New NSG guidelines may affect India in the long run: officials

New Delhi, Jul 7 (PTI) Any move to curb transfer of
enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technologies to India by NSG
countries will have no impact in the near future but may
create hurdles in the long run for the domestic nuclear
sector.
"India has developed reprocessing technologies on its
own. We have developed it using indigenous equipment,"
Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) officials said here.
They added that an enrichment facility, though of a small
capacity has been operational for over an year.
The need for access to ENR technologies from
international sources would arise when India decides to set up
a fuel reprocessing plant under IAEA safeguards, the officials
said.
"It is at this time that the supply of ENR technologies
from international sources would become crucial. We may need
them to reduce the capital costs of building the reprocessing
plant," they said.
The officials said Indian scientists and engineers were
capable of building reprocessing and fuel enrichment plants
using indigenous equipment but it may prove expensive.
They pointed out that India set up its first nuclear fuel
reprocessing plant at Trombay in 1965. Subsequently two plants
were built at Tarapur and Kalpakkam.
The new guidelines bar ENR equipment and technology
exports to states that have not signed or are not in
compliance with the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), do
not allow comprehensive IAEA safeguards, and do not allow more
extensive monitoring under the terms of an additional
protocol, among other criteria.

Montalembert said Areva was looking forward to begin work
on the Jaitapur project early next year and commission the
first 1,650 MW nuclear power reactor by 2019.
The second reactor may be commissioned within an year of
operationalising the first one.
India has plans to build six 1,650 MW EPR nuclear power
units at Jaitapur making it the largest site for atomic power
generation in the country.
The European Pressurised Water Reactor that Areva is
setting up at Jaitapur has a life of 60 years and agreement
for fuel supply would be signed for 20 years and renewed
later considering the cost of uranium.
With concerns over nuclear safety in the aftermath of the
Fukushima accident, Areva has reassessed the conditions under
which the EPR reactor would operate in case of earthquakes,
tsunamis, explosions and lack of cooling facilities.
"These analyses have re-confirmed the robustness of the
design of the EPR reactor. EPR would have survived a
Fukushima-type accident," Bertrand Barre, Scientfic Advisor to
Areva Chairman told a select group of reporters.
Besides Areva, Russian company Rosatom, US companies GE
Hitachi and Westinghouse have been alloted sites for setting
up nuclear power plants in the country as part of India's
expansion plans for the sector.