The “meltdown on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean” is a boon for India as the country committed itself to buying French and American reactors as part of the long negotiations to be admitted back into the nuclear commerce club.
As India plans to invest $150 billion in nuclear energy, these Western companies entered into agreements with the country to build atomic plants. But with many of these companies running into financial trouble and eventual bankruptcy, the fate of these deals is now uncertain with India free to chart its course on the nuclear energy path based on merit.
Even as Western companies drag their feet over nuclear collaboration with India over various reasons ranging from regulatory hurdles to problems at their own end, India successfully started commercial operation of two 1000 Megawatt units at Kudankulam nuclear power plant built with Russian help and technology in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Not only that, the India is set to construct 12 Russian-designed units in the coming years.
Experts agree that the nuclear cooperation between Russia and India takes the bilateral ties to unparalleled level with arguably no other two countries enjoying a similar relationship.
“It is unprecedented, even the former USSR didn’t cooperate at this level. Whether you talk about the nuclear power plants in Tamil Nadu or technological collaboration in designing nuclear submarine, there is no parallel between India and Russia," former Russian diplomat Vyacheslav Trubnikov told Sputnik during a recent high-level panel discussion.
“The US did all the heavy lifting in getting India entry into the elite nuclear club, but it is Russia which is actually delivering on the ground,” Nandan Unnikrishnan, Vice-President at New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation told Sputnik at the same discussion.
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