Challenges to India's Nuclear Energy Security Dhanda Suresh Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, S. A. Jain College, Ambala City (Haryana) Online published on 18 June, 2014. Abstract India, the world's second most populous country with high rates of economic growth, is likely to become a significant consumer of global energy sources. The shortage of energy in India is one of the biggest challenges for the country's development. Though, India has coal, oil, and natural gas as primary commercial energy sources but not sufficient to meet the future energy needs. Moreover, these traditional sources have some inherent weaknesses also. Hence, nuclear energy may be a good supplement to these energy sources. India has a streamlined nuclear power programme and expects to have 20,000 MWe nuclear capacities on line by 2020. It aims to supply 25 percent of electricity from nuclear power by 2050. Currently it has 20 nuclear power plants under operation and 6 more under construction at various stages. A number of others are also planned and proposed. But all this will not be a smooth sailing for India to achieve the target. It has to grapple with numerous challenges while moving towards this target. Supply of uranium for reactors will be the most significant challenge along with the problem of separating the civil nuclear facilities from military uses for successful execution of 123 agreement with USA. Safety and security of reactors, management and disposal of wasteful materials, and acquiring technological advancement will be some other challenges India will face during the course of time while fulfilling the long desired dream of energy security. The present paper examines the nuclear energy programme of India in detail while taking into account the limitations of other conventional sources of energy. The paper also investigates the aforesaid challenges one by one India is going to face. Top Keywords Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Power Plants, Uranium, Nuclear Reactors, Nuclear Proliferation, Safety and Security, Radiation, Waste Management. Top |