US power majors take India?s N-deal with Russia in their stride

US companies in the nuclear power business are not unsettled by the Indo-Russian nuclear deal, which portends tough competition for them from Russian firms in the Indian market. Global majors GE and Westinghouse told FE they are confident India?s ambitious capacity programme in nuclear power generation will provide enough opportunities for all foreign players.

?India is a land of huge opportunities for foreign nuclear power sector companies,? says Daniel L Roderick, senior vice-president, GE, nuclear plants project, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and a co-leader of the visiting US delegation. GE Hitachi is a joint venture between GE and Japan?s Hitachi, in which the American company holds a majority stake.

Meena Mutyala, vice-president, global growth, Westinghouse, and the company?s senior executive for India operations, said her company wants to use India?s engineering talent pool and develop the country as a base for exporting nuclear power project equipment to other markets and also for project implementation abroad. The senior executives are here as members of the US delegation to take part in the 5 th annual US commercial nuclear mission.

On Monday, India signed a path-breaking civil nuclear agreement with Russia that will guarantee uninterrupted uranium fuel supplies for its atomic reactors and transfer of technology. That will in turn help Russian nuclear reactor vendors to aggressively compete with other overseas suppliers, especially those from the US, for orders in the lucrative Indian market. Russian vendors like AtomStroy

Export have been closely associated with India?s nuclear power generation capacity addition programme from the beginning and are supposed to have a better understanding of the Indian market than American companies. The Indo-Russia nuclear agreement will give a boost to Russian suppliers.

While American companies have signed agreements with Indian majors like Nuclear Power Corporation (NPCIL), Bhel, Larsen & Toubro and Bharat Forge, they are also exploring synergy with medium-sized companies here.

Mutyala said Westinghouse has no issues with the regulatory environment for nuclear power in India. ?We are comfortable with the Indian regulatory environment,? Mutaya told FE.

Though decommissioning and reprocessing spent nuclear fuel is the responsibility of Indian companies, Westinghouse said it can offer its expertise in these areas.

The US delegation has more than 50 members, 15 of which are senior executives of world-class companies like Bechtel Power, Cameco and Excell Services, besides GE and Westinghouse.

Ted Jones, director for policy advocacy, US-India Business Council, said American companies are very optimistic that commercial benefits of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal will start flowing soon.

The Indian government has offered land to GE and Westinghouse to build nuclear power generation capacity of 10,000 mw each. The sites are, however, yet to be finalised.