Events & Issues
New Delhi, 24 May 2010
Australian Uranium
INDIA AWAITS CHANGE OF POLICY
By Dr PK Vasudeva
India is the sixth
largest energy consumer in the world, accounting for 3.4 per cent of the global
energy consumption. The demand for energy has grown at an average of 3.6 per
cent per annum over the past 30 years due to the fast economic growth of the
country. In March 2009, the installed power generation capacity of India stood at
147,000 MW while the per capita power consumption stood at 612 kwh.
The country's annual power production increased
from about 190 billion kwh in 1986 to more than 680 billion kwh in 2006. The UPA-II
government has set an ambitious target to add approximately 78,000 MW of
installed generation capacity by 2012. This is in view of an estimate that the total
demand for electricity in India
is expected to cross 950,000 MW by 2030.
About 75 per cent of the electricity consumed is
generated by thermal power plants, 21 per cent by hydroelectric power plants
and 4 per cent by nuclear power plants. More than 50 per cent of the commercial
energy demand is met through the country's vast coal reserves. It has also
invested heavily in recent years on renewable sources of energy such as wind
and solar energy. As of 2008, India's
installed wind power generation capacity stood at 9,655 MW. In July 2009, the
country unveiled a $19 billion-plan to produce 20,000 MW of solar power by
2020. Additionally, it has committed massive amount of funds for the
construction of various nuclear reactors, which would generate at least 30,000
MW.
Nuclear power is the
fourth-largest source of electricity in India after thermal, hydro and
renewable sources of energy. As of 2010, India has 19 nuclear power plants
in operation generating 4,560 MW while four other are under construction and
are expected to generate an additional 2,720 MW.
Following a waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group
(NSG) in September 2008 which allowed it to commence international nuclear
trade, India has signed nuclear deals with several other countries including
France, the US, the UK, Canada, Namibia, Mongolia, Argentina, Kazakhstan, and
Russia (2000 tonnes of nuclear fuel) except Australia, which has yet to agree
for the sale of its rich and low cost Uranium to India.
New
Delhi now envisages increasing the
contribution of nuclear power to overall electricity generation capacity from
4.2 per cent to 9 per cent within 25 years. In 2010, India's installed nuclear power
generation capacity will increase to 6,000 MW. As of 2009, India stands
ninth in the world in terms of the number of operational nuclear power
reactors.
The country has one of the lowest per capita consumption of
energy and the highest economic growth next to China. It has an urgent requirement
for additional sources of ‘clean’ energy in order to develop without
contributing overly to global warming and this links up to the wider Australian
mindset of reducing carbon emissions to save the planet.
Australia holds approximately 30 per cent of
the worlds estimated low-cost uranium reserves at more than 50 known economic
deposits and minor occurrences. Significantly sized deposits exist in the far
north of the Northern Territory, northern and
central Western Australia and north-western Queensland and in central South Australia. Exploration by both
domestic and foreign companies is continuing to expand. India’s needs of Uranium at the lowest cost from
Australia
could be a big boost for the much-needed nuclear energy.
Australia is likely to have a new Government
in place after the next federal elections this year. What are the chances of
the present Labour party leader Prime Minister Kevin Rudd winning the elections
and getting re-elected? He is most likely to stick to his banal stand of
refusing to sell the most-needed Uranium to India
because he wants India to
sign the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which is irrelevant after the civil
nuclear deal with the US
in place and waiver from NSG.
The budget announced by the Labour party this year has
brought down the image of Rudd by 11 per cent which indicates that the present
government is not popular with the people. Hence the chances of the Liberal
party coming to power are bright and so are the chances of the cheapest uranium
sale to India.
The Labour party’s refusal to sell uranium to India is more
due to the pre-historic mindset of a few Labour party members and their dogmas
which have less to do with their so-called commitment to NPT. Whatever paeans
we may sing to each other the fact is the Rudd Government has failed on its
commitment to take Australia-India relationship to the forefront of top 10
bilateral relationships.
When Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith and Rudd told New Delhi that there was bipartisan support in Canberra for refusal to sell uranium to India they were
not forthcoming and were obviously thinking that their Indian counterparts and
the media are naïve. At that time, they were exposing their personal ideologies
rather than presenting the majority view of their people. One of the reasons
why Indian media is refusing to listen to the Australian establishment for
students’ racial issues is that the Rudd government has been consistently camouflaging
facts.
In the last elections, the Liberal party managed to get 36.7
per cent of the votes while the Labour received 43.4 per cent. The suggestion
that there was a bipartisan support for refusal to sell uranium to India was a ‘blatant
lie’. Unfortunately, the Liberal party under John Howard did change the policy
to sell uranium to India
only in the last phase of campaigning. However, the inputs from independent
think tank and bureaucracy in Australia
clearly show that they wanted to engage New
Delhi as they had realized unlimited potential of uranium
exports to overcome their dwindling economy due to the recession.
By refusing to sell uranium to India, the Labour has lost a big
opportunity and failed to exploit advantage Australian companies had in this
sector thus putting their exporters at a disadvantage. The Australian-Indian
voters which are about one million need to keep in mind that Kevin Rudd has not
yet personally appeared at any of the Indian community or business functions,
even after four years in office. If he had any feelings for the
Australian-Indian community, he would have certainly made attempts to at least
attend one such function where he has been repeatedly invited.
With the elections due in Australia,
let the Australian-Indian community vote for the right party that helps in
maintaining good relations with New
Delhi besides exporting uranium. So far, the Liberal
party leaders have openly supported the sale of uranium to India and
maintaining of good relations. The poll results will be keenly watched by New Delhi. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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