Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that nearly 9% share of electricity is likely to be contributed from India’s nuclear sources by the year 2047 when India celebrates 100 years of independence and that this would help in getting closer with the commitment of achieving net zero target by 2070.

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh made these remarks after holding a review meeting with a group of senior scientists from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Department of Atomic Energy, at Mumbai.

The Minister said that the other targets laid down by the Department of Atomic Energy are achieving 20 GW capacity of nuclear power generation by the year 2030 which will be a major milestone placing India as the third largest producer of atomic energy in the world after the USA and France.

Dr Jitendra Singh mentioned that the credit for this rapid stride goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who for the first time after Independence took the decision of approving 10 reactors in fleet mode in a single order and allowed nuclear installations to be developed under joint ventures with PSUs as a result, today India is sixth largest in the world in the number of reactors that are functional and second largest in the total number of reactors including those under construction.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, one hallmark of the Modi regime is that for the first time, in a big way, the atomic energy is being used for applications in diverse sectors like, for example, for increasing shelf life of fruits like apple and agriculture products, for using latest technologies in treatment of Cancer and other diseases etc. He said, India has shown the world the way for using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

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