Economic Aspects of Nuclear Energy in India

One of the main requisites for development by any developing economy is to have continuous and efficient sources of energy. India being no exception needs to fuel its growth however, since the sources of energy are limited and headed to a serious level of depletion, the need of the hour is to identify and develop new sources of energy which can sustain the development. As a result, India is poised to embark upon a comprehensive nuclear power program with an emphasis on a new series ofnuclear power plants, including some of higher capacities.

This paper highlights the reasons for increasing utilization of energy in India and also points out as to why nuclear power needs to be given more attention over the traditional resources of energy.

The increased attention to the alternative sources of energy has also raised apprehensions about the costs involved in the generation and the usage of the nuclear energy. By using the secondary data gathered from various recent reports published nationally and internationally, this paper tries to analyze and compare the costs involved in setting up and running of nuclear power plants and other energy resources, to find answer to the question as to whether nuclear sources are feasible in terms of the costs they generate.

The use of nuclear energy is not without any probable negative consequences. The steps which can be taken to avoid possible negative offshoots are also dealt with briefly in this paper Finally, this paper tries to project the overall importance and potential of nuclear power for playing a major role in India's quest for more power.