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Bhabha Birth Centenary
Conference to focus on nuke energy
R Sedhuraman
Our Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, September 27
Amidst the controversy over the success of the 1998 Pokhran II nuclear tests and the concern over the UNSC resolution on nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will inaugurate a three-day international conference on ‘Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy-2009’ here on Tuesday.

The conference will explore the “options that would contribute to developing a future roadmap for the growth of nuclear energy and its peaceful applications” against the “backdrop of the progress made in the last five decades,” an official press note said today. Among others who will address the conference are: Finance Minister Pranabh Mukherjee, Dr Mohammed Elbaradei (DG) of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a UN watchdog on nuclear issues, and Prof P Rama Rao, president of Indian Nuclear Society (INS).

The conference is part of the year-long events to mark the birth centenary of Dr Homi Jehangir Bhabha, founder of the Indian Atomic Energy Programme. It is being organised by the Department of Atomic Energy in association with IAEA and INS. The FM will also release the Bhabha centenary commemorative coins on this occasion.

Several policy makers and eminent nuclear scientists and technologists have agreed to deliver lectures at the meet that will cover both power and non-power applications of nuclear energy. Further, experts from some of the countries with emerging nuclear programmes will give presentations.

The meet will witness plenary sessions, side events, poster sessions and round table discussions. The participation by “potential new-comers” is expected to contribute to the collective growth of nuclear energy in the world, it was clarified.

The conference assumes significance in the light of Dr K Santhanam, project leader of the 1998 tests, questioning the success of the Pokhran II operation. Rejecting the clarifications issued by National Security Advisor MK Narayanan asserting that the tests were a success, Santhanam has maintained that the tests had only 20-25 kilotonne yield as against an expected 45 (KT).

Even as the controversy was raging, the 15-member UN Security Council passed a resolution asking all the countries to sign the NPT. Though it is not binding on countries, India is expected to come under pressure to get into the NPT fold, experts feel.