Prologue to civil nuclear co-operation

The burgeoning energy demands for India cannot be hided. At present the Indian economy is growing at the rate of 7-8% and everyone is wishing her to reach 10%. If we need to reach such a value then it is not possible without having an un-interrupted power supply. Power supply is very much important to develop manufacturing based industries.

The demand of energy is going to increase in an exponential way. To satisfy the needs of the Indian population in near future, Indian power sector needs to be improved. Presently in India the source of power is through thermal, hydro and nuclear power plants and a meagre amount through non conventional energy resources like solar and wind energy. But it is sure that to satisfy the needs a highly efficient energy resource is needed. One such option is to go for nuclear energy supply. It is for this reason the Indian government is pushing for the civil nuclear co-operation with US.

To understand and to comment on the pros and cons of the nuclear deal we need to have an overview on the present nuclear status of India and the nuclear cycle. The nuclear energy is generated by a fission process either from Thorium or Uranium-238 (both found commonly in nature). These natural nuclear material produces fissile material after neutron bombardment and generates radioactive nuclear material (such as plutonium-239 or uranium-235). Such radio-active material is called as enriched nuclear material and the process of obtaining radioactive nuclear material is called as nuclear enrichment. The plutonium-239 or uranium-235 further undergoes nuclear fission by neutron bombardment and in the process generates energy. So in conclusion, to generate nuclear energy a base material is needed which is either Uranium-238 or thorium. These two radio-active materials are found abundantly on earth surface.

In India there is a abundance of thorium material and hence India has developed indigenous thorium based nuclear reactors. But since the production cost using uranium-238 is cheaper in comparison to thorium based reactors, the latter has not become economically attractive. (Nevertheless Indian government is rigorously pushing for it)

Hence from an economic standpoint the uranium-238 based reactors is better in comparison to thorium based reactors. But on contrary India has very less reserves of uranium-238 therefore importing uranium-238 has become a necessity. Since India has developed nuclear weapons and not signed non-proliferation treaty, it is not possible for her to obtain Uranium-238 from Nuclear supplier groups.

To overcome this problem, India is waiting for a long time to come to an agreement with U.S for the supply of nuclear raw material and at the same time without jeopardizing its strategic balance in the region.

The present civil nuclear co-operation objective is to enable export of nuclear raw material and its associated technical information for the production of energy. And thereby come out of an international isolation against India and in a long run making the world to accept her as a responsible nuclear power.

(In this I have not mentioned on the different types of nuclear reactors nevertheless it is also important to know these details. India boasts itself of developing Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR) and another famous reactors which is predominantly found is Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR). Though I don't have much details on both, I was informed that FBR is slightly more dangerous in comparison to PWHR. Hence the maintenance of FBR is comparatively costlier,thereby making it un-attractive)

Turmoil at Tenkasi

As I am a resident of Tamil nadu and especially Madurai, whose habitants travel to Courtrallam for every rainy season to enjoy the waterfalls and the scenic beauty the region can offer. So any person who knows about Courtrallam or have been to this place wouldnt have missed passing through a religious and historical town named Tenkasi.

Tenkasi is a small and beautiful town and host an important Shiva temple. The history says that when the saint Agastiyar (who by the way is responsible for the shivaism which is flourished in tamil nadu and assumed to be the one who made Tamil so sweet then it already is by composing hymns to Lord Shiva) came to Pabhanasam, shaivaism flousihed and the Pandian kingdom built artistic and magnificient temples dedicated to Lord shiva. Such is the history of this town.

It happened on the eve of Indian independence day, religious intolerence has grown to greater heights then one can presume. The muslims (as usual) killed the Hindu munnani thalaivar (an outfit similar to other Hindu organistaions in North India) Late Kumara Pandian last december at Tenkasi. The perpetraters were arrrested and was let out on bail by the local court.

These people on 14th August had a clash with the brothers of Late Kumara pandian, in this clash all the 3 brothers were murdered.

If I assume the worst this may can be the seeds sown in the southeren part of Tamil Nadu which is already split on caste lines to have a further split on religious issue. The goverenment as usual doesnt seem to take a pro-active role. It is important and necessary to check the crimes based on religious issues as it can be easily capatilized by hungry politicians to gain power.

Let the souls of the people died may rest in peace.

Politics in Nuclear deal

Arun shourie, un-disputed eminent historian and an intellectual brings a privilege motion against the PM, citing that he misled the country in the Nuclear deal. His accusation was PM did not say enough on whether India has the right to carry out the Nuclear test.

And lately from the US, it is stated that the Nuclear deal is off if Indian performs Nuclear test. So if we accept the deal as it is sated now, then we lose a strategic advantage in the nuclear weapons developement.

Meanwhile India should start focusing on the indigenous development of Nuclear reactors as it was doing in the past. Remember the Indian nuclear reactors are different from the rest of the world as it is a throrium based reactors where as others are Uraniaum.

So let us keep our fingers crossed till we have some accurate details on the Nuclear deal.

123 Nuclear agreement?

After a long pause, I am back to writing blogs on politics. Hope this enthu continues for a longer duration then one perceives!!!!

Also it so happened that I started to write(scirible !!!?) again on the eve of Diwali..ohh dont get confused it is not the real diwali (by the way most of the tamilians beleive Diwali is celebrated for the killing of the deamon Naragasura..which if you say in front of a North Indian, God save you..). So back to the blog, Diwali in the sense of Indian celebrating the 60th Independence day. And since this blog is concerned with the politics, Independence day is equivalent to Diwali for politics.

As you gaze through any media reports, you cant help but find a headline asking "We are celebrating 60th independence but are we really good enough!!!". Ok this blog is not going to answer such questions, as I strongly beleive that India should look beyond independence, in the sense, the politicians should no longer give an answer indicating India as a new born child and hence it is acceptable to lag behind in ceratin sectors. We should remember our freedom fighters which is important and necessary but more than that it is important to implement the freedom fighters vision of an Independent India. By implementing their visions it makes them more happy than just remembering and paying homage to the freedom fighters.

Then, coming to the title of the blog, as India walks through the Independence day celebrations, it is worth mentioning that the Nuclear agreement had been discussed and waiting for the approval in the US and India Parliment. I recommend, every young indian citizen to read through the nuclear agreement as it is going to directly affect you when you turn up 50!!! in 2030 or so..

This agreement if it is not thoroughly balanced then we lose strategic advantage of being independent nation till now ( whose seeds are sown by Nehru through non-alignment movement). I havent read the finer nuances of the deal as per the columns written by journalists I suppose this is a make or break situation. It has been clearly stated that this is the maximum India and US can bent. So if it is not accepted then the time spent on the nuclear agreement is futile.

So keep track of the blogs as I should give updates on the 123 of the Nuclear agreement.

Till then..try to find out why Solar eclipse ( a condition where moon is between Sun and Earth) doesnt occur every month, though moon rotates around the earth every month.