A team of government officials from the Ministries of External Affairs, Finance and Commerce and representatives of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Nuclear Power Corporation (NPCIL) are slated to visit the US shortly in an effort to bring out more clarity on how the Civil Nuclear deal would be taken forward.

“There could be a series of government-to-government and company-to-company meetings thereafter before the actual exports of nuclear reactors starts,” said an officer who did not wish to be named.

The breakthrough in the civil nuclear deal between India and US may be good news for major American equipment-makers like GE-Hitachi, Westinghouse Electric that propose to export eight nuclear power reactors to India. But, they may have to wait for up to a year before any commercial deal is inked with their Indian entities.

If experts are to be believed, the commercial negotiations between GE, Westinghouse on one side and Nuclear Power Corporation (NPCIL) and Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) on the other, would take a year or more to conclude and commence the ground execution of projects in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. “We have taken the first big step towards operationalising the Indo-US civil nuclear deal by addressing some of the key concerns of the suppliers. The next step would follow after presentation of union budget, when there would be further contacts between officials and companies of both countries,” according to a government official.

There is a hitch in operationalising the deal as India would need to have similar pact with Japan since many of the reactor components used by the joint US-Japanese companies come from there. Once there is clarity, the two US-based companies would join their nuclear equipment counterparts in Russia, Canada, France, Germany in exporting nuclear power reactors to India.

The reactors used by the US-based Westinghouse, General Electric and French Areva, which are to supply and install equipment for India to put up nuclear power plants, use crucial components such as reactor vessels supplied by Japanese firms.

Unfortunately, there is no nuclear agreement between New Delhi and Tokyo and the two US companies — General Electric and Westinghouse Electric Company — that bagged contracts to set up nuclear plants in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh are either partly or wholly-owned by Japanese companies.

Japan’s Hitachi had bought a 40 % stake in GE’s international joint venture in 2006, while Toshiba fully acquired the estinghouse Electric Company the same year. Japan’s Mitsubishi Nuclear Fuel Company acquired a 30% stake in French firm Avera in 2008. It is Avera that has bagged the contract to set up a nuclear power plant in Jaitapur, Maharashtra.

Westinghouse has already been allotted a site in Gujarat to build a nuclear power station with total capacity of 2,500 MW and possibility of expansion in future. Similarly, two sites have also been identified for GE plants in Andhra Pradesh with an initial capacity of 3,200 MW.

India and US last month unveiled a plan centered around insurance cover for nuclear plants that aims at shielding equipment suppliers from liability in the event of an accident by transferring the risk to insurers.

Though the plan is still sketchy, it is understood that a Rs 1,500 crore insurance pool would be created with participation from the GIC Re and four state-owned general insurance companies with Centre also pitching in a later date.

The insurance may be bought by the suppliers who would then recoup the cost by charging more for their services or the NPCIL would take out insurance on behalf of these companies.