Centre nears deal with Westinghouse for N-plants in Andhra: report

02 Jun 2016

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US-based nuclear power company Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is in ''advanced discussions'' for building six nuclear reactors in India, most probably in Andhra Pradesh, reports quoting Indian envoy to the US said.

Westinghouse Electric Corp, which is majority owned by Japan's Toshiba Corp, wanted to build six nuclear power plants in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state Gujarat, but local opposition to risky nuclear plants forced the central government to relocate these to southern states.

The move comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's planned visit to Washington next week.

A deal with Westinghouse would be the first such contract reached under the 2008 US-India civil nuclear accord.

''There is a very detailed and advanced negotiation between Westinghouse and India,'' Ambassador Arun Singh told reporters. ''The issues that remain to be worked out are related to cost and financing.''

Progress on the deal to build six AP-1000 nuclear reactors is one of the key developments anticipated during the 7-8 June visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington, where he will be hosted by President Barack Obama for a final summit before the US presidential election in November. Modi will address both houses of Congress.

The agreement to build the first plant by a US company comes eight years after United States and India agreed in 2008 to co-operate in the civil nuclear arena.

A Reuters report on Tuesday said the breakthrough was reached after Indian officials agreed to relocate the planned project to the southern state of Andhra Pradesh after the original site proposed for the multi-billion-dollar project, in Gujarat, faced local opposition.

The deal comes after India relaxed the liability rules for foreign firms by channeling the cost of any possible accident to the operator, rather than the equipment supplier.

Also, India's state-run insurers will bear the damage cost in case of an accident by creating an insurance pool.

The issue has already been largely resolved to the satisfaction of the US government and equipment suppliers in January 2015 after the United States and India reached a "breakthrough understanding" on nuclear co-operation.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse Electric Company LLC offers nuclear products and services to utilities internationally, including nuclear fuel, service and maintenance, instrumentation, control and design of nuclear power plants. As of 2014 Westinghouse claims to have built approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants.

Japan's Toshiba Group is the majority owner of Westinghouse.

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