The nuclear industry in the US hopes to garner a a major share of orders for India’s plan to set up a capacity of 30,000 Mw by 2020 and more than 60,000 Mw by 2030, says Ted Jones, mission director, US-India Business Council (USIBC), who is leading the largest-ever mission of US commercial nuclear executives to India. Excerpts from an interview by PB Jayakumar.
In the first two days of your visit, how has been the response from Indian officials and industry? How important is this mission for India’s nuclear power hopes?
This is the largest trade mission of US commercial nuclear executives to visit India and includes more than 50 senior executives representing more than 30 of the world’s leading commercial nuclear companies. Of those, at least 15 are chief executives and presidents of leading nuclear players in the world. They represent companies such as General Electric, Westinghouse, Shaw Power Group, Babcock & Wilcox, Bechtel Nuclear, URS, CH2M Hill, Cameco, Converdyn, Thorium Power, and USEC, among others. So this mission is an important landmark in the progress of the Indo-US nuclear deal and India’s trade relations with the US.
How far the discussions have progressed and can we expect any deal announcements this week?
Although our mission commenced only two days ago, the executives on our delegation have conducted several dozen meetings with their Indian counterparts. Even before we arrived, the US technology company, Thorium Power, signed an MoU with Punj Lloyd. But developing nuclear power projects is a long-term process and one cannot expect deals to be immediately announced.
How much business do you expect from India?
India aims to add to an installed nuclear capacity of 30,000 Mw by 2020 and more than 60,000 Mw by 2030. The commercial value of this expansion varies greatly accordingly to factors such as the seismic qualities of the site, water availability and the like. A 1,000-megawatt power plant might cost $2 billion or $7 billion, so you can estimate the range of overall potential. US companies are proud of their technology and cost-competitiveness and are hopeful of winning a large share of India’s business with foreign companies.
India is also exploring sourcing nuclear equipment from Europe. How cost competitive is the equipment offered by the US companies?
It would be wrong to assume that because US equipment makers have the most advanced, most efficient and the safest technology that they will be costlier. Our major companies have devised reactors which have passive safety features. For example, overheating of the reactor would physically open valves to release gravity-driven water to remedy the incident without intervention by power-dependent pumps or fallible human judgment. They have also devised modular reactors that are more quickly and cheaply constructed.
By a large margin, the US industry outranks the second-leading country in the number of nuclear reactors, nuclear generating capacity, and efficiency. Nine of the ten best-performing reactors in the world are US designs.
Do you think the ongoing financial crisis and recession in the global economy will impact India’s plans?
Nuclear power projects are long-term projects and span business cycles, and the developers of Indian nuclear projects, such as NPCIL and NTPC, have tremendous capital reserves.
The US will have a new government soon and India is also going to elect a new government within a few months. Will these political developments impact the future of the Indo-US nuclear deal and the potential business?
The forthcoming government in the US will include many key supporters of the Indo-US nuclear deal. Senator and Vice President-Elect Biden, for example, was the leading proponent of the Indian nuclear deal on Capitol Hill. President-elect Barack Obama took critical time from campaigning last fall to vote for final approval to the nuclear deal. We are confident that political support for a US-India partnership will remain strong on both sides. As US industry, we are proud to support that partnership.
