Indian Energy Security Nuclear Energy Policy

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject South Asian Studies, South-Eastern Asian Studies, grade: 1,0, Charles University in Prague, language: English, abstract: Energy is the key to a state’s economic growth: it influences not only sustainable development, but also areas such as education and health. India is one of the world’s fasted growing economies and, consequently, energy markets. It is confronted with the challenge of closing the vast gap between energy demand and supply and additionally considering climate change. Currently, India’s energy mix is dominated by fossil fuels such as oil and coal, which has to be imported and makes the country dependent on global price fluctuations. Nuclear power is an energy resource that could increase India’s energy security and fulfil the needs of guaranteeing both economic growth and environmental sustainability for India. This paper analyses India’s Nuclear Energy Policy, its three stage nuclear plan and its historical development. Due to lacking civil nuclear cooperation with other countries and few uranium reserves of bad quality, India was not able to develop and unfold its nuclear program over the last decades. An important step towards a larger share of nuclear power has been the Indo-US nuclear deal, which the Indian government appreciates very much, as it opened up trade options for technology and fuel for India. Morever, this paper focuses on legal issues concerning nuclear energy, its advantages and disadvanteges and will also give critique on the implementation and integration of the policy. It will conclude that nuclear energy has a lot of obstacles, but is an important alternative option for India to become independent from fossil fuels.

Energy is essential for the economic growth of a nation. Its absence or deficiency makes a nation highly vulnerable to international arms twisting as well as internal disturbances. As such, it is an important element in a nation's security matrix. India which is in the lower half of the countries as far as the energy consumption per capita is concerned. One of major reasons is the gap between the demand and the capacity of the country to supply the energy from indigenous sources. One of the important sources that hold promise in Indian context is the nuclear energy as it is clean and the resource; thorium to produce power through this route is available indigenously. However despite a well developed plan for energy conversion in place, using indigenous resources for over half a century, it is still considered only promising. Relevant questions in this regard are; whether perceived promise is realizable? If so, in what time frame and at what cost? Will it be safe keeping in view its capacity to cause wide spread devastation? Is there a need to seek technical collaboration with other countries or will it be better to go indigenous route only? How do we tackle the widening demand- supply gap during the interim? And finally is there a case for a review for the existing decision loop/energy management system? An attempt has been made in this book to address these issues. It is also expected that the concept advocated in this book for achieving energy security for India by 2030 will initiate a wider debate on the subject.

Energy is fundamental to the economic development of a society. Ensuring energy security is critical to the security, sovereignty, and well-being of any country. However, there is no consensus on the definition of energy security. Energy Security and Economic Development in India: a holistic approach attempts to construct an appropriate definition for the concept of energy security. The evolution of energy security is traced at both the global level and in the Indian context. This book elaborates on the concept of energy security, highlights its linkages, enumerates India's indigenous energy resources, examines the status of energy security in the country, and makes policy suggestions to ensure energy security in the country.

With reference to India.

"The rising demand for energy, the higher costs of oil and gas, and the association of fossil fuels with adverse climate change have all brought a renewed interest in nuclear energy. Nuclear power, however, is itself controversial, because of its costs, its environmental effects and the security risks it poses. This book discusses these critical issues surrounding nuclear power in relation to Asia. It discusses also the politics of nuclear power and the activities of civil society organisations concerned about nuclear issues. Throughout the book the perspectives are included of both proponents and opponents of nuclear power on the key controversial issues."--Publisher's description.

This book explores the multifaceted aspects of India's energy security concerns. It sheds light on India's energy insecurity and explores its various dimensions, its nature and extent. It examines the role that trade, foreign and security policy should play in enhancing India's energy security. It is argued that the key challenge for India is to increase economic growth while at the same time keeping energy demands low. This is especially challenging with the transition from biomass to fossil fuels, the growth of the motorized private transport and rising incomes, aspirations and changing lifestyles. The book suggests that at this time there are strong arguments to lessen India's fossil fuel dependence and it argues for a need to engage with all the key sources of this dependence to implement a process of energy change.

The International conference on Energy Security Challenges–Non Traditional Security planning in India was yet another attempt by the Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR), to focus on one of the most challenging themes of current times. Given its global outlook and ramifications, energy security demands an integrated approach and strategic positioning, especially for a country such as India.Several factors have contributed to the unprecedented predominance that the energy security debate has achieved in international dialogue and diplomacy: the growth of new economic power centres; the fluctuating price of fossil fuels over the last three years; global warming due to climate change; the threat of terrorism, instability in some exporting nations; power blackouts and chronic shortages of power in several countries. Power blackouts have occurred on the east and west coasts of the United States, in Europe and in Russia while chronic shortages of electric power are being faced by China, India and other developing countries.Given the fundamental need for energy to fuel a country’s economic growth, these power crises have caused concern not only about the reliability of electricity supply systems, but also raised fears of a scramble for energy supplies and heightened geopolitical rivalries. Thus the situation at the global level does not seem very positive. However, there have been attempts by several countries to streamline and reassert state control by installing new transportation channels and pipelines, hoping to offset the stark scarcity of their domestic resources through diversification, trade and investment in the energy sector.“Energy independence” is a phrase that has become a mantra since it was first articulated by Richard Nixon four weeks after the 1973 oil embargo was put in place. This national aspiration had long been at odds with reality for the United States. The real mood and the state of the nation was captured by President Obama in 2009 when he stated, “At a time of such great challenge for America, no single issue is as fundamental to our future as energy” In recent years, new energy suppliers, technological developments like hydraulic fracturing and the US shale gas boom have redrawn the global energy scenario and caused significant geopolitical shifts.That energy issues are fundamental to India’s future is an undeniable fact. The country’s energy imports come at the cost of 7% of its GDP and is more often ruptured by the country’s balance of payment, which takes an ugly turn with the fluctuations in the energy market.India, the world’s fourth largest energy consumer, imports 80% of its crude oil and 25% of its natural gas requirements. Around 600 million Indians do not have access to electricity and about 700 million Indians use biomass as their primary energy source for cooking, according to Indian Government sources. India’s energy demand is expected to become more than double, from below 700 million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe) in 2013 to around 1,500 million tonnes of oil equivalent by 2035, according to estimates made by the oil ministry. Hence, the issue of energy security is undoubtedly a major concern for India as well as the United States.