Replace Land Acquisition Act for N-power progress: Srinivasan

Lessons must be learnt from Fukushima and must move on to make nuclear energy as safe as possible.

India should move on to make nuclear energy as safe as possible by taking lessons from the recent Fukushima accident but its imperative to replace the old-era Land Acquisition Act with a more balanced one,to address the country8217;s present huge infrastructure and energy needs,former Atomic Energy Commission Chairman M R Srinivasan said here. Stating that the resettlement was equally significant in any infrastructure project,he said India8217;s record of resettling project-affected people has been 8220;pathetic8221;. Srinivasan,currently a member of AEC,was delivering the first Homi Sethna Memorial lecture on 8216;Future of Nuclear Power after Fukushima,8217; at the Nehru Centre here last evening.

He said non-pursuance of nuclear energy option by India would only increase its fossil fuel burning and carbon emissions and continuing dependence on hydro-carbon imports in a market of dwindling supply and rising prices.

8220;All lessons must be learnt from the Fukushima accident and we must move on to make nuclear energy as safe as humanly possible and to give up the nuclear power option now will make the task of growing our economy to be able to overcome poverty and under development,even more difficult,8221; Srinivasan said. On the proposed nuclear plant at Jaitapur,he said Maharashtra needs new generation capacity to meet its increasing demands from industry,agriculture and domestic sectors. He assured that would be no effluents which could affect the mango orchards or the fishing activity nearby.

8220;We have actual experience at Tarapur and Kalpakkam and at neither of these places has there been an adverse impact on marine life. Similarly Kakrapar and Kaiga,both in the Western Ghats have shown that the ecology of the area is unaffected. The question of compensation for lands that are acquired is a matter that has to be decided by state government,8221; he said.

But replacement of Land Acquisition Act of the British period is important,with a more balanced one that takes note of present conditions,if the Centre is serious about India8217;s huge infrastructure projects which requires a lot of power,he added.

Srinivasan said non-pursuance of nuclear energy option by India would only increase fossil fuel burning and carbon emissions and continuing dependence on hydro-carbon imports in a market of dwindling supply and rising prices.

8220;All lessons must be learnt from Fukushima accident and we must move on to make nuclear energy as safe as possible and to give up the nuclear power option now will make the task of growing our economy to be able to overcome poverty and under development,even more difficult,8221; Srinivasan said. While we may fully support wind and solar options,they simply will be inadequate or uneconomic compared to nuclear

power,8221; he said.

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8220;It is sad that sometimes our environmental activists consider all of us involved in industrial activities as 8216;anti-national people8217; and confer on themselves all patriotism. As a person who has spent some five and a half decades in developing nuclear power under difficult conditions I consider this value judgement of our environmental activists completely unacceptable,8221; Srinivasan said.

Earlier we used to celebrate when a cement or a fertiliser or a power plant is completed but we are now seeing a sense of 8216;triumphalism8217; amongst our activists,whenever a project is stopped or abandoned,he said.

8220;But if we have to cut down carbon emissions,to mitigate global warming,we must begin to build a significant nuclear capacity,which can generate economic base load electricity. Some studies of energy needs of India by 2052 show that the electricity requirement may be about 1300 GW. This could be made up of 40 per cent coal based,using clean coal technologies,40 per cent nuclear and 20 renewable.