Brushing aside criticism of nuclear power projects on environmental grounds, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday said it was “paradoxical” that most die-hard green activists also happened to be the most bitter opponents of nuclear power generation, one of the cleanest ways of harnessing electricity.

Speaking at a seminar at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Jairam said there was little option for India but to exploit every available source of renewable energy, including solar, wind and nuclear energy, to meet its soaring energy demands for developmental needs.

“It’s a paradox. Nuclear energy is one of the cleanest ways of producing electricity. And the people who are most concerned about environment also happen to be the ones who are the strongest critics of nuclear energy,” he said, adding that the recent opposition to the proposed nuclear power project at Jaitapur in Maharashtra was “more political than technical”.

Jairam lamented the fact that the country had squandered the global lead in renewable technologies it used to enjoy in the eighties. “We were probably the first country to set up a coal gassification plant. We used to be world leaders in solar photo-voltaic technology 25-30 years ago. Same in wind energy. But we have now been overtaken by others. Our focus on renewables has sadly followed the international oil prices. If the oil prices are down, we forget about renewables,” he said.