15 years on, US nuke deal waits for power plug
India’s plans to import reactors from America and France.
The historic agreement was signed by then US President George Bush on October 8, 2008.
The framework was a July 18, 2005, joint statement by then PM Manmohan Singh, and Bushwhich envisaged India agreeing to separate its civil and military nuclear facilities, and place the civil ones under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.
In exchange, the US agreed to work towards full civil nuclear cooperation with India.
But, according to the just-released World Nuclear Industry Status Report, 2023 — published by the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute, a private body — plans to import reactors have floundered in the years since the deal was inked.
The report says a key reason for the “reluctance of US vendors to enter into agreements (for reactors) has been the refusal to accept any liability for accidents”.
According to the report, the French company EDF (Electricite de France) has evinced interest in building six European Pressurised Reactors (EPR) at Jaitapur in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district. “But there continues to be disagreement over the EDF offer, including liability for accidents,” the report says.
However, at a recent conference organised by the Indian Nuclear Society at the Centre-run Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai, French officials told TOI that “talks regarding the EPRs were progressing satisfactorily with the Indian authorities, and hopefully a deal should be firmed up soon”.
According to the report, India currently has 19 operational reactors with a total generating capacity of 6.3GW (gigawatts) or 6300MW (megawatts).
The share of nuclear power in India’s electricity is 3.1 per cent. It says that eight more reactors
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