After the recent Indo-US civil nuclear deal paved way for an administrative arrangement for commercial operations between the two countries, France is now waiting for details of the agreement to come out before resuming their talks with India for its ambitious project in Jaitapur.
France is hopeful that once the details come out, it can move faster to sign commercial agreement between Areva (France) and Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCl) for Jaitapur which has been waiting for the last five years.
French company Areva will be supplying nuclear reactors for India’s 9,000 megawatt power plant in Jaitapur in Maharashtra. However, a section of Civil liability for Nuclear Damage Act (ClNDA) stands in the way of reactors transfers. France has been asking India to follow global norms on civil nuclear liability law. Besides, since some key equipments by Areva will be procured from Japan, India needs to sign a similar civil nuclear agreement with Japan.
The French feel the new deal with US will help review their own arrangement with India as, sources said, they were so far moving forward within the framework provided under the Indian law. But the progress has been slow. Sources in French government said that they are hopeful that air over their deal with India will be clear after they read the fineprint of Indo-US agreement.
“We will move forward within the present law but the new deal with US will help us review our deal with India internally and then give an opinion. This project in Jaitapur is of very significant to us. But we have to keep in mind that the life of equipments will be more than 40 years and several components of it will be made in India,” said an official in the French government indicating that holding suppliers liable in case of an accident was a tough clause.
India-France signed civil nuclear co-operation agreement in September 2008. later in 2010 NPCl and Areva entered into an early works contract under which Areva will supply two evolutionary pressurised reactors (EPRs) each of 1,650 MW for theJaitapur project and another four EPRs of the same generation capacity at a later stage. The power station is expected to be operational by 2020. However, the two sides are yet to enter into a commercial contract.
The talks between Areva and NPCl got paused due to lok Sabha elections and with the new government committing itself to the project despite its ally Shiv Sena’s objections, the talks are likely to resume soon. It is learnt that the French were waiting for a clarity from the new government on issues relating to price of power and provisions of civil nuclear liability law.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit France in April this year, possibly when he travels to Germany. Schedule for Modi’s visit is likely to be discussed during French foreign minister laurent Fabius meeting with External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday. Fabius will be in New Delhi to take part in the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit in the run up to the Paris Climate Change Conference.