(Title altered by kidd. Obama did almost nothing but be present for the photo op. Actual title: Obama, Modi Announce Six AP1000s Planned for India)
Source:
http://www.nei.org/News-Media/News/News-Archives/Obama,-Modi-Announce-Six-AP1000s-Planned-for-India= = =
- First U.S. supply contract since 2008 U.S.-India nuclear cooperation agreement
- Six-reactor Westinghouse project one of the largest of its kind
- Congress must restore quorum on Ex-Im Bank board for deal to conclude
June 8, 2016—Making big commerce news this week during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington, D.C., the White House issued a joint U.S.-India statement that announced the “start of preparatory work” on the construction of six Westinghouse AP1000 reactors in India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama welcomed the new Westinghouse AP1000 deal.
The June 7 statement noted the development as a culmination of a decade of partnership between the two countries on civil nuclear issues, including the January 2015 “breakthrough understanding” to address India’s stance on nuclear liability issues to the satisfaction of both governments and U.S. nuclear technology suppliers and India’s February 2016 ratification of the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage.
The project “will mark a new era in our nuclear and scientific cooperation,” Modi told the U.S.-India Business Council later that day.
According to the joint statement, Westinghouse Electric Co. and the Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd. will begin engineering and site design work immediately while the two sides work toward finalizing contractual arrangements by June 2017.
India sees nuclear energy as a “safe, environmentally benign and economically viable source to meet the country’s increasing electricity needs.”
“NEI congratulates Westinghouse and the Indian government on the joint statement to expand the role of nuclear energy as a reliable, zero-carbon source of much-needed electricity in India,” NEI Director of Supplier Programs Ted Jones said. “These facilities will raise living standards for the significant portion of India’s population that still lacks access to reliable electricity supplies.”
As part of the negotiations toward a final contract, India and the U.S. Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank will work together toward a competitive financing package for the project, the statement said.
However, Jones noted that although the Ex-Im Bank’s operations were reauthorized last December after a protracted fight in Congress, a quorum of the bank’s board needs to be restored for it to begin approving transactions larger than $10 million.
The Ex-Im Bank can fulfill its role “only if Congress confirms a nomination to the bank’s board of directors,” Jones said.
Once completed, the six-reactor, multibillion-dollar project would be among the largest of its kind, three times larger than other current AP1000 builds in the United States and China. The project is expected to bring thousands of well-paying supplier jobs to the United States, Jones said.
Two 1,100-megawatt AP1000 reactors per site are being built at Southern Co.’s Vogtle site in Georgia, SCANA Corp.’s V.C. Summer site in South Carolina, and at the Sanmen and Haiyang sites in China. Sanmen 1 is expected to be the world’s first AP1000 to begin commercial operations early next year.
The site chosen for the AP1000 project was not identified. Media reports have speculated that the original site in Modi’s home state of Gujarat would be changed to the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
The Westinghouse project is part of India’s ambitious plans to increase its nuclear electricity portfolio from the present 5,300 megawatts to as much as 63,000 megawatts by 2032 to meet growing demand and reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.
