Mumbai, Aug 26 - Vice President Hamid Ansari Wednesday expressed hope that private utility providers will run nuclear power plants in India in the 'not so distant future', and stressed the need to have trained human resource in the atomic sector.

'While we can import nuclear fuel and technology, human resource would have to be developed and equipped within the country,' said Ansari, addressing the graduation ceremony of the 52nd batch of students of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Training School.

'There are not many academic or professional institutions to train scientists and technologists for the nuclear industry in India. It is here that I foresee one of the most significant challenges for the BARC Training School,' he said.

Ansari pointed out that international regulatory environment concerning nuclear commerce has changed since last year, opening up new avenues for accelerated deployment of nuclear power in the years to come.

'This would also bring about a re-adjustment in the internal regulatory environment,' he said, referring to the Economic Survey for 2008-09 which has pointed out that the Atomic Energy Act needs to be amended to permit private corporate investment in nuclear power, subject to regulation by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).