“An assessment of India’s nuclear energy Programme and its impacts on Agriculture, Environment and Trade” [1]
INTRODUCTION
“Energy is the only Universal currency. One of its many forms must be transformed to another in order for stars to shine, planets to rotate, plants to grow, and civilizations to evolve. Recognition of this universality was one of the great achievements of nineteenth century science, but surprisingly, this recognition has not led to comprehensive, systematic studies that view our world through the powerful prism of energy.”
Vaclav Smil
India is the second fastest growing economy of the world but along with an ascendant economy comes a mounting hunger for energy. So the energy policy has to be made keeping in mind all the standards required to meet the needs of such a developing country with a gigantic population. As such India’s energy needs are likely to balloon over the coming decades. India, the world’s fifth biggest energy consumer, is projected to surpass Japan and Russia to take third place by 2030. Doing so will test India’s ability to create a domestic policy for its semi-privatized energy sector, as well as its capacity to develop relationships with foreign energy exporters.
Already, surging energy demand is outstripping supply, raising hard questions about how India will cope in the future. Despite vast coal reserves, domestic production has lagged behind demand for ten years, and the shortfall is growing. In such a situation India has to take necessary steps to increase the availability of affordable energy.
Presently our energy policy is largely defined by the country’s burgeoning energy deficit and increased focus on developing alternative sources of energy, particularly nuclear, solar and wind energy. But intermittent energy like solar and wind power—is mathematically impossible. So in this paper we would like to deal with the aspects of utilizing nuclear energy as a source to balance this deficit. Our first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru recognized early that nuclear technology offered a tremendous potential for economic development, especially for a developing country aspiring to leapfrog technology gaps brought about by long years of colonial exploitation.
Nuclear energy originates from the splitting of uranium atoms in a process called fission. At the power plant, the fission process is used to generate heat for producing steam, which is used by a turbine to generate electricity. Although nuclear plants also have a high capital cost but to balance it the operating cost is very low. There is a lot of risk up front but once the plant is running, over a certain lifespan it more than pays for itself. It should also be kept in mind that its alternatives like wind energy and solar energy costs between 3 and 20 times more than nuclear. Nuclear energy has perhaps the lowest impacts on environment, especially in relation to kilowatts produced because nuclear plants do not emit harmful gases and require a relatively small area for production. It can be termed as a clean source of energy as there are no significant adverse effects to land, water, habitat, species and air resources.
This can have major effects on agriculture, environment as well as trade of the country. Knowing the fact that India is agriculture based country, energy Our farmers know that over the years their demand for energy has gone up. Our farmers need power for their pump sets to irrigate their fields. Many farming operations are now getting mechanized and these machines need electricity. But it is an unfortunate fact that we are unable to meet this growing demand. Most of our people still lives without regular and reliable power supply. But with the evolution of nuclear energy we may set this up. With the development of such a source of clean and renewable energy, environment also seems to strengthen up.
Any means of producing electricity involves some wastes and environmental hazard. But the nuclear industry is unique in that it is the only energy-producing industry that has taken full responsibility for the disposal of all its wastes and meets the full cost of doing so without even contributing to global warming. This will also have effect on trade as it seems to empower the relations between different countries making bilateral agreements.Generations of different trade relations will gear up the rate of foreign direct investment in different sectors of the economy which will directly result into the fulfilment of the needs of common citizens of the country. The first milestone in the pathway of the development of Atomic energy in the country was achieved in the year 1948,with the establishment of Atomic Energy Commission for framing policies in respect of development of atomic energy in the country. Further the department of Atomic energy was established in the year 1954. Since then India has been continuously trying to mould its ways towards the generation of nuclear energy within the country itself.
FORMATION OF NUCLEAR ENERGY
How does a nuclear power plant functions? The purpose of a nuclear power plant is to produce electricity. It should not be surprising that a nuclear power plant has many similarities to other electrical generating facilities. It should also be obvious that nuclear power plants have some significant differences from other plants.In a nuclear power plant, many of the components are similar to those in a fossil-fueled plant, except that the steam boiler is replaced by a Nuclear Steam Supply System (NSSS). The NSSS consists of a nuclear reactor and all of the components necessary to produce high pressure steam, which will be used to turn the turbine for the electrical generator. Like a fossil-fueled plant, a nuclear power plant boils water to produce electricity. But unlike a fossil-fueled plant, the nuclear plant’s energy does not come from the combustion of fuel, but from the fissioning(splitting) of fuel atoms.
The most common fuel for the electrical producing reactor plants is uranium. The uranium starts out as ore, and contains a very low percentage (or low enrichment) of the desired atoms (U-235). The U-235 is a more desirable atom for fuel, because it is easier to cause the U-235 atoms to fission (split) than the much more abundant U-238 atoms. Therefore, the fuel fabrication process includes steps to increase the number of U-235 atoms in relation to the number of U-238 atoms (enrichment process). Once the fuel has been enriched, it is fabricated into ceramic pellets. The pellets are stacked into 12-foot long, slender metal tubes, generally made of a zirconium alloy. The tube is called the “fuel cladding.”
When a tube is filled with the uranium pellets, it is pressurized with helium gas, and plugs are installed and welded to seal the tube. The fuel rods(filled rods) are bundled together into “fuel assemblies” or “fuel elements.” The completed assemblies are now ready to be shipped to the plant for installation into the reactor vessel. At the nuclear power plant, the fuel assemblies are inserted vertically into the reactor vessel (a large steel tank filled with water with a removable top). The fuel is placed in a precise grid pattern known as the “reactor core.”
There are two basic types of reactor plants being used to produce electricity, the boiling water reactor (BWR) and the pressurized water reactor (PWR). Both boiling water reactor and pressurized water reactor fuel assemblies consist of the same major components. These major components are the fuel rods, the spacer grids, and the upper and lower end fittings. The fuel rods contain the ceramic fuel pellets. The fuel rods are approximately 12 feet long and contain a space at the top for the collection of any gases that are produced by the fission process. These rods are arranged in a square matrix ranging from 17 x 17 for pressurized water reactors to 8 x 8 for boiling water reactors. The upper and lower end fittings serve as the upper and lower structural elements of the assemblies. The lower fitting (or bottom nozzle) will direct the coolant flow to the assembly through several small holes machined into the fitting. There are also holes drilled in the upper fitting to allow the coolant flow to exit the fuel assembly.
For pressurized water reactor fuel, there will also be guide tubes in which the control rods travel. The guide tubes provide a channel for the movement of the control rods and provide for support of the rods. The boiling water reactor operates in essentially the same way as a fossil-fueled generating plant. Inside the reactor vessel, a steam/water mixture is produced when very pure water (reactor coolant) moves upward through the core absorbing heat. The steam/water mixture leaves the top of the core and enters two stages of moisture separation, where water droplets are removed before the steam is allowed to enter the steam line. The steam line, in turn, directs the steam to the main turbine, causing it to turn the turbine and the attached electrical generator. The unused steam is exhausted to the condenser where it is condensed into water. The resulting water (condensate) is pumped out of the condenser with a series of pumps and back to the reactor vessel.
The pressurized water reactor (PWR) differs from the boiling water reactor in that steam is produced in the steam generator rather than in the reactor vessel. The pressurizer keeps the water that is flowing through the reactor vessel under very high pressure (more than 2,200 pounds per square inch) to prevent it from boiling, even at operating temperatures of more than 600EF. To operate properly, all steam plants, whether nuclear or fossil-fueled, need a circulating water system to remove excess heat from the steam system in order to condense the steam, and transfer that heat to the environment. The circulating water system pumps water from the environment (river, lake, ocean) through thousands of metal tubes in the plant’s condenser. Steam exiting the plant’s turbine is very rapidly cooled and condensed into water when it comes in contact with the much cooler tubes. Since the tubes provide a barrier between the steam and the environment, there is no physical contact between the plant’s steam and the cooling water. Because a condenser operates at a vacuum, any tube leakage in this system will produce an “inflow” of water into the condenser rather than an “outflow” of water to the environment.
Social Importance of Nuclear Energy
Our farmers know that over the years their demand for energy has gone up. Our farmers need power for their pump sets to irrigate their fields. Many farming operations are now getting mechanized and these machines need electricity. Rural households need electricity. But it is an unfortunate fact that we are unable to meet this growing demand.[2] Most of our people still live in villages without regular and reliable power supply. The Government has committed itself under Bharat Nirman and Rajiv Gandhi VidyutikaranYojana to ensure complete electricity connectivity across the country.[3]
Nuclear power is clean, safe, reliable, compact, competitive and practically inexhaustible. Today over 400 nuclear reactors provide base-load electric power in 30 countries.[4] Fifty years old, it is a relatively mature technology with the assurance of great improvement in the next generation. One gram of uranium yields about as much energy as a ton of coal or oil.It is the famous “factor of a million”. Nuclear waste is correspondingly about a million times smaller than fossil fuel waste, and it is totally confined. Nuclear energy produces almost no carbon dioxide, and no sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides whatsoever.[5] These gases are produced in vast quantities when fossil fuels are burned. So it is eco- friendly and helpful for the society as it emits less emission and does not hamper the environment as such. Today the radiations obtained from nuclear energy are used in Industries, Health sector, Agriculture and other important sectors of the economies.
Applications of Radiation Technology
Radiation from radio-isotopes and from accelerators has a variety of applications, including health care, agriculture, food preservation, industry and research. Research reactors at Trombay regularly produce a variety of radio-isotopes and meet a major part of the demand in the country. In addition to research reactors, power reactors too have been equipped to produce cobalt-60. Work on the development of accelerators is being pursued at Centre for Advanced Technologies (CAT), Indore, and at BARC. Development of radiation technology applications is a major thrust area in the R&D programme at BARC. These applications are being commercialized by the Board of Radiation and Isotope Technology (BRIT).[6]
Impact on Health Care Industry
THE VARIABLE ENERGY CYCLOTRON CENTRE:-The Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC) at Kolkata has been operating the nation’s largest and the first indigenously built Cyclotron in the country, providing charged particle beams of various energies. It has been serving the research needs of a distinguished community of scientists belonging to 36 national laboratories and universities. The facilities include those for in vitro studies like RIA and IRMA, gamma cameras for diagnostic and 4MeV LINAC for therapy. Radio-pharmaceuticals and other preparations for these and several other medical Centre’s in the country are regularly supplied by BRIT.
Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), a fully autonomous institute aided by the DAE, provides comprehensive treatment for cancer and allied diseases and is one of the best internationally. It carries out a vast number of patient investigations every year (about 800,000 pathological investigations in 1999-2000).
Impact On Agriculture And Food
Application of radiation to agriculture has resulted in the release of 22 improved varieties of seeds, which are contributing directly to the increase of GDP in the country. Of these mutant varieties, black gram (urad) accounts for 95 per cent of the cultivation of this pulse in the State of Maharashtra. At an all-India level,[7] four BARC black gram varieties account for over 49 per cent of the total national breeder seed indent of all the black gram varieties taken together breeder seed indent. At a conservative estimate, these varieties constitute a GDP of over Rs.10,000 million per year. Research done in BARC and other Centre’s in the world, has clearly demonstrated the advantages of food preservation by irradiation, and the Government of India has cleared several items for radiation processing.[8] Setting up of such plants is expected to reduce the percentage of food that is lost due to various causes and provide the means for improving food hygiene and facilitate export.
SOCIAL BENEFITS
Over 6,000 technicians have been trained in the use of radiography and they have found employment in India and abroad, where the certification provided by BARC is well recognized. BARC has also developed many applications using electron beam machines, for radiation processing of products such as cross-linking of polyethylene insulation, heat shrinkable, and vulcanization of natural rubber.[9]
Therefore Nuclear power is safe, as proven by the record of half a century of commercial operation, with the accumulated experience of more than 12,000 reactor in these years. There have been only two serious accidents in the commercial exploitation of nuclear power: Three Mile Island in 1979 (in Pennsylvania, USA) and Chernobyl in 1986 (in the Soviet Union, now in Ukraine).Nuclear reactors provide base-load power and are available over 90% of the time; an interval between refueling has been extended and down time for refueling has been reduced.[10] Uranium is found everywhere in the crust of the Earth and it is more abundant than tin, for example Major deposits are found in Canada and Australia. It is estimated that increasing the market price by a factor ten would result in 100 times more uranium coming to market. Eventually we will be able to recover uranium from sea water where 4 billion tons are dissolved. So nuclear energy has a wide impact on the society and on the life of the people as it is inexhaustible and competitive, reliable and safe.
NUCLEAR ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
Environment Protection laws have been enacted to further two primary goals: preventing irreparable environmental damage and forcing the consideration of environmental values into all realms of private and commercial activities. They reflect a sense of community, wherein the health and safety of individuals are as important as the economic wellbeing of the nation.
Energy is the only Universal currency. One of its many forms must be transformed to another in order for stars to shine, planets to rotate, plants to grow, and civilizations to evolve. It is a well-known fact that the production of electric power is a major source of environmental pollution. The burning of fossil fuels create s copious quantities of various criteria pollutants and other pollutants. In the view of some environmentalists, electric power is a major souce of pollution but in societal view, electric power is a resource that has shaped the modern era. So keeping both in mind, we need to find a new way out having the collaboration of both of these view, i.e, to choose that source of energy that least pollutes the environment. So a need arises to look up at different sources of energy and the most desirable is the nuclear energy.
“Nuclear energy is the only clean, safe energy source capable of ensuring the continuation of our industrial civilization while protecting the environment.”
: Bruno Comby
It is the only source of energy that can replace a significant part of the fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) which massively pollute the atmosphere and contribute to the greenhouse effect.If we want to be serious about climate change and the end of oil, we must promote the more efficient use of energy, we must use renewable energies – wind and solar – wherever possible, and adopt a more sustainable life style. But this will not be nearly enough to slow the accumulation of atmospheric CO2, and satisfy the needs of our industrial civilization and the aspirations of the developing nations. Nuclear power should be deployed rapidly to replace coal, oil and gas in the industrial countries, and eventually in developing countries. The pollution of land, air and water all can occur from electric power production. The environmental impacts of electricity prod occur at each stage of energy process.There are environment repercussions from the extraction and processing of energy resources, especially from drilling for oil and gas and from mining for coal. There are environmental costs associated with the combustion of fossil fuels, resulting in emissions that can be harmful to human health and environment.[11]
Our industrial civilization runs on energy and 85% of the world’s energy is provided by the fossil fuels, coal, oil and gas. Coal began to be used extensively in Britain when its forests were no longer able to satisfy the energy requirements of an embryo industrialization. Coal is found almost everywhere and reserves should last several centuries. Petroleum began by replacing whale oil at the end of the 19th century, and its use has grown ever since. Discoveries of new deposits are not keeping up with consumption and production of oil is about to peak. At the present rate of consumption, reserves are estimated to last a few decades, but consumption is growing rapidly. More than half the world’s oil production today is located in the fragile and politically unstable area of the Persian Gulf, as is an even greater fraction of our future reserves, Gas was at first a byproduct of oil extraction and it was thrown away. It has since been mastered to become a major source of energy. Reserves are similarly limited and estimated to last for a few decades.
But these can have adverse environmental consequences. In burning fossil fuels, we inject 23 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year into the atmosphere – 730 tons per second. Half of it is absorbed in the seas and vegetation, but half remains in the atmosphere. This is significantly altering the composition of the atmosphere and seriously affecting the climate of our planet. This shows that there is a urgent need for an alternative source of energy to keep this planet liveable. The fuller use of commercial nuclear power, if done to exacting standards of safety and protection against proliferation, can play an important role as part of a larger strategy to slow the growth in emissions of the gases that cause global warming. That is because nuclear power emits essentially no carbon dioxide[12] , the most powerful prevalent of these so-called “greenhouse gases”[13].
Some environmentalists often say that we only need to conserve energy and rely upon renewable energies. Solar and wind are the major renewables. We agree, of course, that conservation is highly commendable, even essential. But in the light of the world’s growing population, widespread economic development and comparing the enhanced life expectancy with the finite fossil fuel resources, this conservation can only delay the crisis that will arise from the penury of oil and gas.
This leads us to make a comparison between all the available sources of energy[14]:
– As an environmentalist the idea of developing more coal, the most polluting energy source on the planet, and the greatest contributor to global warming, is simply not acceptable.
– The process of sequestration or isolating millions and billions of tons of
carbon dioxide is nothing but a pleasant dream at this point, still unproven and
unlikely to be put into wide-spread practice.
– One gram of uranium yields about as much energy as a ton of coal or oil – it is the famous “factor of a million”.
– Nuclear waste is correspondingly about a million times smaller than fossil fuel waste, and it is totally confined.
– The impact nuclear waste on the ecosystem is minimal. Nuclear waste spontaneously decays over time while stable chemical waste, such as arsenic or mercury, lasts forever.
– Most fossil fuel waste is in the form of gas that goes up the smokestack. We don’t see it, but it is not without effect, causing global warming, acid rain, smog and other atmospheric pollution.
– The cost of nuclear power is competitive and stable. The cost of nuclear fuel is a small part of the price of a nuclear kilo Watt-hour, whereas fossil fuelled power, especially oil and gas, is at the mercy of the market.
– Uranium is found everywhere in the crust of the Earth – it is more abundant than tin, for example. Major deposits are found in Canada and Australia. It is estimated that increasing the market price by a factor ten would result in 100 times more uranium coming to market. Eventually we will be able to recover uranium from sea water where 4 billion tons are dissolved.
Moving on to the protection of Environment in India, It seems that Government is active in this phase and has taken quite a number of steps towards it including numerous international treaties and agreements.
The following are the treaties that India is a party to regarding the protection of Environment:
- The Antarctic treaty 1959[15]
- Convention on wetlands of International importance, especially as waterfowl habitat 1971[16]
- Convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage 1972[17]
- Convention on international trade in endangered species of wild flora and fauna 1973[18]
- Protocol of 1978 relating to the Inetrnational Conevention for the prevention of pollution from ships.[19]
- Convention on the conservation of migratory species of wild animals 1979.[20]
- Convention on the conservation of Antarctic Marine Living resources 1980.[21]
- United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982.[22]
- Convention for the protection of the Ozone Layer 1985.[23]
- Protocol on substances that deplete the Ozone Layer 1987.[24]
- Amendments to the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the Ozone layer 1990.[25]
- Convention on the control of Trans-boundary movements of Hazardous wastes and their disposal 1989.[26]
- United Nations framework convention on Climate Change 1992.[27]
- Convention on Biological Diversity 1992.[28]
- Covention to combat desertification in those countries experiencing serious drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa 1994.[29]
- International Tropical Timber Agreement 1994.[30]
- Protocol on the Environment Protection and the Antarctica Treaty 1991.[31]
Thus it becomes binding on the Government of India to pick that source of energy that favours the environment the most. As is also mentioned in the art 51(c) of the Constitution of India, the state is obliged to foster respect for International Law and Treaty Obligations. The choice of Nuclear energy can be given preference to other forms of energy by the very fact that it pollutes the environment the least and that the Constitution of India imposes a duty on the State and also gives a right to the people.[32] The duty is to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country[33] and the right is the Fundamental right to healthy environment[34]. The fundamental right to life has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to mean that every person has a right to a wholesome or healthy environment.[35]
The courts in India have explained the environmental dimension of the right to life in the following ways:
- The right to life includes the right to enjoy unpolluted air and water[36].
- A decent environment with sufficient clean air and water are implicit in the right to life.[37]
- The right to live with human dignity encompasses clean and healthy environment.[38]
- Environment Pollution and ecological degradation violate the right to life.[39]
Corresponding to the right to a healthy environment is a duty imposed on the state to protect and improve the natural as well as manmade environment.[40]The involvement of the Government can also be seen by the acts it has passed. The Air(Prevention and control of Pollution) Act 1981 was enacted to implement the decision taken at the United Nations Conference on the human Environment in 1972.[41] At the conference it was decided that the participants take appropriate steps for the preservation of natural resources which included the preservation of the quality of air and the control of air pollution. Thus it becomes binding on the state to comply with this and to choose that source of energy that pollutes the environment the least. There are some other acts working in the same direction, such as Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution)Act 1974, Environment Protection Act 1986, Forest (Conservation) Act 1980 and so on.The standards for emission or discharge of environmental pollutants[42] are prescribed by the Environmental (Protection) Rules 1986.[43]
Impact of Nuclear Energy on India’s Trade
For the Third Five Year Plan (1961-66)[44], Prime Minister Nehru and the INC made an adjustment in its economic policies, shifting focus away from “rapid industrialization”[45] over to a program of “self-sustained growth.” At the same time, India’s trade policy shifted from “import substitution” to “efficient substitution of imports,” which in effect opened up new trade opportunities for goods considered crucial to economic growth and development. This adjusted economic policy remained in effect until the end of the Seventh Five Year Plan in 1990. In 1990 and 1991, India was struck by a number of political and economic shocks. But India adopted policies of Liberalisation, Privatisation, and Globalisation in India which further shaped and increased the pace of growth.[46]
Today the world is saying India in not an emerging state India has already emerged.[47] This is not because to make India happy or appeased him but because India has emerged as powerful state in the political and trade affairs of Asia. Indian economy is 2nd highest growing economy among the developing countries and India has one of the largest and fastest growing economies in the world. India’s real gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 9.2% in 2006 — a growth rate second only to China among Asian nations. The strong GDP performance in 2006 capped five years of rapid economic expansion, transforming India into the third largest economy in Asia (after Japan and China).[48] Its recent economic success is generally attributed to a combination of internal and external factors. Internally, a series of economic reforms (begun when the current prime minister was finance minister) have stimulated solid growth of India’s manufacturing and service sectors. Externally, a relatively strong global economy, combined with India’s trade and investment liberalization policies, have stimulated increased trade and investment flows to and from India.
Since India tested a nuclear explosive in 1974, then in 1998 in Pokhran and after that several US allies has put economic sanction on India. This was also because subject to sanctions India refused to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and does not permit the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)[49] to inspect all its nuclear facilities. But when in October 2008, India and the United States signed a bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement[50]. It entered into force two months later, following a decision by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)—comprised of 46 advanced NPT states which set the rules for global nuclear commerce—to exempt India from its trade restrictions.[51] Until then, NPT states had denied access to nuclear trade to states which are outside the NPT and have nuclear weapons, including India, Pakistan, and Israel. Civil Nuclear deal is the milestone in the pathway of India’s trade Industry. Secondary sector of a economy requires lots of energy and as India is a developing country but can’t have that much capability to concert renewable source of energy at such a large scale. Nuclear trade with different countries has created an opportunity to increase its growth rate. India’s bilateral trade has also increased that will supply enough FDI to India’s manufacturing industries.
The United States wanted the India deal to forge a broad new strategic relationship with India. India had a more limited view and regarded the deal as an opportunity to enhance its nuclear program and status.[52] Both claimed India is an emerging democratic world power unfairly constrained by global nonproliferation norms. Emerging countries such as Brazil, China,and India, which haveexperienced rapid growth and increased integration with the global economy in recent years, have significant potential to contribute to global food security—not only by alleviating hunger among their own citizens, but also by increasing trade and financial linkages as well as technology and knowledge exchanges with developing countries.[53]
Impact on Bilateral Trade
On the basis of the 2008 bilateral agreement, U.S. companies—most importantly Westinghouse and GE-Hitachi—plan to build nuclear power plants in India. A U.S.–India trade group claims that this business may ultimately be worth $130 billion by 2030.[54]
According to official U.S. trade statistics, bilateral merchandise trade with India has grown from under $10 billion in 1996 to nearly $31 billion in 2006 — a trebling in a decade. In 1996, India was the 32nd largest market for U.S. exports and the 25th largest source of imports. By 2006, India had risen to be 21st biggest export market for the United States and the 18th biggest supplier of imports. The United States’ total trade with India in 2006 exceeded that with Israel, Nigeria, and Thailand. Both governments appear to be committed to improving trade relations.[55] On March 2, 2006, President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh endorsed the goal of doubling bilateral trade in three years.[56] On December 18, 2006, President Bush signed into law H.R. 5682, the Henry J. Hyde United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-401), signaling an intent to waive restrictions on civil nuclear cooperation with India With the reprocessing arrangements and procedures in place, the main hurdle standing in the way of full implementation of the cooperation agreement for American companies is that there is no nuclear liability protection under Indian law.[57] India’s government prepared legislation for the Indian parliament last month which would protect foreign equipment suppliers from all civil liability claims in case of a nuclear accident.
India’s Key Trade Partners
In terms of exports from India, the top ten countries include the U.S. (11.98%), United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) (11.15%), Singapore (5.00%), China (4.67%), Hong Kong (3.71%), Netherland (3.67%), the U.K. (3.57%), Germany (3.33%), Saudi Arab (3.12%) and Belgium (2.64%), as per the export values during the first nine months of the fiscal year 2008-09. On the other hand, the top ten countries exporting to India include China (10.27%), Saudi Arab (7.24%), U.A.E. (6.57%), the U.S. (5.90%), Switzerland (4.59%), Iran (4.29%), Germany (3.52%), Nigeria (3.44%), Kuwait (3.36%) and Australia (3.22%).[58]
India – Russia
India’s bilateral trade with Russia, one of the country’s long time strongest trade partners, is targeted to be almost double at about $10 billion by 2010 from $5.3 billion in 2008. The two countries had signed a number of agreements in the fields of nuclear energy, space research and military technical cooperation etc. in December last year, when the president of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev visited India.
India-U.S.
India’s trade with the U.S. was severely impacted due to recession in the U.S. economy. India’s trade with the U.S. dipped by 23.47% to $8.2 billion in the quarter January-March 2009 compared with $10.69 billion in the corresponding period last year, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.[59] India’s exports to the U.S. declined by 22.63% to $5.22 billion during this period, while India’s imports were down by 24.9% to $2.96 billion. Lower demand in the U.S. for natural pearls, precious and semiprecious stones and pharmaceutical products from India impacted the exports. The U.S. contributed about 12% of India’s total exports of $168.70 billion in the fiscal year 2008-09. In the year 2008, India’s total exports to the U.S. stood at $25.86 billion, while imports from the U.S. were at $17.33 billion.
India-European Union (E.U.)
As a region, the European Union (E.U.) is India’s largest trading partner with total bilateral trade worth more than $70 billion in 2008-09. The participation of European companies in building India’s power generation capacity will help achieve the €100 billion ($140 billion) trade target by 2013 set at the Ninth India-European Union Summit in Marseille, France last year. The 27-member E.U. is also the largest investment partner of India. The E.U. investments in to India more than doubled to €5.4 billion ($7.73 bln) in 2007 compared with €2.5 billion ($3.58 bln) in 2006. This figure, however, dropped sharply to €852 million ($1.22 bln) last year due to recession in the European economies.
India – Africa
Africa as a region has now become one of the important trade partners of India with rapid increase in bilateral trade in recent years. The trade between India and Africa has moved up to $36 billion in 2007-08 from $3 billion in 2000-01. India plans to double the trade with this region in the next five years. India, the largest importer of rough diamonds in the world, sources most of its requirement from Africa.[60] India also has a duty free preferential tariff scheme for 49 least developed countries (LCDs) including 33 African countries. The potential areas of co-operations between the two regions include Information Technology (IT), Telecom, agriculture, agro-processing, irrigation, mining, power, pharmaceuticals etc.
Therefore, the trade sector of the country has main impacts of nuclear energy, because these sector includes manufacturing Industries which needs enormous amount of energy and that energy needs can be satisfied by the civil nuclear Programme.
CONCLUSION
From this paper, the authors have analyzed that nuclear energy is the most reliable and inexhaustible form of energy available to the society which is clean and safe. The authors also conclude that when every nation is trying hard to achieve the desired growth rate and to accelerate the pace of their economies, so the demand for energy is primary concern for obtaining the desired goal the demand for energy comes into the first place. This paper also emphasize on how nuclear energy have its impact on the agriculture, environment and trade. Over the recent years, It has come to the notice that radiations obtained from nuclear energy are used by several research institutions and it is playing a key role in order to attain the positive results in their research.
Even on the verge of nuclear programme, India has travelled a long way in the pathway of shaping foreign relations and improved the strategic relations with many developed and developing countries.
Nuclear energy is safe for the society as proven by the record of half a century of commercial operation, with the accumulated experience of more than 12000 reactors. Uranium is found everywhere in the crust of Earth and is more abundant than tin. So it is estimated that increasing the market price by a factor ten would result in 100 times more uranium coming to market. Eventually, uranium from sea water we will be able to recover those 4 billion tonnes which are dissolved there. Therefore, as nonrenewable sources of energy are limited and scarce, it creates a problem of sustainable use of resources but nuclear energy without harming the environment fulfills the energy needs.
It would not be incorrect to say that well designed, well-constructed, well operated and well maintained nuclear energy is not only clean, but it is also safe, reliable, durable and competitive. The fuller use of commercial nuclear power, if done to exacting standards of safety and protection against proliferation, can play an important role as part of a larger strategy to slow the growth in emissions of the gases that cause global warming.
Although some countries have slowed down their nuclear energy programmes, the abandonment of nuclear fission would, however, be neither wise nor justified. It is important at this stage of nuclear power development that increased efforts should be devoted to detailed in-depth studies of the different environmental impacts. The fuller use of commercial nuclear power, if done to exacting standards of safety and protection against proliferation, can play an important role as part of a larger strategy to slow the growth in emissions of the gases that cause global warming.
When we cover the issues of trade, the authors conclude that, trade governed by the political relations , economic relations and availability of natural resources in that particular country. When we cover with reference to India after the civil nuclear deal with USA, India has established good strategies and foreign relationships with US and its allies. Bilateral agreement between the countries have resulted into the atmosphere which leads to FDI in different sectors of the economy. India has also improved its trade relations with African countries and European Union becomes the largest trading partner of the country. Therefore this paper is a combined inter-disciplinary evaluation of trade agriculture and environment vis-a-vis Indian nuclear programme and its impact on these major sectors.
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[1] Anil Vishnoi,2nd Year, National Law University, Orissa and Abhinav Kumar, 3rd Year National Law University, Orissa
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[58] Supra Note 43
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[60] Supra Note 43