the N CLUB

The first thing i saw today morning was a newspaper shouting at me:
INDIA JOINS THE N-CLUB.

I believe in renewable energy, but i leapt out of bed and ate through every article that spoke about the NSG wavier. I think this is a major step in the advancement of our nation, not because a few self-proclaimed countries have given us a waiver. What is important is we are accepted as a responsible nuclear power, and we will obtain incessant (so to say) fuel supply for our ever-growing needs.

One of the major distinguishing factors between us & China, apart from our complex bureaucracy, is the lack of primary infrastructure. Nuclear power will help us provide just that. The most important infrastructure is POWER. Without power, no modern marvel can function. Captive power plants are an added burden to industries and renewable energy is at least 20 years to come to retail or industrial level. So the focus is on the next most efficient & least polluting form of energy: Nuclear power.

It has its share of critics who show us Chernoboyl and the likes. But if one sees it in context with incidents in other power plants worldwide, it is like comparing the accident rates of Indian aviation with Indian railways. Apart from that, the most debated topic is that of nuclear wastes. I know that the solution is not here, but then humans did not know electricity in the 17th century. Does that mean our light bulbs did not come, or we used up the world's supply of wax or animal fat? Given the time, we are bound to come up with solutions.

I have also found compulsion an effective way to come up with drastic solutions. Once the nuclear wastes pile up, there is bound to be an outcry, and hence, more contribution to research on nuclear waste disposal, disintegration or recycling. I do not see that further than another 10-15 years away, as with India and China lapping up nuclear power, the amount of radioactive wastes is bound to increase tremendously.

For all you critics, try shutting down the Trombay reactor and then invest in Indian share market. I hope you get my point. I live in a city which obtains its electricity from two coal plants & a gas based plants. A private company ensures the citizens do not have any power cuts, but i know the cost in terms of pollution to those living around the plants. I also know that this city would not have thrived if we wouldn't have had uninterrupted power supply. I dream to see all of India share our Ahmedabadi privilege.