India on power trip as
nuke deal advances By Siddharth
Srivastava
The Indian nuclear deal cleared
a major hurdle this week, with a US congressional
panel endorsing the pact to share civilian nuclear
technology with the South Asian nation.
The 37-5 vote in the House of
Representatives' International Relations Committee
was for enactment of laws to exempt India from US
rules that contain nuclear exchanges with
countries that have not abided by the
international order on the issue.
India
developed its nuclear-weapons program outside the
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which it has
refused to sign because of perceived bias in favor
of countries that possess atomic bombs.
In
a crucial step toward approval of the deal, the committee
carried several amendments but
rejected three by large majorities, including one
that called for India to sign the NPT.
Despite the development, there is still a
way to go. The deal was to go to the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, and
reports suggest that, as in the House, this will
translate into amendments in the language or
rephrasing of a bill, after incorporating the
views of all the members, without changing the
essential spirit of the landmark agreement. The
full House and Senate would also have to approve
legislation and then reconcile differences between
their bills.
The legislation is likely to
add more substance to ensure that India remains
committed to implementing strong export controls,
separating its civilian nuclear infrastructure
from its weapons program and placing civilian
facilities under International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) safeguards.
The Times of
India said, "The solidity of the House vote is
being seen as an assurance that the Bush
administration had lined up enough bipartisan
support to get the deal past the barricades
erected by non-proliferation hardliners, many of
them suspected to be working at the instance of
Islamabad or Beijing.''
New Delhi, for its
part, is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that
nuclear power is factored into the rising energy
requirements of a growing Indian economy. Reports
suggest that Washington and New Delhi are also
working toward ensuring a statement in support of
the deal at next month's meeting of the Group of
Eight (G8) most industrialized nations in St
Petersburg. This could build pressure on the
Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) as well as cajole
the hawks at the US Congress. The 45-nation NSG
has made it clear it will await the Congress vote
before making its own decision.
Tapping
the G8 is a clever move, as the grouping does not
include China, which is likely to be the main
stumbling block at the NSG. Russia, France and
Britain have openly supported the deal; New Delhi
has been lobbying hard with Japan, Canada and
Germany, which are now much more amenable. Italy,
under a new left-leaning government, could cause
problems, but is not likely to be as vehement as
Beijing.
Getting India's house in
order However, regardless of what the US
Congress thinks, India is going to make a big push
for nuclear energy and reduce reliance on the very
expensive fossil fuels. (India imports 70% of its
crude-oil requirements.)
There is the fear
that the nuclear pact will be delayed because of
congressional preoccupation with domestic issues
and elections this autumn. While launching an
international bid, India is trying to ensure that
its own house is in order.
The Indian
government has drawn up an ambitious bid to garner
60 million tonnes per annum of equity oil from
overseas by 2025 by empowering public-sector oil
companies to enter exploration and production
business abroad.
Last month, New Delhi
announced that plans were being chalked up to
double electricity production from nuclear power
plants by 2030 with the possibility of
international cooperation.
"We are trying
to realize the target of 20,000 megawatts and
scale it up to 40,000MW by 2030," said Anil
Kakodkar, chairman of the government-controlled
Atomic Energy Commission.
At the current
level of 3,310MW, nuclear energy constitutes only
3% of the installed capacity in the country.
Recently, India's 16th nuclear plant went
critical at Tarapur, while sites have been cleared
by the government for four 700MW nuclear power
plants (two each) at Kakrapar in Gujarat and
Rawatbhata in Rajasthan. Once the 540MW Tarapur
plant (the second pressurized heavy-water reactor)
is synchronized to the western grid, the total
installed capacity of nuclear energy will go up to
3,890MW. Pre-project work has begun at sites in
Jaitapur and Kudankulam for four 1,000MW
light-water reactors.
To provide nuclear
power to eastern India, the government has in
principle approved a 2,000MW plant in the
impoverished state of Bihar. The Uranium
Corporation of India Ltd is looking to increase
domestic production of nuclear fuel in the states
of Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya,
Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.
India's Nuclear Power Corp of India
(NPCIL) has announced plans to spend US$1.2
billion on a stake in a uranium mine, taking on
competition from China (India's main bugbear in
oil auctions) and Japan. In an interview with
Bloomberg News, NPCIL chairman S K Jain said
recently that India had approached Australian and
Canadian companies on a possible joint venture in
uranium mining.
New Delhi is also working
on amending the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) to allow
private participation in nuclear-power production
that has so far been the fief of only government
agencies. Many private players including Reliance,
Tata and US-based General Electric (GE) have
expressed interest in building nuclear plants.
"We are working on moving forward to
broadening of the [Atomic Energy] Act,'' Kakodkar
said recently.
Reliance Energy Ltd (REL)
has approached the NPCIL with a proposal to set up
nuclear-energy-based power projects. REL said
possible nuclear cooperation between India and the
US has opened new doors. Anil Ambani, chairman of
REL, said the company is exploring the possibility
of setting up a 2,000MW nuclear power plant. REL
is already in talks with GE and Russia-based Atom
Story Export (ASE) for possible joint ventures.
Indian industry is also expecting
contracts of more than $600 million from the
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor
(ITER) project, a joint international effort to
demonstrate the feasibility of fusion reactions
for commercial power generation.
Experts
say that to meet the revised targets, India will
have to build at least 30 more reactors and spend
more than $40 billion in the international market.
The US estimates that overall business worth more
than $100 billion can be generated if the Indian
nuclear deal goes through, with companies such as
France's Areva SA, Electricite de France and the
United States' GE and Westinghouse Electric Co as
well as ASE benefiting immensely.
More
than $200 billion may be spent on the plants
worldwide by 2030, according to the International
Energy Agency in Paris.
In this context
and in keeping with the realities, the Indian
Embassy in Washington has signed for more than $1
million two lobbying firms to "sell the deal" to
the US Congress. Last month Foreign Secretary
Shyam Saran met with US Under Secretary of State
Nicholas Burns in London to review the agreement.
In a major boost to India, the head of the
IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, recently urged the US
Congress to endorse the Indian nuclear-energy
deal, which seeks to lift a 30-year-old ban on
India, as it is not a part of the
non-proliferation regime. India has agreed to open
its civilian installations to IAEA inspection.
Siddharth Srivastava is a New
Delhi-based journalist.
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2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.
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