Preliminary discussions by year-end, with details to be then negotiated.
State-run Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) will soon launch talks with Bechtel on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for nuclear capacity addition.
Bechtel Infrastructure President Carl Rau is expected to arrive in India by the end of October or by mid-November to meet NPC's chairman and managing director, S K Jain, to work out further details.
Industry sources say Bechtel's entry will mean tough competition for Indian companies such as Larsen & Toubro and Hindustan Construction, which have been associated with EPC contracts for the nuclear projects in operation and those being planned.
Am NPC official who would be involved in the talks with Bechtel told Business Standard on condition of anonymity: “If NPC completes successful negotiations with Bechtel, then the latter will be assigned the job of the entire construction of a nuclear project. Bechtel will be entitled for an incentive if the company completes the job well ahead of time line. At the same time, Bechtel will be liable for an hefty penalty if there are slippages. All these issues would come for discussion before signing an initial and final EPC contract with Bechtel.”
Said a Bechtel official: “India is definitely under Bechtel's radar for getting EPC contracts from NPC. Rau’s visit will be purely exploratory and thereafter detailed negotiations can be planned.”
He noted Bechtel has served the nuclear power market for over 60 years and worked at more than 150 nuclear plants worldwide.
NPC, which has installed capacity of 4,500 Mw, is currently engaged in the addition of nuclear capacity to 63,000 Mw by the end of 2032, by both indigenous and imported foreign reactors. NPC has shortlisted Areva, GE-Hitachi, Westinghouse and Rosatom of Russia for the procurement of nuclear reactors. Simultaneously, NPC is in the midst of development of nuclear projects through indigenously manufacture of 700 Mw of reactors.
Bechtel is bullish over India's nuclear capacity addition programme which envisages an investment of $150 billion (Rs 6.7 lakh crore). Bechtel was roped in by GE-Hitachi way in 1965-69 to erect two units of NPC’s Tarapur plant, with a generation capacity of 320 Mw.
It also had an unsuccessful tryst during the construction of the much-debated Dabhol power project, withdrawing after a settlement with the Maharashtra government.
