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Anil Sasi

New Delhi, Oct. 14 General Electric Co is in the fray for contracts in India across the nuclear power generation cycle, including setting up new reactors and plant services, as well as providing fuel for existing and new nuclear power plants, a senior company executive said.

GE’s nuclear unit, which is a joint venture that is 40 per cent owned by Japan’s Hitachi Ltd, is among the four short listed firms for placement of order by state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) for new Light Water Reactor (LWR) capacities on the anvil.

“GE is eager to explore new business opportunities for civilian nuclear power in India, including new reactors and plant services, as well as providing fuel for existing and new nuclear power plants,” Mr Kishore Jayaraman, CEO, GE Energy, said in response to an e-mail query.

While GE was silent on the issue of reprocessing of spent fuel, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has clearly spelt out its position that any new imported LWR capacity to be set up in India would have to be accompanied by access to fuel reprocessing technology.

“There is no question of getting into a situation where spent fuel is allowed to pile up. Not even a single mega watt of LWR capacity would be set up in the country without fuel reprocessing assurances… This is an absolute precondition for us engaging with any foreign reactor vendor,” a senior DAE official told Business Line. He said the DAE’s position has been clearly spelt out to all the reactor manufacturers in the fray for contracts in India.

GE, the world’s largest power equipment maker and a major nuclear reactor player, plans to offer both the ABWR (Advanced Boiling Water Reactor) and the new ESBWR (Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor) in India. “Our ABWR and ESBWR designs would provide India’s Government and industry with technology offering to best fit the needs of the Indian nuclear industry,” Mr Jayaraman said.

On its strategy to compete with Russian and French players, Mr Jayaraman said: “India has demonstrated in a variety of sectors that it is interested in working with the world’s most innovative and competitive private sector enterprises, as evidenced by GE’s strong record in India.”

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