Will India "nuclearise" Asia?
Even before a final agreement on the nuclear accord with the U.S. could be reached, India is already planning to see nuclear reactors to Asian countries. Nuclear Power of India said it's in talks to sell small nuclear reactors to Malaysia with Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam making up the list of potential customers. But are they jumping the gun?
India still has to agree to the U.S. condition that they will not be allowed to reprocess spent fuel and abandon any atomic weapons testing. "Obviously we have to walk away from this and we will walk away from it" if the deal goes against India's national interests, the county's special envoy to the negotiations, Shyam Saran, said.
Despite that, India is discussing selling their 220-megawatt pressurized heavy water reactor. This is because once India gets larger 1,000 megawatt reactors, the 220- megawatt units will be uneconomical for domestic. "We are trying to showcase our ability to supply this technology to a number of countries that want to benefit from nuclear power," Nuclear Power Chairman S.K. Jain said. "It's a matter of how long it will take before the U.S. deal is finalized."
Since the smaller reactors have not been in production for two decades, developing countries in Asia may benefit from the reactors developed by India and deploying them to gain nuclear power at a lower cost. India is one of the few countries with expertise in smaller reactors, said Sudhinder Thakur, an executive director at Nuclear Power.
Neverthless, there's still one final hurdle before all these can come into play. India knows that they can't sell reactors before the final agreement and with many issues still unresolved, perhaps they are better off waiting and hope for a favourable outcome. If things do go smoothly, then India could just bring the festival of lights to the whole of Asia. What do you think?
India still has to agree to the U.S. condition that they will not be allowed to reprocess spent fuel and abandon any atomic weapons testing. "Obviously we have to walk away from this and we will walk away from it" if the deal goes against India's national interests, the county's special envoy to the negotiations, Shyam Saran, said.
Despite that, India is discussing selling their 220-megawatt pressurized heavy water reactor. This is because once India gets larger 1,000 megawatt reactors, the 220- megawatt units will be uneconomical for domestic. "We are trying to showcase our ability to supply this technology to a number of countries that want to benefit from nuclear power," Nuclear Power Chairman S.K. Jain said. "It's a matter of how long it will take before the U.S. deal is finalized."
Since the smaller reactors have not been in production for two decades, developing countries in Asia may benefit from the reactors developed by India and deploying them to gain nuclear power at a lower cost. India is one of the few countries with expertise in smaller reactors, said Sudhinder Thakur, an executive director at Nuclear Power.
Neverthless, there's still one final hurdle before all these can come into play. India knows that they can't sell reactors before the final agreement and with many issues still unresolved, perhaps they are better off waiting and hope for a favourable outcome. If things do go smoothly, then India could just bring the festival of lights to the whole of Asia. What do you think?
posted by Charltonmedia.com @ 5:37 PM
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