India balances competing interests in awarding nuclear projects When India broke out of the 34-year nuclear winter in 2008, everybody knew that New Delhi would be intensely wooed by countries that sought to gain from the opening up of the country's civilian nuclear trade. Though India had set a modest target of 20,000 MW of nuclear power by 2020, the scope of nuclear commerce was expected to grow. India aims to supply 25 per cent of all its power requirements from nuclear sources by 2050. One year after the US Senate approved the India-US nuclear cooperation agreement, clearing the last legislative hurdle in an agreement reached in 2005, India has deftly balanced pressures from competing nuclear suppliers, and is leveraging the nuclear trade to smoothen bilateral ties and secure concessions. These moves have centred round the in-principle decision that the government took to have a spread of nuclear power parks (or clusters), with each park being framed out to a distinct national entity. Each park was to have a capacity of six to eight reactors. The principal players are the Americans, Russians and French. The nuclear action kicked off when India signed the first commercial pact to build nuclear power plants at Jaitapur in Maharashtra in February this year. France had been a key backer of the Indo,-US deal and had leveraged its clout at the NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group) and IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) to secure support for the waiver. French company Areva will supply two European Pressurised Reactors (EPRS) of 1,650 MW each. The French say that each reactor costs $5.2-7.8 billion, though both sides are yet to arrive at a common figure. "This is just the beginning", Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman Anil Kakodkar had disclosed. It was announced that, under the pact, Areva will ensure a lifetime supply of nuclear fuel from its mines in Australia and Kazakhstan. What was not disclosed is that India has dangled the bait of ordering another four EPRS at a later date to bring down costs. Business India has now learnt that the site selection committee of the Department of Atomic Energy has tentatively earmarked two coastal sites -Mithivirdi in Saurashtra region of Gujarat and Jowadi in Andhra Pradesh - for US reactor firms and an announcement is expected to be formally made before or during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's trip to the US in November. Singh's official state visit will be the first by any head of government since Barack Obama took over as US President. It will also be the Obamas' first state dinner hosted for any foreign dignitary in the White House. The two leaders will review the progress of bilateral dialogue and announcement of the two nuclear parks for US firms will be a booster shot for the ailing US nuclear industry. The Russians, who are in advanced stages of commissioning the first phase of the Koodankulam project in Tamil Nadu, are keenly eyeing the sweepstakes. Last year, the Russians had offered a sweetener to India for the second phase of the Koodankulam project in the form of a 30 per cent discount on its $2 billion price tag for each of its new reactors under discussion for sale. If things go as per plans, Russia may now land a second nuclear project at Haripur in West Bengal. The preliminary discussions for a new nuclear project are believed to have taken place between Kakodkar and Sergie Kiriyenko, chief of the Russian agency Rostaom. Realising the scope of nuclear commerce with India, the Russians have asked their nuclear fuel firm TEVL Corporation, to explore the possibility of delivering uranium not just to the Russian-built stations, but to the existing heavy water units in the country as well, including the Tarapur station. An announcement of the allocation of the new site to the Russians is expected before the PM'S visit to Moscow this winter. It is not known what advantages New Delhi hopes to derive from these announcements, but sources hint that these could generate immense bilateral goodwill and prepare the ground for 'resolution of outstanding issues'. Another site that has been cleared by the AEC for the light water reactor-based project is Pati Sonapur, in Ganjam district of Orissa. Here, state-owned NALCO has begun exploratory discussions with global suppliers with the backing of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India.