US to bring reactors to India

 “We are not far from that,” said General Electric official Timothy Richards who is leading a US commercial nuclear delegation to India to work on supply strategies.

The Centre has identified two sites — Chhaya Mithi Verdi in Gujarat and Kovada in AP — that will be handed to the US firms for setting up reactors.  “Each site has the capacity to generate 10,000 MWe, which means there will be six-seven reactors each having a capacity of about 1500 MWe,” said Daniel Roderick, vice president at GE-Hitachi. This implies having 12-14 US reactors in the two sites.

Next year, there may be some contracts with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd on reactor licensing and site engineering. Shipping of the components may begin in 2011, said Meena Mutyala, vice president at the Westinghouse Electric Company.

The US will not come in the way of India to access nuclear fuel for the reactors if the US stops fuel supplies in the event of another nuclear test by India, she said.