KOLKATA: Climate change has become a big issue and India can effectively use nuclear energy to combat this global phenomenon, said external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee in the city on Sunday.
Speaking at an interactive session organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mukherjee said that using nuclear energy as a source of generating power could be an effective way to control global warming. "Nuclear energy is a pollution-free source of energy. For clean energy, nuclear energy is very important. With climate change being a big issue now, the use of nuclear energy can be actively considered," the minister said.
Mukherjee said that the total energy generation in the country from all conventional and non-conventional sources of power was 1.49 lakh MW. "There is a shortage of 80,000 MW. About three hundred million people do not have access to electricity. The problem could be solved if we can create 40,000 MW of power from nuclear energy," Mukherjee said.
The minister said that it was the developed nations who were mainly responsible for the increasing global warming and climate change "There should be a common universal approach to combat global warming, but the commitment must be different between the developed and developing countries, as developing countries like us will have to first meet up its own needs by developing industry. The responsibility should be higher for developed countries to combat global warming," Mukherjee said.
The minister said that for the last 34 years, India has been denied the use of advanced nuclear power technologies. "If the power shortage continues, it would increase to 1.5 lakh MW by 2030. Now that the Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation agreement has been signed, this is one sector which we can concentrate on," Mukherjee said.
The Centre is now working to chalk out a plan to tackle global warming and climate change. Eight cities of the country, including Kolkata, have been included in this programme. The Energy Resources Institute (TERI), headed by internationally acclaimed environment scientist R K Pachauri, is conducting various studies on this issue. In Bengal, TERI is conducting a study on the impact of climate change, particularly in North Bengal and the Sunderbans.
