Areva ‘ready to discuss’ transfer of n-technology

French nuclear technology company Areva SA is ready to discuss transfer of technology with the Indian Government in order to speed up the process for signing a contract for the Jaitapur nuclear power project in Maharashtra.

“Areva is open for technology transfer with the Indian companies for making nuclear components and equipment, which would be used for the Jaitapur project,” Erwan Hinault, Chairman and Managing Director of Areva’s Indian arm, told BusinesLine .

As ‘Make in India’ has become a key policy of the Indian Government, Areva is open to any kind of technology transfer for this policy.

But the components need to meet quality standards and be at a lower cost, he added.

Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) is building the 10,000-MW power project in Jaitapur. Areva is hoping to sign a deal for supplying reactors for the project.

In January 2009, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the companies for building two EPR reactors, each having 1,650 MW capacity.

But the final commercial agreement is yet to be signed.

The EPR is a third generation pressurised water reactor. The main design objective of the reactor is enhanced safety.

Once the agreement is signed, the entire nuclear supplier chain will open up for the Indian companies, said Hinault. In the Jaitapur project, Areva will supply the main reactor and other critical nuclear components.

Main electrical equipment would be supplied by Alstom, while NPCIL will carry out Balance of Plant (critical subsystem in a power plant) and civil works.

“We at Areva want further localisation of components and we have explored this option a few months back. For example, if Indian companies can supply large forging, we are open to it,” Hinault said.

Large forgings like reactor pressure vessels, which houses the reactor core, needs to be made in large forging presses. Pressure vessels for new generation reactors need to be made in 14-15,000 tonnes forging presses, which should be able to accept hot steel ingots of 500-600 tonnes.

Globally, only three companies dominate the market. Indian engineering giant L&T with its unit in Surat has made a start in this high-tech area.

Six years have passed since the MoU, but the companies have not been able to reach a final commercial contract. NPCIL wants the final price of per unit of power to be ₹6.5 when the plant becomes operational.

Hinault said regular meetings are under way with NPCIL for reaching the target of ₹6.5 a unit. “It is not a perfect world, but we are meeting regularly. We are working on achieving the target. A finality in discussions would be reached when either NPCIL is satisfied or the target is reached,” he said.

Earlier the plan was to set up the plant by 2021, but given the delay, the commissioning could get postponed till 2024, he said.   

The French company had last week reported a loss of €4.83 billion ($5.37 billion) for its global operations for fiscal 2014. The company is putting in place a cost-cutting strategy. Hinault, however, said the company continues to be bullish about the opportunity in India.

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