
Clift
Empower the Girl, Empower the Nation by Rupa
Sarker
Harvest Colors from the Rainbow by Jayati Gupta
The Politics of Toilets by Trisha Gupta
|
|
