nuclear-news

West Bengal government puts another fly in India-Russia’s nuclear ointment

The West Bengal government’s decision means that the hunt for a new site will begin afresh, at a time when anti-nuclear activists are protesting against nuclear power…

Haripur site cancellation is one more wrinkle in India-Russia ties THE HINDU, 23 Oct 12 SANDEEP DIKSHIT Search on for another location for the proposed nuclear electricity park

There is another wrinkle in India-Russia relations, besides the known differences over Sistema’s telecom investments, the delays in the commissioning of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and the applicability of the nuclear liability legislation to units 3 and 4 of
the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project.

India and Russia are scouting for another site for a nuclear electricity park after the West Bengal government decided to cancel the allotment of a site in Haripur. This was to be the second nuclear
park allotted to Russia, after Kudankulam. Both were supposed to have
six reactors each. Haripur was to come up after all the six reactors
at Kudankulam became operational.

Asked whether the Union government had abandoned the Haripur project,
Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said: “I don’t
know whether ‘abandon’ is the right word. We have been in consultation
with our Russian friends… and there are some technical issues that
have come to the fore, and we are working with them on finding another
site.”….
In the run-up to the “special exemption” India received from the
Nuclear Suppliers Group’s export rules in September 2008, New Delhi
agreed on a “road map” for 18 Russian reactors at three sites. The
Russians understood this to mean that they would be awarded orders for
18 reactors, which they said would cost less. But Indian officials
later let it be known that New Delhi would not be able to make firm
financial commitments for all the plants at one go.

Thereafter, the Russians were hoping that once all reactors at
Kudankulam were built, they would move on to Haripur. But the West Bengal government’s decision means that the hunt for a new site will begin afresh, at a time when anti-nuclear activists are protesting against nuclear power…
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/haripur-site-cancellation-is-one-more-wrinkle-in-indiarussia-ties/article4026380.ece

October 24, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, politics