Decks cleared for nuclear pact with US firm

Indrani Bagchi, TNN Sep 21, 2013, 04.14AM IST

(Menon said the Atomic Energy)

NEW DELHI: India and the US have cleared the decks for a pre-early works agreement between NPCIL and US nuclear company, Westinghouse. National security adviser (NSA) Shivshankar Menon said, "The two sides have resolved all government-to-government permissions and understandings required for enabling commercial negotiations". The two sides signed a "confidentiality agreement" last week that would allow both sides to share confidential data with each other.

Speaking at an event at Aspen Institute on Friday, Menon said the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) will soon begin safety evaluations of Westinghouse's AP1000 nuclear reactor that they propose to sell to India. Westinghouse is already building four of these reactors in China, the first of which is expected to begin operations next year.

Trying to dampen the controversy over reports that the government may be diluting the provisions of the liability law to ease the entry of US companies, Menon said, "I was surprised yesterday to see stories that somehow Indian law will not be applicable to nuclear projects in India. Civil nuclear projects in Indian would naturally be subject to Indian laws including civil liability. ... whatever nuclear power parts are imported, they should meet the highest standards of safety and deliver power at competitive prices".

Later, foreign secretary Sujatha Singh described civil nuclear as an "important" part of the Indo-US bilateral relationship. "Discussions are ongoing between NPCIL and WEC and it is our hope that these discussions will be closed successfully. All contracts with foreign companies are subject to the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages act and rules."

Menon said both Indian and foreign nuclear suppliers had posed many questions. "Everybody asks, how does this law work? How will it apply and they need to know to do business."

The government, he said, was "in the process of addressing these questions with them individually and as a whole so that we also have clarity. It is our interest as well as we would not want to be surprised on how it works. We will work out those issues".

Talking up the Indo-US relationship days before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is supposed to visit, Menon said it was a "transformative" relationship. The pillars of the relationship he said were "energy, education and defence". Under the defence technology initiative, Menon said they would be looking at co-development and co-production of defence equipment, in the process building a defense-industrial complex in India.

Original post:
Decks cleared for nuclear pact with US firm