South Korea civil nuclear talks with India in September

A month after signing a civil nuclear cooperation agreement, South Korea will enter into negotiations with India to build civil nuclear power plants.

The negotiations will be carried out over a series of high level visits from Korea, starting next month.

The development will inevitably intensify competition in the sector that is being dominated by big players - Russia, US, France and Japan. Sources said, in September, New Delhi will be hosting a delegation lead by the South Korean vice minister, Ministry for Knowledge Economy, Junggwan Kim.

Sources said, Kim will be heading a composite delegation consisting of Korean government officials and prominent players from the civil nuclear power sector in Korea, including the Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco).

The delegation will be holding talks with top Indian government officials including the Ministry of External Affairs and the Department of Atomic Energy.

This visit will be followed by another visit from South Korean Minister of Knowledge Economy, Joong Kyung Choi, in November.
India had signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with South Korea during president Pratibha Patil’s visit to Seoul in July.

Sources said, during the negotiations India is likely to push for getting sub-contracts for Indian companies — Tata and L&T — in the $20 billion worth civil nuclear power plant project bagged by Kepco.

Tata’s and L&T already have a good experience in the nuclear power plant sector in India.

Kepco stunned the world last year after it beat French giant AREVA in a competitive bidding and bagged $ 20 billion worth of orders from the United Arab Emirates for building four nuclear plants.

Kepco already has an MoU with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited. India’s nuclear commerce with the world received a shot in the arm following the 2005 Indo-US Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, and the September 2008, NSG waiver to India. India enetered into a number of civil nuclear agreements including with the French and the Russians.

Russia has already built the Kudankulam nuclear power plant. Units 1 and 2 of the plant are currently undergoing pre-commissioning testing and are expected to be commissioned in the near future. Negotiations for the start of construction work for Units 3 and 4 are at “an advanced stage” and construction is likely to begin soon.

During French President Sarkozy’s visit to India in December 2010, a General Framework Agreement and an Early Works Agreement were signed between NPCIL and AREVA.

Deals worth $10 billion were signed for the setting up two third-generation European Processing Reactors at Jaitapur, Maharashtra by AREVA.

After signing the US-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement in October 2008, the two  countries announced completion of all steps to begin implementation of  the Civil Nuclear Agreement during President Obama’s visit to India in November 2010.

“India and the US companies are now working towards early commencement of commercial cooperation in this area,” MEA country brief on US says.

Talks are on with the French and the Americans who have asked for sites to develop civil nuclear plants in India. Negotiations have however run into hurdle over India’s nuclear liability law which US claims does not meet international standards.