Keen to enter India’s growing nuclear market, South
Korea wants to build an atomic power plant here but India is not rushing
into it.The government first wants to complete the
projects already initiated, including Koodankulam III and IV and
Jaitapur, which are facing hurdles on various counts. However, India is
willing to have cooperation with South Korea in other aspects of the
nuclear field, like research.
South Korea conveyed
its desire to build a nuclear plant in India when a delegation from its
Ministry of Science came to India recently, sources told PTI.This
was preceded by a visit of a team of Department of Atomic Energy to
South Korea to discuss possible cooperation in the nuclear field in
November last year.
Sources said India not very keen
to have Korean nuclear reactors immediately. The DAE first wants to
concentrate on existing plants and deal with the issues like liability
over which many foreign collaborators have raised questions. “We would
first want to clear the impediments for projects that are already in
pipeline and then move on to another projects,” said a senior DAE
official. Currently, all the power plants are running behind schedule.
The
Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant Project (JNPP) being built with French
assistance, the unit 3 and 4 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant
(KKNPP) with Russian assistance and the Mithi Virdhi nuclear plant with
the assistance of the US are either stuck because of various reasons or
running behind schedule.The official pointed out
that there are other aspects India may be looking at in the field of
nuclear arena. “Like India, Korea too has a developed its own nuclear
technology and there are many aspects of cooperation, which India is
looking at to start with.
“We are primarily looking
at cooperation in Research and Development. Anyway, they have started
with their work on building a plant for the United Arab Emirates. We are
waiting for results and can then take a plunge,” the official said. Another
senior DAE official said cost-wise South Korea is more competitive than
what the US or the French are offering, but India wants to go slow on
this because of the pending projects.
“Cooperation
with Korea is easy as both countries have signed a Civil Nuclear
Cooperation agreement in July 2011. So there is a document in place and
we don’t need to worry about that like the way we have to do in case of
Japan,” the official said.
He added that if the deal
with Japan is delayed or does not happen, then Korea could be a possible
partner from where it can source equipments. “The vital parts for the reactors which the French and the Americans are building are going to be sourced from Japan. This
is why everyone is hard pressed about having a deal with Japan. But if
this does not work then Korea could be a possible option. Korea,
however, an option if things do not work out,” said an official.
Globally,
South Korea ranks fifth in terms of electricity generation from nuclear
power. It not only has technology, but most of it has been indigenous.
Its domestic market is also increasing rapidly and is now focusing to
target the global market. It has 23 nuclear power
plants which produce 20,716 MW of electricity. According to its National
Energy Plan (2008-2030) it is expected to increase its electricity from
nuclear share to 59 per cent by 2030.
It also intends to venture into the global market, which for all these years have been dominated by France, the US and Russia. In
the last decade, it won the contract to provide research reactor to
Jordan and is building a nuclear power plant for the UAE with its
APR-1400 reactor.
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Source: The Hindu
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