India committed to harnessing nuclear energy, says Manmohan

The prime minister’s reaffirmation of India’s  nuclear power programme came amidst   moves by some countries, including China and Germany, to review their atomic energy plans in the aftermath of Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in the wake of a devastating tsunami that hit that country in March this year. 

Underlining his commitment to ensure highest level of safety at nuclear installations Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his annual Report to the People  said: “ We are committed to the highest levels of safety in the nuclear programme, and have initiated the process of strengthening the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and making it an autonomous and independent regulatory authority”.

The report further said that in the light of the nuclear accident in Fukushima, technical review teams for assessing safety systems of nuclear plants in India had been setup.
An additional 22,500 tonnes of additional uranium resources had been established in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Meghalaya taking the country's uranium resources to about 1,62,000 tonnes, the report said.

It said that a new nuclear Power Reactor Fuel Reprocessing Plant (PREFRE-2) was dedicated to the nation in January at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Tarapur which has been designed to process spent fuel from 220 MW PHWRs.

Scientists, according to the report, have also achieved the successful closing of the fast reactor fuel cycle at the Compact Reprocessing facility for advanced fuels in lead cells at Kalpakkam.