Nuclear energy is clean but too risky to rely on

livemint.com:

India’s flurry of diplomacy over the weekend included a joint statement issued with France that envisioned the co-development of modular nuclear reactors, the kind with interchangeable parts meant for rapid assembly at scale. Since nuclear plants heat water to drive turbines and generate power without burning fossil fuels, they qualify as climate-friendly from an emission perspective. India’s current pace of renewable capacity addition—wind, solar and hydro energy projects—would need sharp acceleration for non-fossil sources to yield 500 gigawatts of electricity by 2030, a target the country must meet on its way to carbon neutrality by 2070.

A huge nuclear step-up is not just a big temptation, but also the elephant in the clean-energy hall. Unlike other ways to keep our lights on and gadgets going, it remains tied up in global geopolitics over its potential for misuse. In 2005, a celebrated nuclear deal with the US gave India access to supplies of reactors and fuel under a regime that had long barred us for our defiant pursuit of nukes.

It was an agreement seen as heralding a bold new era of nuclear power. This did not materialize, however. The reason may explain why we hear so little about it today.

At the end of August, India switched on an indigenously developed 700-megawatt nuclear plant in Kakrapar, Gujarat. But news of such inaugurations is rare. In all, this form of energy accounts for only 1.6% of India’s total installed generation capacity, as listed by the ministry of power.