Ex-IEA official tells India to go ahead with nuclear projects

India was advised to go ahead with its civil nuclear power projects to balance against the impact of high oil and gas prices.

According to a former executive director of the International Energy Agency, Nabuo Tanaka, India has a huge urban setting for using nuclear power in a very efficient and effective way

“Already India is moving towards more cooperation with Japan, US for introducing civil technologies," said Tanaka.

“India already has lots of technology. But, just like China, these big emerging economies inevitably will depend on nuclear power,” he stressed while speaking on the sidelines of the Singapore Energy Summit.

Tanaka ruled out cheaper oil days, saying he expected crude oil prices to range between US$70 and US $80 per barrel in the longer term, while renewable energies development has slowed down due to unpredictable global economic growth.

A higher US $100 per barrel oil price would derail the global economy with pressure on energy costs. Large oil and gas consuming countries should note this and give importance to alternative options, he said.

He alsonoted that tafter the Fukushima nuclear plant incidents Japanese experts were now working on much safer approach, especially new reactors.  Tanaka said that he expected Japan to restart its idle nuclear plants next year as its option of non-nuclear energy would be too costly.

“Logically speaking, if Japan is not restarting nuclear power, it means ¥ 3 trillion more expenditure on fuels,” he pointed out.