(Bloomberg) — The U.S. has spoken to Indian leaders from across the political spectrum to push them to review the South Asian country's strict regulations on nuclear reactor makers, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to India said.
In an interview in New Delhi on Thursday, Ambassador Eric Garcetti said that both leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and opposition parties were interested in finding a “way forward” on the issue.
Today, India has some of the strictest nuclear liability laws in the world, under which not only plant operators but also reactor makers can be held responsible in the event of an accident. These regulations have hampered several proposed projects in India, including a project with France to build the world's largest nuclear power plant in the western state of Maharashtra.
Garcetti's comments come just days after President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the US is finalizing steps to remove long-standing barriers to civilian nuclear cooperation with India.
“The formal paperwork will be done shortly” to remove regulations that prevented Indian entities and US companies from working together on nuclear power projects, Sullivan said during his latest official visit to New Delhi.
The administration of President-elect Donald Trump is also “focused and enthusiastic” about making progress on the India-US civil nuclear deal announced nearly two decades ago, Garcetti said. Last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Biden had discussed ways to revive nuclear trade, he said.
The discussions take place amid major breakthroughs in civilian nuclear technology. Garcetti gave the example of small American-made nuclear reactors that can operate in places where traditional power plants cannot. The combination of India's cheap and skilled workforce and American technology could provide a “huge opportunity” for the South Asian country, provided laws are relaxed, he added.
India, one of the world's largest emitters of carbon dioxide, is seeking to rapidly expand its use of nuclear power to both decarbonize and meet rising energy demands. Currently, there are 22 nuclear reactors in the country operated by the state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India.
The US lifting of sanctions on Indian nuclear research institutions is a “welcome step”, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Friday. It will lead “to more cooperation and hopefully issues such as the liability clause will also be discussed and further addressed.”
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