IAEA: Misfire of BrahMos missile not cause for any specific concern

• International nuclear watchdog IAEA has said it did not see the recent misfire of a BrahMos missile as any cause of “specific concern” and that the incident did not in any way raise questions on the safety of nuclear weapons or material in India.

The issue

• On March 9, a BrahMos cruise missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads was accidentally fired and landed well within Pakistani territory.
• It was not carrying any weapon, and therefore no explosion or damage was caused.
• The IAEA head said he saw a bright future for nuclear energy in India, particularly for new technologies, and was anticipating a “steep” expansion in nuclear power generation.
• India has incredible dynamism and the technological base that will allow it to do this very quickly when a decision on this regard is taken.

India’s Nuclear Capacity

• India’s 22 operational nuclear power plants have an installed capacity of 6,780 MW, which is less than two per cent of the total installed electricity capacity of 407 GW.
• India has approved, and is in the process of building, ten more nuclear power plants which are expected to come online in the next five to ten years.
• New nuclear power plants in India have usually taken between eight and 15 years to start operations.

Conclusion

• China is building nuclear reactors at a breathtaking pace.
• There is a new nuclear power plant every five years or so.
• There is nothing inherent that prevents building of nuclear reactors within very reasonable time frames which matches the urgency called for by the climate change crisis.
• If you are talking about abating carbon dioxide completely by 2040 or 2050, you would need to build nuclear reactors at a fast pace.