India's extraordinary economic growth includes a contentious civilian nuclear program, as New Delhi has not signed the NPT.
India's indigenous nuclear energy program is nevertheless proceeding.
Indian Space Research Organization advisor Professor Mambillikalathil Govind Kumar Menon said, "In the past two decades, the country has successfully been able to generate trained people to carry out nuclear energy programs on its own. We need nuclear energy because it is a source that does not leave carbon footprint. The development of the country rests upon nuclear energy and hence we need it in abundance. In fact, India remained backward due to the lack of energy in the past years. Now, we have been able to establish a complete blueprint of nuclear energy programs," The Times of India reported.
Menon is a strong proponent of nuclear energy for India; five days after the 11 March nuclear debacle in Fukushima, Menon told reporters that Japan-like nuclear mishaps are "most unlikely" in India, adding that India's Atomic Energy Commission and its departments "tell us that our designs are different and we also store our spent fuel differently. The fire (in Japan) was a hydrogen fire in the area where the spent fuel is stored...They tell us is that this is most unlikely."
By. Charles Kennedy, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com
Charles is a writer for Oilprice.com More