After countries like France, the US, Britain, Russia and Canada, it is now the turn of Sweden to woo India for joint ventures in the field of nuclear power.
A Swedish business delegation on nuclear power and safety management arrived in Delhi on Tuesday for a four-day trip. They are here to understand better the Indian nuclear energy market and explore business opportunities where Sweden has an advantage.
The UPA government had set a target to add a capacity of 63,000 megawatts nuclear power by 2030 at an estimated development and generation cost of over $80 billion.
Sweden is more bullish on back-end operations like nuclear waster management (building storage and disposal facilities for spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste from nuclear facilities) for which they see a market of around $2 billion in India.
The delegation, headed by ambassador of Sweden to India Lars-Olof Lindgren, comprises Swedish companies, technology providers, government agencies and research institutes in the area of nuclear energy.
?Nuclear power in Sweden has proved to be a technologically and economically a success. In India, the sector is on the threshold, ready for take-off. This provides huge opportunities for synergies in the area of nuclear energy and management between the two countries,? said Lars-Olof Lingdren. ?With this delegation, Sweden expands its ties with India, now also within the field of nuclear technology solutions,? he added.
In India, the delegation will be in New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai and will meet government authorities, and businesses and key research institutes. The delegation will tour the Madras Atomic Power Station (India?s first indigenously designed atomic power plant and fuel reprocessing plant) at Kalpakkam, about 80 km south of Chennai.