Post nuclear deal, first US reactor is bound for Gujarat

PranabDhalSamanta : New Delhi, Sun Jun 10 2012, 02:43 hrs

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/post-nuclear-deal-first-us-reactor-is-bound-for-gujarat/960146/0

India and US are on track to cross a significant milestone by firming up an early works agreement for the installation of the first 1100 MW American nuclear reactor in India under the India-US nuclear deal.

It is learnt that India has finalised the technical specifications for the reactor to be installed at Mithi Virdi in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district, and handed these to the US.

While Washington’s problems with the Civil Nuclear Liability Law remain, sources said, it was decided not to let that come in the way of technical negotiations. This got a major boost when the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission certified Westinghouse Electric’s latest version of the AP-1000 reactor, the same reactor which the company has proposed to set up in Gujarat.

The Department of Atomic Energy had sought a specific safety approval from US nuclear regulators on the AP-1000 series after the Fukushima incident. Sources said this assurance has also been conveyed, lending confidence for the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to proceed with negotiations.

The other issue which now stands resolved is the role of Toshiba from Japan which is the majority stakeholder in Westinghouse. It is learnt that the US company assured the Indian side that no major sourcing would be done from Japan for the India contract and so a separate arrangement with Tokyo is not mandatory.

This came as a relief since India and Japan have been struggling to stitch a civil nuclear cooperation agreement. Fukushima also put the whole process on hold.

With the US assurance in hand, then NPCIL chairman S K Jain visited Westinghouse’s Vogtle site in Georgia, US.

NPCIL teams were taken to the two Westinghouse sites in China where 80 per cent of the work is done.