The leaders of France and India reiterated their intention to start work by the end of this year on what could become the world’s largest nuclear power plant, advancing talks that have continued for nearly a decade.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Electricite de France SA (EDF) and India’s monopoly atomic energy producer, Nuclear Power Corp, to accelerate discussions on a contract and start work at the site in Jaitapur, in Maharashtra state, by December.
“Once installed, the Jaitapur project will be the largest nuclear power plant in the world, with a total capacity of 9.6GW,” according to a joint statement issued on Saturday by the governments during
Macron’s visit to India. International equipment makers have been hesitant to move forward with projects in India because the nation’s nuclear liability law exposes reactor suppliers to claims for damages during an accident. That complicates India’s plans to expand its nuclear power capacity more than ninefold by 2032.
In the statement, the two leaders “welcomed the understanding shared by the two parties on the enforcement of India’s rules and regulations on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages applicable to the Jaitapur project”.
EDF will undertake all the studies and component purchases for the first two reactors. India’s nuclear power capacity is about 6.8GW, barely 2% of the country’s total generation capacity.
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