Business has been slow at a Larsen& Toubro Ltd. factory in western India that attains components for nuclear power plants. The Mumbai-based building company opened the plant in 2012, hoping to profit from government plans to build more reactors in a country where more than 200 million people lack access to electricity. But most of the projects have gone nowhere, and L& T's facility in Hazira is running at one-fifth of capabilities.” That's not the best use of resources ,” tells Senior Vice President Y.S. Trivedi.
L& T's factory could soon be humming. On June 1, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed that the two countries would work together to expand India's largest nuclear power station. In mid-May, Modi's cabinet approved a plan to add 10 Indian-made reactors with a blended output of seven, 000 megawatts, roughly double the country's current nuclear capacity.
The world's third-biggest producer of carbon emissions, India considers nuclear power as a style to reduce dependence on coal-burning power plants, which furnish virtually 60 percentage of its energy.( Nuclear accounts for less than 2 percent at present .) Modi wants to stance himself as a leader in the fight against climate change at a time when the global endeavor is under attack from President Trump. In his June 1 announcement that the U.S. will withdraw from the Paris agreement, Trump said the deal favored India and China. A few weeks later, during a state visit to France, Modi trumpeted India's commitment to the 2015 accord, saying ” we will work and walk along with others to leave a gift for future generations .”
Like Trump, Modi came into office promising to boost local manufacturing, and he wants to use nuclear power to farther his” Make in India” campaign. India has 22 reactors, almost all designed by state-owned Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd.( NPCIL) and built by companies such as L& T.” Our domestically designed reactors are the core of our nuclear strategy ,” tells Atomic Energy Secretary Sekhar Basu.” The foreign reactors are add-ons .”
Government boosterism aside, India is actually a laggard in nuclear technology. World powers banned the country from importing nuclear gasoline and technology for civilian purposes for more than three decades as punishment for testing a atomic weapon in 1974. Although the U.S. lifted the prohibition in 2006, NPCIL is still playing catch-up. Its reactors have 30 percent less capability than designs from foreign companies and use older, simpler technology.
This isn't India's first nuclear pushing.” Targets have been defined, and they've always been missed ,” tells M.V. Ramana, professor at the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia.” They've basically constructed almost nothing .”
One obstacle is a 2010 statute that holds companies liable in the event of a nuclear accident. General Electric Co. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt has said it stimulates investing in India too risky; Toshiba Corp ., owned of reactor manufacturer Westinghouse Electric Co ., said in February it needs liability reform before proceeding on six Indian plants.( Westinghouse filed for insolvency protection in March .) A EUR7 billion ($ 7.9 billion) project involving Areva SA of France has been on hold for virtually seven years.
To improve India's nuclear know-how, Modi could turn to China for help. But that's an unlikely prospect, says Ramana; the two countries opposed a war in the early 1960 s and still have unresolved perimeter disputes. That leaves Russia's Rosatom Corp ., which designed the reactors for Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, India's largest. Because it's state-owned, Rosatom is less likely to be spooked by India's liability law, passed after work on Kudankulam began in 2002.” There may be no other alternative besides Russian vendors at this phase ,” says Vipin Narang, an associate professor of political science at MIT.
India's focus on nuclear power is misguided, regardless of whether the reactors are imported or local, says Tim Buckley, an Asia expert at the Cleveland-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.” It's absolutely bizarre that they would bother ,” he says, arguing that nuclear power can't compete against lower-cost renewable alternatives such as wind and solar, which now account for close to 16 percent of India's power capacity.
L& T expects annual production at its Hazira plant to reach about 40 percent of capacity this year and insures will increase as Modi's plan gains momentum.” We have demonstrated that our technology is robust and safe ,” tells Trivedi,” and dedicates more value for fund .”
