Nuclear India

Publisher Fact Sheet The definitive history of India's long flirtation with nuclear capability, culminating in the nuclear tests that surprised the world in May 1998.

Nuclear power is often characterized as a "green technology." Technologies are rarely, if ever, socially isolated artefacts. Instead, they materially represent an embodiment of values and priorities. Nuclear power is no different. It is a product of a particular political economy and the question is whether that political economy can helpfully engage with the challenge of addressing the environmental crisis on a finite, inequitable and shared planet. For developing countries like India, who are presently making infrastructure investments which will have long legacies, it is imperative that these investments wrestle with such questions and prove themselves capable of sufficiency, greater equality and inclusiveness. This book offers a critique of civilian nuclear power as a green energy strategy for India and develops and proposes an alternative "synergy for sustainability." It situates nuclear power as a socio-technical infrastructure embodying a particular development discourse and practice of energy and economic development. The book reveals the political economy of this arrangement and examines the latter’s ability to respond to the environmental crisis. Manu V. Mathai argues that the existing overwhelmingly growth-focused, highly technology-centric approach for organizing economic activity is unsustainable and needs to be reformed. Within this imperative for change, nuclear power in India is found to be and is characterized as an "authoritarian technology." Based on this political economy critique the book proposes an alternative, a synergy of ideas from the fields of development economics, energy planning and science, technology and society studies.

This book details the evolution of India's nuclear journey, from the 1960s to the present day, the historical events leading to the 1974 nuclear test, the reluctant nuclearization that occurred thereafter and the first phases of an operational nuclear deterrent in the late 1980s.

Publisher Fact Sheet The definitive history of India's long flirtation with nuclear capability, culminating in the nuclear tests that surprised the world in May 1998.

Originally published in 1983. The Indian nuclear power programme, both the earliest in the Third World and also one of the most comprehensive, is an important and instructive subject for a wide-ranging and detailed study. This book examines the origins and rationale of the Indian programme in the context of energy resources and consumption. It traces the progress of its historical development and leads up to an evaluation of its performance, in both technical and economic terms of both individual reactors and the programme as a whole. In addition, the book discusses India's nuclear explosion of 1974 and the possibilities for novel developments in nuclear power and other energy sources, such as coal, biogas, hydro and solar power. The author then sets the Indian programme into the world picture by comparing developments in India with those of the Third World (including developments in China and South Africa) and discusses the overall prospects for the Third World. This extremely informative account will appeal to readers with interest in energy, science, technology and Third World developments.

In the prevailing international security situation, the world community, including India believes nuclear security must be conferred high priority for global peace and security. As a responsible member of this community, India finds itself prioritising this aspect more than ever before. The volume is a revisit of the Indian nuclear discourse. It envisages a comprehensive and predictable nuclear governance architecture for the future, and discusses how India might play a proactive role in this effort. Please note: T&F does not sell or distribute the hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

This collection of essays, unlike other books on this subject, emphasizes strategic, technological, and economic factors. It includes contributions from a combination of academics and governmental experts from both the United States and India. Nuclear India in the Twenty-First Century provides an important picture of India's nuclear intentions and capabilities and should facilitate policies that the US may consider in response to regional and global proliferation.

In this book, the leading authority on India's nuclear program offers an informed and thoughtful assessment of India's nuclear strategy. Basrur shows that the country's nuclear culture is generally in accord with the principle of minimum deterrence but sometimes drifts into a more open-ended view.