WHY INDIA NEEDS NUCLEAR POWER
France and India have increasing long-term energy requirements. Both seek solutions that will ensure their energy security. And both endeavour to fight against climate change. India’s energy consumption more than doubled between 1990 and 2011. Imports of oil, gas, coal have increased to meet the country’s growing needs and reached $186 billion in 2012-2013. Thus, the energy deficit is now leading to energy dependence of the country.
The rising electricity demand cannot be met due to the deficit in electricity production plants. In order to meet the country’s electricity needs by 2031-2032, the total installed electricity capacity should reach 800 GW, which is four times the present level. This lack of capacity generation affects India’s competitiveness, compared to China, Thailand or South Korea.
All electricity production sources have their advantages and limitations. Given this situation, no source can be ruled out, especially not nuclear energy, which can produce bulk energy at very competitive prices. India has important untapped coal reserves. But, like other fossil fuel energies, they are not eternal and trigger serious environmental damage.
India has wind and sun. These energy sources can address a limited part of the consumer demand but they are not steady—what happens at night?—and are not storable. They also require a lot of land, another scarce resource in India. Oil and gas, which will remain scarce in India, increase foreign dependency, trigger environmental damage and their prices are unstable. Shale gas is available in India but requires a huge amount of land and water for extraction.
And of course, hydroelectricity: It is an Indian asset but it has limitations, both geographical and social.
So no energy source is perfect. Each country must define a sound long-term energy policy, based on the realities of today, combining different sources.
Nuclear energy is an essential component of any sound long-term energy policy. France decided to bet on nuclear. Indeed, it had no credible alternative. Today, 75 per cent of the country’s power generation is nuclear energy; France has the cheapest energy tariffs in Europe and a limited dependency on imports. It even exports nuclear electricity to European countries which have given up on the nuclear option for reasons of their own.
Since Independence, India too has recognised that nuclear technol- ogy bears huge potential. An indigenous nuclear programme was set up, demonstrating the importance of nuclear energy for India as well as the excellence of its nuclear scientists. By 2050, India aims at raising the share of nuclear energy to 25 per cent of electricity generation. However, 10 years ago, the nuclear share in India’s electricity generation was 4 per cent. Today, it is 3 per cent.
Hurdles have slowed down the pace of nuclear power growth in India. First, due to nuclear isolation at the time its growth started to take off in the ’90s, India’s nuclear fleet could not take off. These undue political constraints were lifted with the nuclear agreements signed in 2008, and the decision taken by the Nuclear Suppliers Group with strong and key support from France. Second, the Fukushima accident in 2011 led to concerns from the public. This delayed the launch of new projects. But several countries are again launching nuclear programmes: China, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and even Pakistan. High safety standards and technologies are essential to further reduce risks of accidents. Safe nuclear technology does have a cost. Some compare its cost to other sources. But who takes into account the side risks of other solutions? The casualties and costs of polluted environment and climate change? The costs of foreign dependency?
To move from the small current share of nuclear electricity, international cooperation is key. In today’s world, a very different one from the 1960s, cooperation with friendly countries is the best way to progress and develop an autonomous state-of-the-art technological base.
India is engaged in nuclear dialogue with several partners; France is one of them. The envisaged project is well known: The construction of six European Pressurised Reactors in Jaitapur, Maharashtra, which will provide 10 GWe, one-sixth of India’s 2032 targeted capacity. EPRs are powerful and suitable for growing areas such as the western coastal region of India. It is a choice already made by Finland, China and the UK.
All French governments have pursued the same policy of engagement with India. It has the right to nuclear power and France supports India as a great nuclear power. It is my dream that, one day, India and France will build a reactor together.