The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), a global forum studying climate change, recommended that there should be zero emission of greenhouse gases by 2100 to avoid further rise in temperature, according to R.S. Sawant, Training Superintendent and Chairman, Public Awareness Committee, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, Nuclear Power Corporation of India limited.
During his keynote address at the State-level seminar on ‘Nuclear Power- A Safe, Clean and Sustainable Option’ at Kamaraj College here on Thursday, he said currently the largest proportion of power generated in India is by burning of carbon-based fuels (fossil fuels), which emits green house gases such as carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide.
To reduce emission of green house gases, it was essential to have a reliable alternate source of energy, he said.
In the present scenario, nuclear power was contributing only about three percent in the country’s power generation scenario, he added.
By increasing the nuclear capacity gradually and also with renewable energy resources, dependency on fossil fuels could be reduced.
As many as 4,57,051 million units of electricity were produced through nuclear energy technology since the beginning of commercial operation in India in 1969 and till October in 2014.
About one third of the world’s thorium reserves were in India and it has the potential to provide energy security.
This large scale thorium utilisation would go a long way in providing huge amounts of power on a sustainable basis, providing long term energy security for India, he said.
P. Pandaram, Head of TLD Lab, KNPP, D. Nagarajan, Principal, A. Sivadhas, Head, Department of Physics, J. Poongodi, Convener of Programme and students were present.
