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usiness

Today

The Resource Centre

Date: 14/09/2014 Page

No: 20 Location:

Main

Circulation: 185000

Edition: National

F O U S N u c l e ar P o w e r

Powering Up:The

Kudankulam Atomic Power

Plant

in Tamil Nadu

INDIA'S

INSTALLED

NUCLEAR

CAPACITY IS

5 780

W

Big

Liability

I n d i a i s c l o s e t o

c l i n c h i n g

i t s c i v i l n u c l e a r d e a l w i t h J a p a n ,

b u t i t s l a w o n n u c l e a r d a m a g e s r e m a i n s

a

h u r d l e

f o r

i n v e s t o r s . y

A N I L E S H S M A H A J A N

E

xternal

Affairs

Minister Sushma

Swaraj s

meeting

with her

Japanese

counterpart Fumio

Kishida

earlier this

month,

on

the

sidelines

of theASEAN

Regional

Forum

conference at Navpyidaw. Mynamar.

went

particularly

well. Kishida.

who

hails

from liroshima. wassaid to have been deeply

moved

when Swaraj

informed himthat every

year

on August 6 he

anniversary

of

the

nuclear bombing of his

city

ndia s

Parliament,

too. mournsthevictims.

As

it

happened,

one o f

the

vital

subjects

discussed

at themeeting was India'scivil

nu

clear cooperation deal

with Japan, in the mak

ing for four

years.

Negotiations

had

been

sus

pended

by Japan after the March

2011

Fukushima disaster,

but

were revived

again

late last year. Ministry officials

say they

are

hopeful, given

the

positivenote o f themeeting,

that the

deal

will be

sealed

and announced

by

the

end of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's

forthcoming

visit

to

Japanin early September.

A

sticking point in

the deal

had

been

Japan's

keenness

to see

India

sign

the

Non-

Proliferation

and

FissileMaterial Cutoffs

trea

ties

first

despite

the fact that the Nuclear

Suppliers' Group (NSG) had granted

India a

waiver

in

this

respect

six

years back.

(All

coun

tries.

barring the

five big nuclear powers,

are

required to sign these

treaties

before they

are

allowed to

trade

in

nuclear equipment,but

the

NSC. madeanexception

in

India's

case.)

But

8/11/2019 Business Today Story on Nuclear

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F O U S N u c l ea r

P o w e r

ALSTOM AND

AREVA

ARE

IN

TALKS WITH THE

MAHARASHTRA

GOVERNMENT

TO

SET

UP

A9,600

M W NUCLEAR

PLANT

IN

JAITAPUR

now ministry officialsseem

confident that the deal will

be

clinchedanyway.

The

pact

will

allow

Japanese

companies,

such

as Japan

Steel Works

global leader in making

components

lor nuclear

reactors o

startsupplying

such equipment

to

India.

India hopes U S

companies

making similar equipment,

such as GE

and

Westing-

house. will also

take a

cue

from their

Japanese

coun

terparts.

The

deal will

help

companies do

business

with

India

more

smoothly.

says Robinder Sachdev,

India affairs chief at

the

PS-

based

advocacy

group PS-

India Political Action

Committee.

It

willbe win-

win situation for japan and

India,

along with

the

US .

The Japan

visit

i s

part

of

a

series

of meetings Modi is

holding

with

global

leaders. Already in

July,

Modi had talks

with Russian

President

Vladimir Putin

on

the sidelines of the BRICS

summit in Brazil, during which he

invited

Putin to visit the Kudankulam nuclear plant

in

Tamil Nadu, built with Russian

assistance.

(Thecommissioningof theKudankulam plant

in

June raised

India's

nuclear power

genera

tion

capacity

to

5.780 MW.)

Australian

Prime

Minister

Tony

Abbott will be

visiting

N e w-

Delhi

later in

September,

which may

see issues

relating to

uranium

supplies from Australia

being ironed out. There is also Chinese

President Xi

Jinping's

visit

and

at

the

month-

end. Modi is off

to

Washington

to

meet PS

President Barack Obama.

In November.

Modi

in turn

will travel

to

Australia for the

(1-20

summit

inBrisbane.

Diplomatic

efforts tobolster nuclear

energy

are being made diligently,

but

there isanob

stacle in India's

regulatory

law which has

dampened global investor spirit. The

Civil

Liability for Nuclear Damage Act

sets

the

maximum compensation

that can

be

sought

from theoperator incaseof a nuclear accident

at

^500

crore

($8

3

million).

Operators arere

quired

to

take

sufficient

insurance

to

cover this

possibility, which they

maintain

makes their

pre

mium costs

unallocable.

If thecost

is

passed on. the

power generated may

be

so

expensive,compared

to

that

from conventional

coal-based thermal plants,

as

to

render

the

nuclear

plant unviable.

We have

apprised

the

government

of

our

con

cern. says

Rathin

Basu.

Chairman. Alstom India.

This affects

not

only for

eign investors, but also

Indian players. Alstom.

along with

Areva. both

French companies, is in

t a l k s

w i t h t h e

Maharashtra government

to set

up

a 9.(300

MW nu

clear plant in Jaitpur.

Ministry

officials

reveal

that three US

Secretaries.

Russian Deputy

Prime

Minister Dmitry

Rogozin, and

French Foreign Minister

Laurent

Fabius, all

o f

whom

visited

India in recent

months, also complained

about the

damages

clause being unrealistic.

However,

given

Indian memories of

the

1984Bhopal

gas

tragedy

in which 20.000

people

were killed,

the

chancesof Parliament

approving

any

dilution of

the

existing law are

slim.

Lengthy, heated debates preceded its

passing in

2010.

Theeasiest solution would

be

toamend the lawbut that isnot likelyinthe

currentscenario. saysBasu.There is specula

tion inofficial

circles

thatrules may

be

framed

to circumvent some o f the liability clauses,

moreso after U S State Department's Assistant

Secretary Nisha Biswal statement during

a

congressional testimony

which

said India

might make things easier either through a

legal

framework

or through other

frameworks

that can

help

create more

surety,

so that it

is

not

unlimited liability

as

the

companies are

rightly

concerned . We just hope

things

start

moving

inthe

right direction. says

Basu.

a n i l e s hm a h a j a n

WE

HAVE

APPRISED

THE

GOVERNMENT

OF

OUR

CONCERN... THIS

AFFECTSNOT

ONLY

FOREIGN

INVESTORS,

BUT ALSO

INDIAN

PLAYERS...

WE HOPE

THINGS START

MOVING

IN

THE

RIGHT DIRECTION

R a t h i n

B a s u ,

C h a i r m a n ,

A l s t o m

I n d i a

22

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