“Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) has been in discussions with M/s Westinghouse Electric Company (WEC), United States of America (USA) to arrive at a viable project proposal for setting up nuclear power plants in India,” Jitendra Singh, India’s Minister of State for Atomic Energy, said.
Earlier this week, work was suspended at two nuclear reactors being built by the American company in South Carolina with immediate effect due to spiraling costs. It has also dimmed the hope for other plants owned by Southern Company in Georgia.
In March this year, Westinghouse had filed bankruptcy protection which created a wider financial crisis to its owner Toshiba. In response to trouble all over the world for Westinghouse, Singh said, “The filing of bankruptcy by M/s WEC has been noted.
Last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then US President Barack Obama had agreed to “work toward finalizing the contractual arrangements by June 2017” for six reactors at Kovvada. But the techno-commercial aspects of the six units of AP-1000 (6 x 1208 MWe) reactors have not been completed till now which is essential for finalization of the deal.
India and the US had signed the civil nuclear cooperation on October 10, 2008, which entered into force on December 6, 2008.
