Westinghouse talks of technology supply

India and the United States have committed to build six nuclear power plants in India after a day-long talks on strategic and security affairs, reported Times of India on 15 Mar 2019.

“They committed to strengthen bilateral security and civil nuclear cooperation, including the establishment of six US nuclear power plants in India,” said a statement issued at the conclusion of the 9th round of India-US Strategic Security Dialogue on 13 Mar 2019.

Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse was supposed to build six AP1000 nuclear reactors in Andhra Pradesh but foreign nuclear companies stayed away from the projects as the law on India’s nuclear liability was questioned.

Westinghouse, which filed for bankruptcy in 2017 and has since been acquired by Canadian private equity firm Brookfield, has restarted talks to revive the project as supplier of technology and services rather than being a turkey contractor of the reactors, according to the report by Times of India.

The US reiterated its support for India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group but it has been blocked by China which wants Pakistan in the Group.

The Dialogue was co-chaired by foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale and Andrea Thompson, the US under secretary of state for arms control and international security. fiinews.com