US welcomes India’s decision to allocate sites for nuclear plants

New Delhi: The United States has welcomed India's decision to allot two sites for the construction of nuclear plants by US-led companies. The allocation of two sites, one in Gujarat and another in Andhra Pradesh, will lead to construction of nuclear reactors that may supply up to 10,000 MWe of power to India's electricity supply grid.

Kudankulam nuclear plant

''This important announcement [of allocation of sites] comes in welcome recognition of the trust and confidence as well as the growing partnership between our two countries. This development not only promises to deliver greater access to clean and affordable energy and electricity for all Indians, it will also produce jobs and economic opportunities for the people of both India and the US,'' Timothy Roemer, US ambassador to India, said in a statement.

French and Russian companies already have a head start on the Americans with French major, Areva, being allocated Jaitapur in Maharashtra and Russia getting Haripur in West Bengal in addition to Kudankulam - where it is already constructing two reactors and is slated to construct another four.

The US companies will now await India to sign the Convention for Supplementary Compensation convention to limit the nuclear liability for them, which may consume some more time.

Meanwhile, India has notified its Separation Plan to IAEA under which 14 of its 22 reactors will come under safeguards of the international nuclear watchdog by 2014. This is seen as a critical step towards implementation of the civil nuclear deal with the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers Group. It also comes about a year after the Nuclear Suppliers Group cleared the deal.

So far, India has signed civil nuclear energy pacts with seven countries, including the US. The pacts with Namibia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia are intended either to source uranium or look for construction opportunities for indigenously designed small nuclear plants.

New Delhi last week also signed its seventh nuclear agreement, this time with Argentina.