Manmohan advocates nuclear technology

Advocating greater use of nuclear technology to meet today's developmental challenges, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday announced India's ambitious plans to increase India's installed capacity for nuclear energy more than seven fold by 2022.

'Our target is to increase our installed capacity more than seven fold to 35,000 MWe by the year 2022, and to 60,000 MWe by 2032,' he told world leaders from 47 nations gathered here for the global Nuclear Security Summit hosted by President Barack Obama.

Hoping the summit would lead to concrete outcomes to make the world a safer place, Manmohan Singh said, 'Developmental applications of nuclear science in areas like medicine, agriculture, food preservation and availability of fresh water are now well established.'

Noting that nuclear energy has emerged a viable source of environmentally sustainable energy, he said: 'There is a real prospect for nuclear technology to address the developmental challenges of our times.'