Insurance pool for nuclear sector within legal structure: House panel

The committee said the agreement was within the fundamental policy and legal architecture, including the Civil Liability for the Nuclear Damage Act

The agreement between India and the US to operationalise the civil nuclear deal got a nod from the parliamentary standing committee on science and technology, environment and forest on Saturday.

The committee said the agreement was within the fundamental policy and legal architecture, including the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act.

During the second of its two-day Mumbai visit, the committee said it also hopes that the insurance pool envisaged by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) will be able to give comfort to suppliers with regard to liability capping.

The chairman of the committee, Ashwani Kumar, said as per the government statement there has been some progress made to remove the apprehensions of the domestic and foreign suppliers to the nuclear sector.

“During President Barack Obama’s visit, the government has been  able to convince the US administration and foreign companies that they need not be concerned in the event of future liability,” he said.

Kumar, who was accompanied by other committee members, were speaking to reporters after meeting with the officials of DAE, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) and visiting the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in northeast Mumbai.

On the issue of nuclear safety and security, Kumar said former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced that safety audit of all nuclear power plants following the Fukushima accident took place in March 2011.  “During our deliberation, the DAE officials said fail-safe mechanism has been put in place in the event of any accident and the highest safety standards are being followed,” he added.

On impact of additional safety applications on capital cost and per unit tariff of nuclear power project, Kumar said the tariff has been quite competitive. The current per unit tariff ranges between  Rs 0.97 (Tarapaur plant) and Rs 3.94 (for Kudankulam project). The average tariff of nuclear project in 2013-14 was Rs 2.17.

Kumar also said the DAE and NPCIL officials have reported that the private sector was quite keen to associate with India’s civil nuclear energy addition programme.

Currently, the capacity addition of 16,100 Mw comprising 5,600 Mw through indigneous reactors and 10,500 Mw through reactors based on foreign technical cooperation is under various stages of implementation.