By IANS
Mumbai : The government is fully committed to “strengthening the autonomy of our nuclear R&D programme”, which is needed in the fields of agriculture, food preservation, health care and industry, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here Friday.
Speaking at the graduation function of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Training School here, Singh said: “Our unique three-stage programme, which is predicated on the need to utilize our vast thorium deposits, is a logical response to the needs of our economy. We should expedite progress in the setting up of fast breeder reactors, after having successfully implemented the Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor programme.”
His comments came a few hours before he chaired a crucial meeting to review the increasing suicides by farmers in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.
The prime minister said the design of an Advanced Heavy Water Reactor is ready, and that BARC was also working on several-advanced reactor designs, including the development of a high temperature reactor, which would enable generation of hydrogen from nuclear energy.
“New vistas for our scientists are opening up. India has received observer status in the European Centre for Nuclear Research in Geneva. India has also joined the International Thermonuclear Research Reactor or ITER project as a full and equal member along with a handful of technologically advanced countries,” he said.
“Our nation needs this technology in the areas of agriculture, food preservation, health care and industry. BARC has done outstanding work in these areas in collaboration with various universities and organisations. I look forward to greater contribution from you in these areas,” Manmohan Singh said.
The prime minister said he felt heartened by the fact that “more and more of our talented young people today wish to live in India, study in India and work in India. Even those who go abroad to study are increasingly returning home to work. I want to also encourage a ‘reverse brain drain’ so that Indians worldwide return home and contribute to our development”.