The civilian nuclear
energy agreement between India and the United States has opened up opportunities
of enormous proportions for both countries. It will help both countries
to undertake expansion of their nuclear power generating capacities.
While India expects to benefit from the deal in terms of improved supply
of nuclear fuel and upgradation of technology, it is in a position to
offer to US companies, highly-skilled and low-cost manpower who execute
construction of plants in both countries.
The massive two-way trade opportunities in the field of nuclear energy
were highlighted by experts from both countries said at a recent seminar,
organized by the Georgia Institute of Technology.
US companies will now be able to work on nuclear power plants in India,
which plans to increase its nuclear power output from 3,800 megawatts
to at least 30,000 megawatts over the next 25-30 years. The US currently
produces about 100,000 megawatts of nuclear power.
Under the agreement, India will be able to provide engineers and technology
for the U.S. nuclear power plant expansion, which would be possible
as India's nuclear industry grows.
For instance, if Southern Co. gets approval for two new reactors at
Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro, Ga. it might be able to hire engineers
from India as the U.S. faces a critical manpower shortage in the nuclear
field.
Southern Co. wants to build two new 1,150 megawatt reactors at Plant
Vogtle. Vogtle currently has two reactors, each capable of producing
1,215 megawatts of power.
Anupam Srivastava, Director of the Asia Program at the University of
Georgia's Center for International Trade and Security, estimated that
US companies will be benefited by $10 billion to $12 billion in business
over the next seven or eight years from India's nuclear expansion.
In the US, applications for 26 new reactors are pending before the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, said spokesman Joey Ledford.
As India's nuclear industry grows, it will be able to provide the US
sector with engineers, said V. Siddhartha, member of a United Nations
committee on nuclear non-proliferation. A recent report by the American
Physical Society cited "critical shortages" in the US nuclear
workforce, in part because of a 30-year lull in nuclear plant construction
here.
"Insourcing" engineers, parts, components and sub-systems
from India could lower the capital costs of U.S. nuclear plant construction,
Siddhartha said. India is also researching nuclear reactors that use
a chemical element, Thorium, as fuel.
"India's vast
Thorium reserves - the second largest in the world - could very well
become the world's nuclear fuel of choice by the middle of the century,"
Siddhartha said.
"The business
opportunity is a two-way opportunity," he said of the U-S.-India
nuclear deal. "It's not a one-way opportunity."