Indian PM emphasizes safety standards in nuclear energy uses

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that nuclear energy will play an important role in India's quest for clean and environment-friendly energy, but stressed on meeting 'highest safety standards' in its use. 'The availability of safe and affordable energy is an important factor in enabling us to realise our aspiration for growth and development,' the Prime Minister said at the diamond jubilee celebration of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) at Kolkatta on Sunday. Singh, whose endorsement of nuclear energy is significant in view of the recent disaster at Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, said he was convinced that nuclear energy would play an important role in the country's quest for clean and environmentally-friendly energy mix to fuel the development process, the PTI news agency reported. 'We are in the process of expanding our civil nuclear energy programme,' he said, but cautioned that 'even as we do so, we have to ensure that use of nuclear energy in India meets highest safety standards.' 'This is a matter on which there can be no compromise,' he added. The Prime Minister asked the SINP and other similar institutes to contribute to enhancing safety of nuclear reactors. Asserting that doors of international cooperation in high technology areas have opened for India and will open further, he said, 'Our scientists should use these unfolding opportunities to develop an international temper and outlook.' He said there should be greater international collaboration between 'our research institutes and those from other countries.'