N-deal to create 1 lakh jobs, more research opportunities

TIMES ARE A-CHANGING: A view of a construction is seen at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research at Kalpakkam.

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Chennai: One of the spin offs of the India-US civil nuclear deal coming through will be the creation of 100,000 new jobs for the 30-odd reactors that India hopes to set up to meet its nuclear power deadline of 20,000 MW by 2020, experts say.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi highlighted the fillip the deal is expected to give to employment generation and the energy sector. Interacting with students of Ravindra Bharati in Hyderabad on Saturday, Gandhi said: "The nuclear deal means millions and millions of jobs, and lights in the houses of the poor in this country."

Union Minister of State for Commerce and Power Jairam Ramesh, visiting the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)'s Kalpakkam campus in Tamil Nadu, said: "Nearly 10,000 MW of nuclear power would be generated from indigenous reactors, 8,000 MW from light water reactors and 2,000 MW from Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR)."

Thousands of engineers, technicians and scientists would be needed to run these establishments, he underlined.

"India's 17 nuclear reactors have the capacity to generate 4,120 MW, but in 2007 they could produce only 1,800 MW due to lack of fuel," Ramesh said.

By 2020, India is likely to import six light water reactors while six nuclear plants are under construction to beef up generation capacity, said Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd Technical Director S A Bhardwaj.

The total expansion is valued at nearly $300 billion.

"India's Department of Atomic Energy employs about 70,000 experts today," M R Srinivasan, former chairperson of the Atomic Energy Commission, said at a function in Kalpakkam.

The new nuclear power plants on the cards are expected to create at least a 100,000 new jobs in India, experts say.