123 Agreement - Necessary?

I would like to share my views about the 123 agreement that the Indian Government is so keen on signing before the Bush regime changes in December. First of all nuclear energy is not that cheap as it is being hyped about. The cost involving research, operation cycle and the nuclear waste disposal makes it much more costlier than the conventional coal-powered reactors in our country.

The nuclear reactors are offering the electricity at 270 paise per kWh whereas Reliance is currently offering it at 230 paise per kWh. Also the costly nuclear reactors which are to be bought from the US and other NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group) a cartel lead by US has to use the fuel supplied by these countries, which makes the Thorium abundantly available in our country useless.

Moreover the time to construct these nuclear reactors is of great contention as the US has not constructed a single nuclear reactor for its domestic market since the 1970s and the Russians who are building the Koodankulam nuclear reactors are already behind the schedule by 2 years. The Russians are building a older version of their nuclear reactor in India whereas their somestic markey has moved to a newer version

And also the fact that the Indian government is saying that the nuclear agreement can be signed by only the Bush government is also not true. On the contrary, it has to be agreed by both the Democrats and the Republicans in the Senate.

Considering so many hurdles to the agreement is it really necessary to sign on the agreement. Instead of buying those costly nuclear reactors with no real timeframe for it to get delivered, the government can spend that money on technology that can use Thorium as the fuel. Its time to think out of the box for the Indian government and concentrate on the development of technology