India needs a public-private civilian nuclear strategy: Mulford

New Delhi, Nov.14 : "India needs a public-private civilian nuclear strategy that establishes sound, transparent policies that lay the groundwork for large scale and competitive electricity production," said United States Ambassador to India Dr David Mulford.

He was delivering the keynote address on 'India's Civilian Nuclear Passport' at the conference on 'Indo-US Co-operation in Nuclear Energy: The Path Forward', organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in New Delhi today.

"India-US civil nuclear deal is a historic accomplishment. We all know about its many advantages and the potential it holds for India's future development," he said adding, "However, as satisfying as this great accomplishment is, we have to face the fact that what comes next will be no less difficult than what has already been achieved."

Mulford, however, cautioned that "building a large, world class, civil nuclear industry in India will take time, capital, ingenuity, competitive technology, a sound regulatory architecture, private sector input, and a true political commitment to excellence."

Dr. Dale E Klein, Chairman, US Nuclear regulatory Commission (NRC), was the Guest of Honour and spoke on 'Progress of Nuclear Power Industry in US'. "Our national governments are continuing the process of putting into place the new Section 123 US-India Agreement for Civil Nuclear Cooperation. In the meantime, both the United States and India are anticipating and preparing for new business development and trade in the nuclear industry," he said.

"The NRC promotes public confidence in the safety and security of nuclear facilities and programmes by being a tough regulator with high standards. In fact, one of the strengths of the commercial nuclear energy sector in the US is the NRC's commitment to scientific objectivity, technical competence and regulatory independence," Dr Klein added.

"The US can help India by sharing its technology and expertise in the civil nuclear field, both on the academic as well as the business levels," he said adding that "the Indo-US deal had opened the doors for greater cooperation."

In his opening remarks, Syamal Gupta, Chairman, TCE Consulting Engineers and Director, Tata Sons, said: "I am very confident that the Indo-US nuclear deal will tremendously boost the business investment in this sector, especially for technical cooperation and development process in the country."

"On behalf of the industry I would like to request the Government of India to open the nuclear sector to private sector participation in order to fully utilize this historic opportunity," he added.

In his concluding remarks, Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, said "the CII has constituted a task force for cooperation with the US industry to facilitate greater linkages in civilian nuclear cooperation"

ANI