India, Australia must build thorium based N-reactors: Dr Kalam

20/05/2011 0 Comments read Diaspora, Nuclear Disarmament

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 20.05.2011 (IANS): India and Australia should work together in building Thorium-based nuclear reactors to meet the growing energy needs, said former Indian President, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, during his recently concluded four-day (May 17-20) visit to Sydney.

He said, “Thorium-fuelled reactors are supposed to be much safer than uranium-powered ones, use far less material (1 metric ton of thorium gets as much energy as 200 metric tons of uranium, or 3.5 million metric tons of coal), produce waste that is toxic for a shorter period of time (300 years as against uranium’s tens of thousands of years), and is hard to weaponize. In fact, thorium can even feed off of toxic plutonium waste to produce energy. And because the biggest cost in nuclear power is safety, and thorium reactors can’t melt down, they will eventually be much cheaper, too”.

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New Trade Winds

21/04/2011 0 Comments read Business and Trade

By Neena Bhandari

(Opinion piece for Business Standard): From cricket and the Commonwealth, India-Australia bilateral ties have moved to embracing commerce. Recent months have seen Indian companies making huge investments in Australian mines and setting up joint ventures to secure the much needed resources for meeting India’s growing energy needs.

The “U” word, as the issue of uranium sales to India is often referred to in diplomatic circles, made front-page headlines and prime time news, and even dominated talkback radio airwaves. So much so that at the visiting US president and Australian prime minister’s joint press conference, one of the questions asked by an Australian journalist was on uranium exports to India to which President Barack Obama replied, “I will watch with interest what is determined.”

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Egypt beckons tourists to explore the ingenuity of the Pharaohs’ creations

04/04/2011 0 Comments read Travel

By Neena Bhandari

Cairo, Aswan & Luxor, 04.04.2011 (The Hindustan Times): It was meant to be a leisurely exploration of the celebrated monuments of the Nile Valley, but we found ourselves enmeshed in Egypt’s tumultuous events that created political history, marking the end of Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year dictatorial reign.

“It will be a while before travellers return to Cairo”, our guide, Hesham Aref, had told me on Skype in March. International tourist arrivals saw a decline of 45 per cent in the first quarter of 2011, but tourists are gradually returning to Egypt. This augurs well for the country’s ensuing political and social stability. Tourism is one of the four main revenue earners besides the Suez Canal and oil and gas exports. As the leading foreign exchange earner and representing one in every seven jobs, tourism is a crucial factor in Egypt’s economic recovery. In 2010, tourism accounted for 11.5 per cent of the GDP. As many as 14 million international tourists visited Egypt last year, generating nearly US$13 billion in international tourism receipts.

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