Nuclear energy best option for electricity: Expert
Technical talk
Nuclear energy is the best option to meet the growing requirement of electricity in the country and from the point of view of environment, health and energy security, said D V Gopinath, former director of health,safety and environment and bio-medical group of Babha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).
He was delivering a talk on ‘Safety and Environmental Aspects of Nuclear Energy’, organised by department of physics at Vidya Vikas Institute of Engineering and Technology here on Thursday.
Demand and supply
“There is a big gap between demand and supply of electricity in India. The country faces a chronic shortage of power. Electricity is the major requirement for economic development.
Hence, nuclear energy is the best option for meeting the growing requirement of huge electricity in the country,” the scientist told students.
A United National Development Programme (UNDP) report includes electricity as a major contributing factor for GDP growth, better health and education in any country. The availability of electricity is directly proportional to GDP growth.
If Norway produced 27,731 Kwh of electricity per capita population, India accounts for only about 502 Kwh per capita population, he said.
Green house gases
Each of the hydro-electric stations, thermal power stations and nuclear stations have their own effects. The burning of fossil fuels in thermal stations produce huge amount of green house gases like carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide.
A coal-based plant requires at least three million tonnes of fuel.
Though, nuclear plants also release radioactive materials, a majority portion of these radioactive materials like Uranium and Plutonium can be re-used. Fission particles should be taken care of so that it is not exposed to public and environment.
“There have been many accidents in mines around the world, particularly in China killing thousands of people. Similarly, dam bursts have also claimed many lives in the past century around the world.
There are more than 370 nuclear reactors around the world.
The Three Mile Island, the United States disaster, the Chernobyl disaster and the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan last year are the biggest nuclear disaster so far.
Among the three, the Chernobyl disaster caused a widespread damage in which more than 10,000 people were killed. But, the devastation was far less than expected given the huge melting of the core of the plant, he said.
