New Delhi (dpa) – India is committed to the highest safety standards as it expands its nuclear power program, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Saturday as he left to attend a nuclear security summit in Seoul. India, which depends heavily on oil imports to meet its growing energy needs, has launched an ambitious nuclear power program, with several reactors slated to be built over the next decade. Singh's comments come against the backdrop of protests by local residents against a nuclear power plant at Kudankulam, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, which is being built with Russian assistance. “India is expanding its nuclear power program to diversify its energy mix and enhance energy security,” Singh said. “In order to retain public support for harnessing the benefits of nuclear energy, we must be able to assure them of the highest levels of nuclear security and safety,” Singh added. Singh said the issue of safety at plants had become even more important after the disaster at the Fukushima plant in Japan following the March 2010 tsunami. The Seoul summit was expected to review actions taken by countries to strengthen nuclear security since the last summit in Washington. At this meeting, India would share a report on the security of its plants and highlight the priority it attaches to nuclear non-proliferation, the prime minister said. India is known to have developed nuclear weapons and has not signed the international Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/rhzhf Tags: India, Nuclear, Power, Safety, Singh Section: Latest News, South Asia
