Includes bibliographical references and index.

The Indian Atomic Energy Programme was thought of well before the enormous power of the atom was revealed by the dropping of the atomic bombs over Japan by USA in World War II. There was never a thought of atomic weapons unlike the atomic energy programs of major nuclear powers. The focus was constructive applications of atomic energy. Help was received from friendly countries in building nuclear reactors for power generation, but almost all of the related requirements were met by indigenous efforts. The book analyses the remarkable achievements of the Atomic Energy program in the face of stifling international control regimes, discusses the reason why it remains still sub critical in Nuclear Power, gives a realistic prediction of nuclear power growth in the next 2 to 3 decades and goes on to suggest possible steps to make it relevant to the national context "sooner than later". It also contains reprints of 65 or so articles written on the topic by the author in the last 15 years.