Non-renewable energy option is costly and inadequate for energy security: Scientist

Nation has forgotten the contribution of nuclear scientists

Chennai:

The non-renewable energy resource is costlier and inadequate to meet the nation’s energy security, a top Indian scientist said on Monday.

Addressing an interactive session on ‘Need of Nuclear Power and Safety Norms, member and former chairman of atomic energy commission M R Srinivasan said that the anti-nuclear activists claim of producing 7 lakh megawatt of power using 50 per cent of Thar desert land is far from reality.

“Is it a practical proposition,” he said adding that one has to think whether such propositions are feasible enough. He said even if power is produced through solar energy it would cost Rs 16 per kwh, which is too costlier than other energy resources.

He said nuclear is the cheapest option as the power produced from nuclear plants will be Rs 3 per kilowatt hour and it will also withstand inflation. He said gas, power and hydroelectricity are not viable in the longterm as they are costlier and the resources are limited.

He also rued the fact that the scientists have sacrificed their whole life in realizing the nuclear dreams of India after the whole world denied technology to the country but now the people of the nation are treating them as they have committed some crime. “We are a nation born of schizophrenia unlike China where every event is hailed. In India people are more happy in putting an end to the projects least bothered that it their path to progress,” he added.

To another fear of people about the plummeting of fish near the nuclear plants, he said there are 440 nuclear plants across the world and the fish population in the area has not dwindled. “The dwindling of fish is mostly due to uncontrolled mechanized fishing,” he said.

On the non-payment of compensation to land owners, he said it is the responsibility of the state government to allot the land. We pay the money to the state government who in turn identify the land and compensate those who own it, he added.