Going Private

PRIME Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s comment to a Japanese newspaper that "100 per cent participation of foreign capital in nuclear plants will be recognised without any problem whatsoever" may be a non-starter. But it has sparked off much speculation. Officials in the atomic energy establishment now say nothing is going to come of it.

The initial reaction to the statement was the usual line that "the Prime Minister was misquoted", as one official said blandly. But that may not be so. Some speculate that it was a message being sent to the Nuclear Supplier Group countries. Others say it was a trial balloon being floated to test the reaction to the idea of privatising nuclear power plants. Yet another school of thought has it that what India wanted to convey was that it would want supply of nuclear power plants from foreign companies, with an arrangement that leaves the ownership in Indian hands. Essentially, the statement just baffled everyone, in India and abroad. Foreign embassies were believed to have been seeking more information on Gowda’s statement, but there appears to be a decision within the Government to bury the issue.

For one thing, Gowda’s statement was a recognition of what the nuclear establishment has been saying for a long time: there is a shortage of funds for nuclear power generation. But critics of the Indian nuclear power programme argue that the Government has pumped so much money into the nuclear field that it has decided that it can’t sink any more capital unless the returns are adequate. Gowda’s statement, they say, is an indictment of the nuclear establishment in India for the complete failure of the domestic Indian nuclear power programme. It’s a well known fact, though it is denied by the powerful nuclear establishment, that the existing nuclear power plants have a very poor generation capacity. Also the release of effluents from the nuclear power plants is grossly excessive.

However, what Deve Gowda said was radical by Indian standards. The nuclear field is such a sacred cow that an official statement is usually not forthcoming, just the usual noises about the programme being for peaceful purposes.

Two years ago, the then chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board , Dr A. Gopalakrishnan, told a gathering at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre that the most "serious concern that troubles the Nuclear Power Corporation (N P C) is the lack of financial support". He had urged the nuclear establishment to open up a bit. Lamenting that neither the N P C could raise funds on its own, nor was the Government giving them adequate financial resources, he had mentioned some of the implications of this, including the delay in commissioning of the Kaiga Units 1 and 2 and retubing of other units. "Added to these is the question of finances required for the Kudankulam project and the two 500 MW units to be constructed at Tarapur...it is obvious, that unless the viewpoints of the Planning Commission and Finance Ministry change considerably in their favour, the N P C will find it hard to comfortably survive through the near future and come out as a viable business enterprise in the long run," Gopalakrishnan said.

However, when Y.S.R. Prasad, NPC chairman, was asked many months ago if he favoured 바카라 웹사이트 privatisation of the nuclear power plants, he replied in the negative.

It is a fact that the nuclear establishment has been asking for more money from the government. As an expert in this field said: "India needs nuclear energy because it’s the least polluting. It has tremendous potential for damage, if not handled properly. Unfortunately, our programme has not demonstrated a potential for good but certainly demonstrated a potential for bad, which is why there is so little confidence in the domestic nuclear power programme."

Asked what would be the reaction of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) if India were to allow private nuclear power plants, its spokesman David Kyd told 바카라 that it was up to the Indian Government to decide. He said IAEA safeguards would come into play only if the foreign supplier gets that entered into the contract, as had happened in the case of the Chinese nuclear power plant being built in Pakistan.

But getting 100 per cent participation of foreign capital in nuclear power plants means problems with the US. Though US and European companies would be keen to sell these plants to India, the US does not want to encourage it because of India’s opposition to the NPT and the CTBT. But experts feel that foreign-owned plants cannot be used for getting weapons grade fissile material because there will be enough international safeguards on it.