India and France will be working to help develop small modular reactors, India’s Foreign Ministry said after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the country.
Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron “emphasized the importance of nuclear energy to strengthen energy security and move towards a ‘low carbon economy’.
It will be days after Delhi announced plans to change its strict nuclear liability laws. This has put them accountable for accidents and incidents and blamed for delays in previous nuclear projects.
Modi is also expected to discuss potential nuclear investments by US companies during his visit to Washington on Thursday.
India’s Foreign Ministry said Delhi and Paris will develop advanced modular reactors to develop small modular reactors and advanced modular reactors.
Such reactors can be built in factories and transported to locations where they can be assembled and installed.
They are significantly smaller than traditional nuclear reactors because they do not require large amounts of land or extensive infrastructure.
India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Mithri said the modular reactor technology is “still in the early stages” and therefore “cooperation” is to begin.
“We intend to be able to collaborate in co-designing nuclear reactors, co-developing them, and co-producing them, which will allow us to tackle the complications we face in other traditional projects. I feel that way,” he said.
The proposed partnership illustrates a change in India’s nuclear policy.
Previously known for its strict nuclear regulations, the Modi government appears to be open to greater international cooperation and private sector participation.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an ambitious nuclear energy target earlier this month, setting the goal of generating 100 GW of nuclear energy by 2047.
The government has pledged more than $2 billion (£1.6 billion) for nuclear research and development, most of which will be used to develop five indigenous disease reactors by 2033.
The focus on small modular reactors also represents a shift in cooperation with India with France on nuclear power.
The country previously planned to build the world’s largest nuclear power plant in western Maharashtra, India.
However, the project was introduced in India’s Nuclear Liability Act, primarily following accusations that Western companies had turned off Western companies in a catastrophic 1984 gas leak from a pesticide factory in the city. It has been postponed for over a decade due to clauses. Bhopal and Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster sparked concerns over nuclear safety.
Modi is currently in the US for a two-day visit to host a meeting with President Donald Trump and business leaders.
Earlier in the week, India’s federal oil minister Hardeep Puri hinted that the nuclear energy of the two leaders would be on the agenda.
On Tuesday, US Vice President JD Vance met Modi on the sidelines at the AI Summit in Paris, discussing how Washington could help Delhi diversify its energy sources by investing in American nuclear technology, according to the press reportedly cited a White House statement.
Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
