India will not abandon nuclear power

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says nuclear power is here to stay.

He made this point at the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, South Korea and also addressed the thorny issues of nuclear safety and nuclear proliferation.

The meeting, attended by leaders of the US, China and Russia among others, has been discussing measures to fight the threat of nuclear terrorism. It is also tackling the protection of nuclear materials and facilities and the prevention of trafficking of nuclear materials.

Nuclear energy is vital to India, Singh said, given the country's growing energy demands. He noted that nuclear energy was an essential component of India’s energy mix.

India has a total capacity of 4680 MW from nuclear power. It will soon install a very large number nuclear plants with technologies from France and South Korea.

It is talking to France on EPR technology with a capacity of 1,650 MW unit to be built in Jaitapur. India signed as inter-governmental agreement with South Korea last July for a 1,400 MW reactor.