Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire: New Delhi

Showing posts with label New Delhi. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Japanese Restrictions Could Threaten French Reactor Sale to India from GSN Daily News

Japanese restrictions on atomic trade with India could complicate plans for France to construct a new atomic power facility in the South Asian state, the head of the French nuclear firm Areva said yesterday (see GSN, March 13, 2008).
The company's design for the planned two-reactor atomic plant at Jaitapur calls for the use of "extra large forgings" available only from Japan, the Times of India quoted a diplomatic source as saying.
Areva chief operating officer Luc Orsel said the firm could find ways around the complication. However, he still urged India to conclude "a bilateral agreement" with Japan on civilian nuclear trade (see GSN, Nov. 15, 2010)
New Delhi and Tokyo have conducted multiple rounds of talks on a potential atomic trade deal. Japan, though, is said to have mandated Indian nonproliferation assurances considered more substantive than what the nuclear-armed South Asian nation accepted in its 2008 atomic trade deal with the United States. Tokyo wants India to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, according to previous reports.
Japan has also called on New Delhi to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, according to the Times (Ashis Ray, Times of India, Jan. 12).

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Obama's India visit: The nuclear outcome By J. Sri Raman

http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/op-eds/obamas-india-visit-the-nuclear-outcome

Article Highlights

The joint statement issued between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offers insight into the future relationship -- and mutual understandings -- between the two nations.
India signed the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, which assuaged the fears for US suppliers that India's nuclear damages act would harm future business deals.
The nuclear deal between the US and India leave questions as to whether this is a relationship to promote nuclear disarmament or one to legitimize India's nuclear weapons program.

The French affair

The agreement on building nuclear power reactors was always going to be the centrepiece of President Nicholas Sarkozy's visit to India. France was quick off the mark to conclude a civilian nuclear agreement with India in 2008; and the framework agreement signed between the French nuclear firm Areva and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India to build two of the six planned reactors in Maharashtra was an outcome of this. Some issues relating to the proposed $9.3 billion deal need to be ironed out; these relate to Indian safety and cost concerns over Areva's advanced but yet-to-be-proven EPR reactors as well as French discomfort with the civilian nuclear liability legislation recently adopted by the Indian Parliament. While nuclear commerce will be an important new component of the bilateral relationship, Mr. Sarkozy's visit gave both countries an opportunity to come closer on a broad range of bilateral and global issues. The full-throated reaffirmation of French support for India's permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council has been warmly received. The resolve to enhance bilateral cooperation in the G20 to make it an effective tool for overhauling the international monetary system and for stabilising commodity prices, and to work together in international forums on issues such as Afghanistan, terrorism, and climate change are indicators of deepening political ties. At least in principle, all this should help India achieve a better balance in external relations, which are at present seriously distorted by strategic over-dependence on the United States and a lack of clear commitment to a multi-polar world order.
More at:
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/article939983.ece

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

India, U.S. ink pact on global center for nuclear energy partnership

NEW DELHI (Kyodo) -- India and the United States signed an agreement Monday to cooperate on an Indian initiative to establish a global center for a nuclear energy partnership.
The pact was inked after a one-on-one meeting in New Delhi between U.S. President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
An Indian government statement said India and the United States will cooperate on initiatives to strengthen global nuclear security and jointly address threats of nuclear terrorism.
Speaking at a joint news conference after his meeting with Singh, Obama said the two sides have decided to strengthen cooperation to fight nuclear terrorism.
Obama said the United States and India have also agreed to implement their bilateral civilian nuclear energy agreement.
Singh said India needs investment of $1 trillion to improve the nation's infrastructure and the United States can play a significant role in this project.
In April Singh unveiled an initiative to set up a global center in India on nuclear energy to address issues such as nuclear security, radiation safety and the application of radiation technology to health.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/business/news/20101109p2g00m0bu019000c.html

AES plans $15bn spending spree in India to raise power generation capacity

AES, the US utility with operations in 29 countries, plans to spend as much as $15bn to increase capacity in India and get 10 per cent of its revenue from the South Asian nation in five years.

“A big part of that would be financed by banks,” Chief Executive Officer Paul Hanrahan said in an interview in New Delhi, reported Bloomberg. “The equity piece would be about $4bn to $5bn.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government plans to tap private investments as it plans to double infrastructure spending in India to $1 trn in the five years ending 2017. Asia’s second-biggest energy consumer is adding electricity- generation capacity to reduce blackouts and fuel an economy that grew at the fastest pace in more than two years in the three months ended 30 June. More at:

http://www.powergenworldwide.com/index/display/articledisplay/2325682286/articles/powergenworldwide/coal-generation/new-projects/2010/11/aes-plans__15bn_spending.html

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

India predicts 40% leap in demand for fossil fuels

Premier Manmohan Singh told India's energy firms on Monday to scour the globe for fuel supplies as he warned the country's demand for fossil fuels is set to soar 40 percent over the next decade.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-india-demand-fossil-fuels.html

Friday, October 29, 2010

ENERGY NEWS India suggests 'energy revolution'

Pratibha Patil as the Governor of Rajasthan.

Image via Wikipedia

http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/India_suggests_energy_revolution_999.html

disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

by Staff Writers New Delhi (UPI) Oct 28, 2010 Indian President Pratibha Patil called for an "energy revolution" to help the country achieve energy security and fuel its economic growth. Addressing the growing divide between India's power demand and supply during the World Innovation Summit and Expo in Mumbai Wednesday, Patil said the country should pursue all available fuel options and forms of energy, whether conventional, non-conventional, new or emerging.
"It is time now for an energy revolution that will ensure our energy security," she said, Press Trust of India reports.
Figures from the federal Planning Commission show that India faces a 12 percent power shortfall during hours of peak consumption.
Energy should be available to sustain the country's growth and meet the aspirations of its people, Patil said, adding that the growth in demand for electricity has overtaken generation capacity.
"The capacity addition requires augmentation of manufacturing capacity of power equipment, skilled manpower and adoption of modern project management practices," she said.
Excerpts from a new report from the International Energy Agency, scheduled for release Nov. 9, show that nearly 404 million Indians don't have access to electricity, the Financial Times reports. India isn't expected to be fully electrified until 2030 and needs 245 electricity grids to do so, the IEA report states.
Kandeh Yumkella, director general of the U.N. Industrial Development Organization, told the Financial Times that even among those who do have electricity, many have just 100 kilowatts an hour per person per year, enough only for lights to function.
"They need at least 600 to 700 kilowatts an hour so that productivity can be enhanced, gross domestic product can increase and India can become more competitive," he said.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

India Inks Key Atomic Liability Agreement from GSN Daily News

India yesterday signed a key international agreement that spells out liability norms for atomic energy incidents, a move that was requested by the United States to speed implementation of the 2008 U.S.-Indian nuclear trade pact, Reuters reported (see GSN, Oct. 25).
An Indian diplomat inked the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage at the International Atomic Energy Agency headquarters in Vienna, Austria.
Washington had called on New Delhi to sign the multilateral agreement to assuage the concerns of U.S. nuclear materials suppliers worried by new Indian legislation that permits lawsuits in certain cases against providers following an atomic accident. Traditionally, only the operators of nuclear plants have been held liable for incidents.
Some in India worry that signing the international liability accord would weaken the domestic Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill. A number of others, though, believe it will reassure nuclear firms and lead to increased foreign investment in the South Asian state's burgeoning atomic energy market.
However, "the CSC is silent on the right to recourse or on the limitations," argued Indian political analyst Praful Biwai. "By itself the CSC does not help American companies."
"So the Americans won't be very happy and will continue to press for some exceptions (in the domestic law)."
A Vienna-based Indian envoy said inking the international liability pact -- which has not yet entered into force -- fell under a series of promises the Indian government made to Washington during trade negotiations. Under the 2008 atomic pact, the Bush administration agreed to permit U.S. nuclear firms to export their technology and materials to nuclear-armed India, which in return agreed to open up its civilian atomic sites to IAEA monitoring.
The Obama administration lauded New Delhi's decision on the international convention.
"It is a very positive step to assure that international standards apply, and U.S. companies will have a level playing field to compete," Undersecretary of State William Burns said at a news briefing (Reuters, Oct. 27).
To date, four nations -- Argentina, Morocco, Romania and the United States -- have ratified the CSC pact. With India's action yesterday, 14 countries have signed the convention, according to an IAEA release. In order to enter into force, the pact must be ratified by a minimum of five nations with at least 400,000 units of "installed nuclear capacity," the release states (International Atomic Energy Agency release, Oct. 27). More at:
http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20101028_3964.php

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Japanese nuclear exports consortium launches from World Nuclear News by Jeremy Gordon

A Japanese consortium has been officially launched in order to help Japan gain orders for nuclear power plants from so-called emerging nuclear countries. The consortium comprises nine electric utilities and three nuclear engineering companies.

Headquartered in Tokyo, JINED is three-quarters owned by nine electric power companies (so-called "epcos"): Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) (20%); Kansai (15%); Chubu (10%); Hokkaido (5%); Tohoku (5%); Hokuriku (5%); Chugoku (5%); Shikoku (5%); and Kyushu (5%).

Three nuclear engineering companies each hold a 5% stake in the consortium: Toshiba, Hitachi and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). The remaining 10% of JINED is held by Innovation Network of Japan (INCJ) - a joint venture of government and industry.

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/C-Japanese_nuclear_exports_consortium_launches-2610104.html

Monday, October 25, 2010

India-Japan nuclear deal win-win proposition, says PM

Indian PM has high hopes for India-Japan nuclear deal
India and Japan stand to benefit from a proposed bilateral nuclear energy deal, said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The country's nuclear sector is primed for growth, "and there will be huge opportunities for the global nuclear industry to participate in the expansion of India's nuclear energy program," he said. The Times of India/Press Trust of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-Japan-nuclear-deal-win-win-proposition-says-PM/articleshow/6804887.cms

Indian PM in Japan for nuclear, trade talks

Indian PM in Japan for nuclear, trade talks
Tokyo (AFP) Oct 24, 2010 - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Japan Sunday for a visit aimed at progressing towards a civilian nuclear deal and boosting trade ties between the two nations. Japan and India launched talks in June on signing an atomic civilian cooperation agreement that will allow Tokyo to export nuclear power generation technology to energy-hungry India. But Japan, which was hit by Worl ... more

http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Indian_PM_in_Japan_for_nuclear_trade_talks_999.html

Thursday, October 7, 2010

India to buy 250-300 fighter jets from Russia: minister

by Staff Writers New Delhi (AFP) Oct 7, 2010 India has agreed to buy up to 300 advanced stealth fighter jets from Russia, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said Thursday, announcing a deal that could be worth up to 30 billion dollars. Antony told a press conference with his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov that Russia would supply the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) as well as 45 multi-role transport aircraft.
"India will receive 250-300 most advanced FGFAs," Antony said. "These are the two major projects for the next 10 years which will be a shining example of Indian-Russian cooperation."
Hindustan Aeronautic Ltd (HAL) and Russia's United Aircraft Corp. and Rosoboronexport signed a joint venture last month to develop the multi-role transport aircraft in a project worth 645 million dollars.
Serdyukov said the success in the co-production of the BrahMos cruise missile would spur the FGFA's joint development by India's HAL and Russia's state-owned Sukhoi Company.
"We have a 10-year programme and it is quite challenging (but) we have very good experience in military cooperation and BrahMos is an example," the Russian minister said of the FGFA, the richest deal in India's military history.
"The FGFA have been designed by us, the price has been fixed and the draft of the agreement has been given to India. Once it is signed, HAL and Sukhoi will participate," he said.
Serdyukov did not disclose details.
Experts say each 30-ton FGFA is worth up to 100 million dollars.
Indian Defence Production Secretary R.K. Singh said the costing would be worked out in stages.
"At present a 300-million dollar preliminary design contract for the FGFA programme is currently under the (Indian) government's consideration," Singh told AFP separately.
The draft agreement is likely to be signed during a trip to India by President Dmitry Medvedev in December.
Moscow is New Delhi's largest military supplier but recent frictions over cost escalations and delays in the delivery of a refurbished Russian aircraft carrier have strained cosy bilateral ties.
"We have a great volume of (military) projects and so it is natural to have some delays," Serdyukov said.
The minister also said Russia was waiting for New Delhi's clearance to supply 22 attack helicopters and 15 heavylift helicopters.
"As soon as we get the contract we will provide them," Serdyukov added.
India plans to mothball its mainstay MiG-21 Soviet-era fighter jets, which have earned the sobriquet "flying coffins" because of their dismal safety record.
India is also in the process of acquiring 270 Sukhoi war jets worth 12 billion dollars and is poised to hand out a contract for 126 fighter planes as part of a separate 12-billion dollar deal for which six global aeronautical giants are in the race.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

China Goes Public on Pakistani Reactor Plans

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2010

China yesterday offered the most authoritative confirmation to date of its intention to construct two new atomic reactors in Pakistan, Reuters reported. However, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said she was unaware of discussions to build a fifth power plant in the nuclear-armed South Asian nation (see GSN, Sept. 21).
"This project is based on an agreement signed between the two countries in 2003 about cooperation in the nuclear power field," spokeswoman Jiang Yu said to journalists of a plan by the state-controlled China National Nuclear Corp. to construct a third and fourth reactor at the Chashma nuclear site in Punjab.
Her remarks seemed to indicate China might not feel obligated to bring the project before the Nuclear Suppliers Group for approval. The 46-member group, which Beijing joined in 2004, seeks to limit atomic exports to nations that have signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Pakistan has not signed the accord and countries such as the United States and India have asserted China would need a waiver from the export group to move forward with the deal.
New Delhi, Islamabad's nuclear-armed rival, received such an exemption allowing it to conduct atomic trade with the United States and other nations (see GSN, Sept. 8).
"China has already notified the International Atomic Energy Agency about the relevant details, and invited the IAEA to exercise safeguards and oversight of this project," Jiang said.
Until now, Beijing officials have disclosed little about plans for the two new 300-megawatt units in Pakistan. Information has been gleaned from Chinese nuclear firms' new contract announcements.
It falls to to Pakistan and not China to invite the international atomic watchdog to monitor the Chashma proceedings, an informed diplomat indicated.
"The IAEA can only place a facility under nuclear safeguards at the request of the country that it is in," the diplomat said. "If a country requests the agency to safeguard a facility then the agency would normally comply."
The U.N. agency's safeguards operations are intended to ensure that resources from civilian atomic operations are not turn to military applications.
China's growing atomic energy collaboration with the South Asian nation has unnerved observers in the United States, India and elsewhere given Pakistan's track record as a nuclear proliferator, mounting extremist activity within the country and the potential for the deal to undermine the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
On the China National Nuclear Corp.'s Monday announcement that it was in discussions to build a one-gigawatt reactor in Pakistan, Jiang said, "We don't understand this matter. You can make further inquiries with the company" (Chris Buckley, Reuters, Sept. 21).
Energy-poor Pakistan has explained its atomic collaboration with China as necessary for economic growth, the Asia Times Online reported today.
"We are facing acute energy shortages and these nuclear power plants are important for us to overcome these," an informed high-level Pakistani government official told Reuters. "We as well as China have said time and again that all this cooperation is under the safeguards of the IAEA and there should not be any worries or concerns about it."
Though Pakistan has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Islamabad and Beijing argue the precedent for the deal was set by the 2008 nuclear trade deal which permitted U.S. nuclear firms to export their products to India in exchange for New Delhi permitting IAEA monitoring of nonmilitary atomic installations.
Pakistan has sought to win a similar atomic trade deal with Washington, which has thus far demurred. The RAND Corp. recently called on the Obama administration to rethink its stance on the matter.
"The deal could be based on an exclusive relationship with the United States, rather than seeking broad accommodation with the Nuclear Suppliers Group," a RAND study stated (Syed Fazl-e-Haider, Asia Times Online, Sept. 22

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

China Could Build Fifth Atomic Reactor in Pakistan

A state-controlled Chinese nuclear power company said yesterday it is in negotiations to construct another atomic reactor in Pakistan, the Wall Street Journal reported (see GSN, Aug. 27).
The China National Nuclear Corp. built Pakistan's chief atomic energy site at Chashma in the Punjab region. The nuclear firm is finishing work on a second reactor at the same location and has orders to construct two additional 300-megawatt reactors there.
"Both sides are in discussions over the CNNC exporting a one-gigawatt nuclear plant to Pakistan," company Vice President Qiu Jiangang said, though he did not provide more information.
Pakistan developed nuclear weapons outside of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and has largely been barred from the international atomic marketplace. China is a member of the 46-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which seeks to limit atomic exports to nations that have signed the nuclear arms accord.
India, Pakistan's longtime rival and nuclear-armed neighbor, did not immediately respond to the announcement. New Delhi has objected to Beijing's plans to build two 300-megawatt reactors at Chashma. U.S. officials have also said that deal would need a waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, though Washington has signaled it would not support such an allowance.
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit would not discuss plans for a fifth reactor, though he said his government's atomic collaboration with China was nonmilitary in nature.
"The nuclear cooperation between the two countries are in accordance with international obligations and comes under [International Atomic Energy Agency] safeguards," Basit said (Jeremy Page, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 20).
A U.S. official said the latest deal would also require an exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Bloomberg reported.
"We would ask China as a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group to live up to its commitments," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.
Toner said Chinese officials had not notified Washington of their latest atomic plans with Pakistan (Nicole Gaouette, Bloomberg, Sept. 20).

Thursday, September 16, 2010

An Indian wake-up call for the us nuclear industry Washington should see the N-liability law as New Delhi intended it: a graceful way to change focus to more important non-nuclear topics

India’s Parliament last week gave the US nuclear industry the legal equivalent of a Bronx cheer: It passed a law that denied US firms legal immunity from being sued in the event of a nuclear accident. Besides upsetting executives at General Electric and Westinghouse, the law’s passage destroys one of the 2008 US-Indian nuclear deal’s key pitches— that it would energize the “world’s largest democracy” with up to $150 billion in US reactor sales.
The US is up in arms, so to speak, because private US firms can’t take on such risk—but their French, Russian and other state-backed competitors can. US diplomats preparing for President Barack Obama’s planned November visit to New Delhi are lobbying their counterparts furiously to “fix” the situation. It’s unclear if they’ll succeed. But for everyone’s sake, I hope they won’t.
Indians have little to gain from caving in to US pressure. Having suffered thousands of fatalities from the 1984 Bhopal incident and having received a pittance from Union Carbide in compensation, Indians are not just making an anti-imperialism point in protesting attempts to shield US firms from liability. They are protecting their population’s security.
More at link