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'We have progressed very far in terms of technology'

India's nuclear programme is now unstoppable, distinguished scientist Dr Raja Ramanna said.

''We have progressed very far in terms of technology,'' he observed.

He said India was greatly blessed with an abundance of thorium, a radioactive mineral, which can be converted into uranium 233.

Dr Ramanna expressed surprise at the fact that India set off a hydrogen bomb. He attributed the achievement to the geopolitics of the region which ''very few people understood.''

He said it was the embargo on supplies imposed by the West from 1975 that spurred India to go in for its own research in such critical subjects as metallurgy and chemistry, which finally gave India mastery over atomic energy.

What is important about India's nuclear programme and the abundance of thorium, Dr Ramanna continued, was that these provided the country with a virtually inexhaustible source of cheap power.

He urged the government to invest heavily in nuclear power stations to help the country overcome its energy problems.

UNI

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