India's Nuclear Energy Plans Face Post-Fukushima Hurdles

If the phenomenon of nuclear renaissance has a true believer, it is India. In the next decade, India envisages monumental growth in its nuclear energy production. Today, nuclear energy contributes only 3 percent of the country’s total energy mix -- a meager 4,200 megawatts. By 2020, India plans to increase nuclear energy production tenfold, to 40,000 MW.

But the question now facing New Delhi is whether hostile public opinion will scuttle India’s nuclear energy expansion. Massive anti-nuclear protests in India have brought progress on the Koodankulam nuclear power plant to a grinding halt. Before that, the Jaitapur nuclear project ran into trouble over safety concerns. ...