Why are the USA, France, Russia… pushing for the expansion of nuclear energy in India?

Laurent Fournier

Laurent Fournier, born in Paris, architect by profession, lives in
Kolkata with his wife and their children.

Relate these 2 quotes:

1. “A nuclear reactor once started needs to be looked after to keep its safety functions going, whether it generates electricity or not. This management commitment has to last all the way up to the end of decommissioning process and also until all spent fuel is reprocessed and waste properly disposed off.”

– Dr. Anil Kakodkar, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, at the Indo-French Nuclear Industry Business Meet in Mumbai on 15th October 2007 (http://www.dae.gov.in/press/chmnindofr.htm)

2. “Some people thought that the formation of the NDA* in 2005 signalled the death-knell for nuclear. But for me it wasn’t about the demise of one industry, so much as the birth of a new one.”

– Terry Gilbert, Business Development Director at Tier 1 contractor Amec Nuclear

Of the total amount spent annually on decommissioning (£2.8 billion), £80 million covers the running costs of the National Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and its internal Radioactive Waste Management Directorate. The rest is spent in the decommissioning supply chain. With 17 nuclear sites in the UK currently being decommissioned, and with more sites due to enter decommissioning in the years ahead, the market potential is huge.

* National Decommissioning Authority, UK

The elephant in the room in Dr. Anil Kakodkar’s otherwise impeccable statement, is that today, after 5 decades of nuclear industry, nobody knows exactly what to “dispose off properly” nuclear waste actually means. Despite some attempts it has never been done conclusively by any country so far, and therefore the cost remains obviously unknown. What is almost certain, on the other hand, is that money will be available, by any mean. Because when it comes to an immediate and visible threat, humans generally find the money.