Advocating speedy development of nuclear power, Vajpayee said the country's economic development was dependent on the availability of adequate energy resources.

``If India has to become a strong and robust economy with an annual growth rate of 6 to 7 per cent, it must quickly meet the growing and largely unmet energy requirements of agriculture, industry, the services and household sectors,'' Vajpayee told the Parliamentary Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The Prime Minister's plea for investing in nuclear power was bolstered by the Atomic Energy Commission Chairman R Chidambaram's remarks at the meeting that the capital cost of nuclear power far outweighed the advantages derived in the long run. Already the gestation period of building nuclear plants has come down from seven yearsto five-and-a-half years, he said.

But the Prime Minister's push for nuclear energy comes in the face of criticism from anti-nuclear and some environmentalist groups about the dangers of building nuclear plants and ensuring their safety.

The Prime Minister's assurances on the safety aspects of nuclear energy comes after the Government announced earlier this year its ambitious plans to increase nuclear power production to 20,000 megawatts by the year 2020.

Dispelling fears about the safety record of India's nuclear programme, Vajpayee said India's record was as safe as any in the world. ``We have never had any accident nor has the presence of a nuclear power plant caused any additional radiation-related diseases to its neighbourhood,'' he said.

``Therefore, none should be taken in by the ill-informed criticism about our nuclear power plants, especially around the sites where we are building new reactors,'' Vajpayee added.

Over the next two decades, India plans to enhance its nuclear power capacity to20,000 MW with a share of little more than 50 per cent produced by indigenously developed pressurised heavy water reactors and the rest by light water reactors.

India's dependence on coal-fired power plants has raised critical issues of growing pollution and waste disposal. Apart from fossil fuels being a non-renewable resource, there have also been pressures on India to cut back on its carbon-dioxide emissions, a contributory factor in global warming.

Environmentalists argue that a single 1000-MW coal plant spews out some six million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, whereas nuclear and wind power plants discharge minimum greenhouse gases and pollutants. It also produces an average 44,000 tonnes of sulphur oxide and 22,000 tonnes of nitrous oxides that are dispersed into the atmosphere.

In comparison, a 1000-MW nuclear power plant does not release noxious gases or other pollutants and produces only some 30 tonnes of high-level radioactive spent fuel along with 800 tonnes of low and intermediate levelwastes.

Various MPs who attended the meeting were also in favour of enhancing the nuclear power capacity. Some of the MPs wanted India to push ahead with the programme in the ``shortest possible time''.