Today the world is developing in leaps and bounds. Due to this, there is a growing need for electricity. Though substantial development has taken place in power generation in India since dependence, the energy shortage of 11.5% during lean time and 18% shortage during peak time is plaguing our economy. In order to meet the increasing demands. IIn order to meet the increasing demand. India’s crude oil requirement is stated to be 186.2 million metric tonnes during 2016-17. A developing country which has to depend on external supplies will become vulnerable to other countries. To overcome shortage, renewable energy from diverse sources like biomass, solar energy, wind energy, hydel, geothermal, ocean energy projects are being set up. India’s renewable energy programme is one of the world’s largest power programmes.
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But these resources do have their limitations. Only a small contribution can be got from all these programmes put together. It is for this reason, India is keen on establishing nuclear power stations in India. There are at present 14 nuclear power plants and with the criticality attained by the Tarapur Atomic Power Plant recently, the present installed nuclear power capacity is raised to 4120 MWe. Electricity produced in these plants helps to meet only 3% of the demand. But there is scope for immense growth. India has a number of nuclear research and development centres with engineering technologies, huge manpower with construction and operational expertise. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has designed a reactor ATBR, tailor-made for using thorium, taking into account the economy and safety factors. India has large thorium reserves capable of producing 300,000 MWe of electricity over 300 years. As there is a relative slackness in countries like America, nuclear plant manufacturers are looking upon China and India as potential markets. India targets to raise nuclear power to 20,000 MWe by 2020 and to 40,000 MWe by 2030.
Another advantage of nuclear energy is that, it does not depend on local factors. Unlike a hydroelectric plant which has to be located near a water source or the solar panels to be setup in tropical zones, nuclear plants can be set up in any place. Now, all safety measures are given top