Moscow, Sep 26 (UNI) India has been doing a fabulous job in the nuclear energy sector with its indigenous programme, said Sama Bilbao Leon, Director General, World Nuclear Association.
She also said nuclear energy growth is good in China, India and in other Asian countries.
Speaking to international journalists here at the `World Atomic Week’ (WAW- 2025) Bilbao Leon when asked about India’s nuclear power programme said: “India has been doing a fabulous job with its indigenous programme. The world is looking at India’s capability.”
WAW-2025 is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Russian nuclear industry.
Continuing further she said many countries are looking at India for supply chain.
Referring to India’s target of 100GW by 2047, she said the country has a huge job to do and all are looking at how it will be accomplished.
She said on the policy development, India has to amend its Atomic Energy Act, Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act.
On the relationship between India and Russia in the nuclear field Bilbao Leon said the two countries have a long standing collaboration.
She also pointed out to the two Russia supplied 1,000 MW nuclear power units working in India and four more are under construction.
Bilbao Leon expects the collaboration between the two countries to continue.
On attracting women workforce into the nuclear field she said, tripling of the nuclear capacity by 2050 would need workers of both the sexes.
She said the nuclear power plant not only needs nuclear engineers but also other kinds of engineers, lawyers, communication professionals, accountants and others. The misconceptions about radiation and its impact on women’s health have to be set right.
According to her, nuclear power plants do not significantly increase the ambient radiation levels.
“We are making efforts so that the nuclear industry welcomes women and other employees,” Bilbao Leon said.
On the role of small modular reactors (SMR) she said, if the goal of tripling the nuclear power capacity is to be achieved then, large and small reactors are needed.
On the fuel availability she said investment is needed to explore and extract fuel to power the nuclear energy plants and it is also important to close the fuel cycle and Russia is working on that.
There is also uranium in seawater and in many mining projects uranium is a by or a waste product which needs to be tapped.
Queried about the funding of nuclear power projects, Bilbao y Leon referred to the recent World Bank’s decision to finance atomic power projects. Similarly other institutions are also looking at the nuclear sector for financing.
India doing a fabulous job in nuclear power sector
