Kalam firmly backs nuke deal with US

Indo-Asian News Service
Thursday, June 26, 2008 (Bangalore)
India will benefit from the proposed civil nuclear deal with the US, as it needs a steady supply of uranium, former president APJ Abdul Kalam said in Bangalore on Thursday.

''We need a steady supply of uranium till we build thorium reactors. The proposed civilian nuclear deal with the US will help us,'' Kalam told reporters on the sidelines of an aerospace technologies summit.

His comments come at a time when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the centre is struggling to press ahead with the deal because of stiff opposition from its Left allies.

Backing the UPA government on the deal, Kalam said the country needed to tap alternate sources of energy such as hydel, thermal, solar and bio-fuels, but at the same time nuclear energy would be able to meet the growing power requirement.

''We need to harness alternate and renewable energy resources such as hydel, solar and bio-fuels, while power generation from thermal resources leads to certain environmental problems,'' Kalam said.

The former president, however, declined to comment on the strident opposition to the deal by the Left Front and reservations expressed by a section of nuclear scientists.
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