Prime Minister Narendra Modi being received by the Secretary DAE and Chairman, AEC, R K Sinha on his arrival at BARC in Mumbai on July 21, 2014
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday hoped that Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) would meet the target of increasing the capacity by three times from the present level of 5780 MW by 2023-24 within the projected cost.
''India's self-reliance in the nuclear fuel cycle and the commercial success of the indigenous reactors demonstrated that with vision, resolve and hard work, India could be a front ranking country in the most challenging fields,'' Modi noted.
During his four-hour visit at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (
BARC) at Trombay in north east Mumbai, Modi praised the contribtion of nuclear scientists in the successfukl imlementation of India's three stage nuclear programme. He assured the DAE of his full support in the implementation of DAE's ambitious expansion programme.
He underlined the importance of ensuring that nuclear energy remained commercially viable and competitive with other sources of clean energy in the long run.
The Prime Minister also asked DAE to continually upgrade technology, both with regard to our long term plans and international trends. DAE, he said, must also plan for ensuring adequate availability of skilled human resources in the country.
Modi welcomed India's growing international partnership in the nuclear energy and hoped for timely implementation of the ongoing projects in a manner that they met the requirements of techno-economic viability and safety standards. Technology transfer to India, he observed, was a vital element of his vision for international partnership in India.
Further, the Prime Minister told DAE that nuclear safety and security were of the highest priority for him and asked DAE to ensure that India's standards and practices were the most advanced in the world. He also asked DAE to pay special attention to the local communities in planning and implementing nuclear power projects.
Visit to Dhruva reactorModi visited Dhruva reactor at BARC. Dhruva, which has been declared as the National Facility for Neutron Beam Research to cater to the needs of Indian scientific community, has been a milestone in the development and implementation of indigenous nuclear technology in the country. The 100 MW capacity Dhruva reactor achieved criticality on August 8, 1985.
BARC scientist, who did not want to be quoted, told Business Standard that the Dhruva reactor incorporates various features catering to the requirements of a broad based multidisciplinary user community as also in the production of radioisotopes of high specific activity.
Further, Modi also discussed with the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and BARC scientists the implementation of high temperature reactor programme. High temperature reactors have a large potential to provide necessary high temperature process heat for hydrogen production. The high temperature reactor development programme was launched to develop alternate energy carrier to substitute fossil fuel based transport fuel.
Moreover, DAE and BARC scientists also briefed Modi about the development of advanced heavy water reactor (AHWR) designed at BARC to demonstrate commercial utilization of thorium.
Source:-
PM sets target of increasing nuclear capacity by three times in 10 yrs | Business Standard News
