Dump N-arms; harness atomic energy for human welfare: Manmohan Singh

Prime minister Manmohan Singh today called upon nuclear powers to dump atomic weapons and instead strive to harness nuclear energy to the benefit of mankind.

"Just as we seek to enhance peaceful uses of nuclear energy, we have a pressing and immediate moral obligation to draw down and eventually do away with its destructive use of nuclear energy," the prime minister said at the inaugural address at the international conference on peaceful uses of nuclear energy in New Delhi.

"The peaceful uses of nuclear energy are not just about power. There are promising applications in the areas of agriculture, food production and preservation, medicine and water desalination," he said.

India, he said, has successfully developed 37 mutant varieties of seeds for commercial cultivation using nuclear techniques. Besides using radiation technology for food preservation is growing, India has built a nuclear desalination plant at Kalpakkam and is working on the use of isotope hydrology techniques for rejuvenation of springs, which is an important source of drinking water, the prime minister said.

"With this limitless potential, I believe that the international community should reflect more on how international cooperation can multiply the benefits of nuclear energy for all humankind," he said.

He said just as India is participating in the International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles and the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, the country is ready to contribute to global research and development into new proliferation-resistant fuel cycles also.