In Parliament, the Prime Minister has a problem. Key allies, including the Left, are not buying his explanation that expansion of the country’s civilian nuclear programme will reduce dependence and help build energy security. The more vocal are even threatening to dump his government. Just when it seems the Government may lose the number game, the main Opposition party springs a surprise — half its MPs, including its leader, break ranks and decide to back the Prime Minister’s plan. India 2007? No, Finland 2002. In May, 2002 when Paavo Lipponen, the then Prime Minister, cautioned the Finnish parliament against over-dependence on Russian energy sources, it was the Opposition Centre Party, now in the ruling coalition, that helped the Government secure a narrow 107-92 vote of approval for construction of Finland’s fifth civilian nuclear power reactor. Two earlier attempts to get the go-ahead had failed — the one in 1986 because of the Chernobyl disaster and the second in 1993 after the MPs said a firm no (under Finnish law, they decide). But it was not just a large section of the main Opposition party that came to the Prime Minister’s rescue. Though the Left alliance and the Greens were dead opposed to Lipponen’s plan for a new reactor, the trade unions, led by the blue-collar SAK, backed the idea, maintaining it was “good for both industry and employment”. Five years on, the 1600 MW Olkiluoto 3, the country’s fifth and the world’s first third-generation nuclear plant, is all set to come up in western Finland. Officials say its commercial launch may just have to wait until 2011 because there’s “need to satisfy safety requirements”. But among policy makers, there’s no confusion. The climate here and the absence of coal, oil and natural gas make nuclear power a reliable alternative. In energy-guzzler Finland, nuclear power meets one-fourth of domestic energy needs and this is expected to rise well above 30% in the next few years. Energy firms Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO) and Fortum are being tasked to assess the environmental effects of a possible sixth reactor. To the Finns, nuclear power is the “window to the future” though they have been working hard on renewable energy sources. Yet the Finnish government doesn’t want to comment on the India-US civilian nuclear deal. At least, not yet. “We are following it very closely. We understand India’s position, her needs but there are issues related to non-proliferation. It’s also a political issue. We don’t want to be misunderstood, so we don’t wish to comment at this stage,” said a senior official of Finland’s Foreign Ministry. Finland is in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) whose member countries are being approached by the Indian government to mobilize support for the nuclear deal. Finnish President Tarja Halonen was in New Delhi this January and its Minister for Trade and Development will also be in India next month. To the Finns, as they try hard to bond better with India, the Indo-US nuclear deal is a somewhat awkward issue. Because it is not lost on anyone here that the NSG was born because India went nuclear in 1974 and now, three decades later, the same NSG is being told to bend the rules for India.
