THE Prime Minister of India Mr Narendra Modi has shown his amazing capacity in charming diplomacy with a view to achieving a historic breakthrough in restoring warm relationship as never before with US during President Obama’s second visit to India at his invitation. He literally embraced the United States by hugging the President of the USA at the start of his visit.
The historic 2006 India-US nuclear deal was held up for eight years amid US concerns over who would be liable for any nuclear accident. Manmohan Singh, India’s ex-PM and the deal’s architect told the parliament that the passing of the deal marked the “End of India’s decades-long isolation from the nuclear mainstream”.
A large insurance pool will be set up, without the need for any further legislation. The plan, according to reports, is to transfer the financial risk of a nuclear accident to insurers in the case an accident occurs. Analysts say the two governments have done “all they can do” and it is now up to the suppliers – or American firms wanting to sell reactor technology to India – to do business.
India plans to generate 63,000 MW of nuclear power by 2032 — an almost 14-fold increase on current levels. It has 22 nuclear reactors and plans to build some 40 more in the next two decades. American suppliers are already facing competition. Russia is planning to build 20 reactors in India. France is building six reactors in the western state of Maharashtra, one of India’s most industrialised states. America will build at least eight reactors.
Its ironic that the BJP under Mr Modi finalized the deal which was actually set up by the previous government – but of course the BJP didn’t have the difficult allies which the Congress Party did. Despite going through with the deal, problems remain as American reactors are three times as expensive as Indian ones and the latest generation reactors are yet to be tested.
There is also a strong anti-nuclear lobby in India who fear a disaster similar to the one at Fukushima in Japan in 2011. The controversial Indo-Russian Kudankulam nuclear plant began producing electricity in 2013 after years of protest. India is far from having non-partisan support for nuclear power.
Nuclear power itself presents a mixed picture globally. There are more than 430 operational reactors in 30 countries around the world. Some 72 are under construction in 15 countries. It is generating less than 11% of the world’s electricity production, the lowest level since 1982, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its latest report. On the one hand, Germany plans to phase out nuclear power by 2022; on the other, China plans to treble nuclear power capacity by 2020.
“Nuclear power is at a paradoxical stage,” says the IAEA. “On the one hand, it appears to have entered an era of declining expectations. Yet a wave of countries is poised to introduce nuclear power, and the long-term potential remains high.” Economic, technological, and political changes, as we have seen, can influence the spread of nuclear power. India is not an exception.
Important achievement of the visit by President Obama is beginning of a fresh new chapter of cooperation between the two influential countries with important impact on regional politics. China has already indicated its concern in the development of close partnership forged between the USA and India.
