Civil nuclear deal: India expects turbine from Japan, uranium from Australia

Japan and Australia might soon join a clutch of countries that co-operate with India in the civil nuclear sector. “Japan is the leading producer of turbine required for 1,000 Mw capacity. The proposed civil nuclear deal will be mutually helpful to both India and Japan. While Japan can tap huge business potential in India's nuclear sector, India will be able to get India will certainly benefit to get the equipment which is not available generally,” a Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) official told Business Standard.

On India’s civil nuclear deal with Australia, the official said the latter with its huge uranium reserves will be able to meet India’s future supplies. Australia holds a third of the world’s recoverable uranium resources and it exports nearly 7,000 tonnes a year. Since 2005 onwards, India has entered into civil nuclear agreements with the US, Mangolia, Australia, Namibia, Argentina, the UK, Canada, Kazakhstan and South Korea. The DAE official said India will also get uranium supply from Canada, France, Russia, Mangolia, Namibia and Kazakhstan. During 2011-12 and 2013-14, India imported 2,100 tonnes of uranium. Canada, one of the largest producers of pressurised heavy water reactors, can export those reactors to India. South Korea, which manufactures 1,000 MW reactors, can supply them to India in its ongoing capacity programme.

At present, reactors with a total capacity of 3,300 MW are under various stages of development. In addition to this, start of work on 19 new nuclear power reactors with a total capacity of 17,400 MW is planned in the XII Five Year Plan.

These reactors are expected to be completed progressively in the XIII Plan/ XIV Five Year Plan. More reactors are also planned in future, based on indigenous technologies as well as with foreign technical cooperation.

The civil nuclear deals with Japan and Australia are being proposed when DAE and Nuclear Power Corporation have held discussions with the public sector insurance companies to provide insurance cover under the Liability Law.

This was done after some international as well as domestic suppliers have expressed concern regarding non-availability of cover for their risks. According to the official, the civil nuclear deals are quite crucial as it leads to exchange of operational expertise and documents and capacity building in knowledge exchange.

''More importantly, these agreements make India an active part of the international community and increases training opportunities,'' he said.