There will be no additional cost to the EPR 1650 MWe Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR), a Generation III+ nuclear reactor developed by Areva of France, in complying with the additional safety requirements recommended by the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) in its Complementary Safety Assessment (CSA) report submitted in January. This was stated by Dr. Bernard Bigot, Chairman of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), at a...

The power of judicial review envelopes natural resource distribution The tsunami created by the 2G spectrum judgments of the the Supreme Court last week has almost mopped up the ripples they made in the legal sphere. However, they deserve respectful consideration for their discussion on two hot issues that have been agitating public mind in recent years. The first is the nature and ownership of natural resources, like air waves and spectrum,...

This is the season to count blessings. India's greatest blessings are its adherence to the democratic system of governance, an independent judiciary, a free and fearless media, and an Election Commission that inspires confidence. I hope that soon India will have an independent and effective Lokpal, which will pave the way for a corruption-free India, a pre-requisite for a hunger-free India. The other major paradigm shift observed in recent years is...

-The Hindustan Times   Had the world's leaders decided to ensure that global warming would increase to 3 to 4 degrees Celsius, perhaps to 5 degrees Celsius, instead of the 1.5-to-20 degrees Celsius threshold (over preindustrial temperatures) that scientists believe earth can tolerate, they couldn't have acted more purposively than they did at the Durban climate conference. If this sounds like a harsh judgement that radically differs from the official spin that...

-Bloomberg Talks on EU climate policies may get new impetus after Denmark takes over the rotating presidency in January The European Union (EU) is set to resume talks early next year about moving to a stricter carbon goal after countries worldwide backed its plan to start work toward a climate treaty that will be enacted by 2020. Europe pledged on Sunday after the conclusion of a two-week United Nations (UN) climate summit in...