Nuclear Power Cooperation with India

ByRod Adams

On July 18, 2005, President Bush met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the White House. The leaders announced several new areas of cooperation including commercial nuclear power. This is the first time since 1978 that the United States government has allowed nuclear technology sharing with India, the world’s most populous democracy. The chill began when India conducted a test nuclear explosion using material removed from a testing reactor.

India is a rapidly growing country with substantial energy needs. Though it has large coal supplies, it is one of the world’s largest oil and gas importers. In 2000, The Times of India reported, “OPEC is in the news again as the world holds its breath wondering whether output will be increased and oil prices decline from the current level of around $30 per barrel. Meanwhile, the oil import bill in India as in other major oil-importing countries, is straining the economy, with global oil prices having almost trebled in the past two years.” Yesterday, the Nymex crude oil index closed at $57.10 per barrel, a level that is causing even more straining, especially since India’s oil consumption continues to increase.

India has been working (on and off again) for more than 15 years on a complex natural gas pipeline deal to enble it to buy gas from Iran. That deal requires cooperation with Pakistan, its neighbor and longtime enemy. Here are some articles that have been published over the years about that deal:

The country has been working on developing its nuclear power industry for more than forty years. India has developed an indigenous Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) design and has several projects in progress. Its first 540 MWe PHWR at Tarapur, Haharashtra achieved initial criticality in March, 2005. India also has the world’s second largest deposits of thorium, which can be used as fuel in fission reactors.

The nuclear power cooperation deal with America will play an important role in continuing to diversify the Indian energy supply system away from dependence on imported oil and gas.

Rod Adams
Rod Adams

Rod Adams is Managing Partner of Nucleation Capital, a venture fund that invests in advanced nuclear, which provides affordable access to this clean energy sector to pronuclear and impact investors. Rod, a former submarine Engineer Officer and founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., which was one of the earliest advanced nuclear ventures, is an atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience. He has engaged in technical, strategic, political, historic and financial analysis of the nuclear industry, its technology, regulation, and policies for several decades through Atomic Insights, both as its primary blogger and as host of The Atomic Show Podcast. Please click here to subscribe to the Atomic Show RSS feed. To join Rod's pronuclear network and receive his occasional newsletter, click here.

Similar Posts

  • Could a Clean Energy Bank Save the US Economy and Improve its Future Prospects? Yes!

    ByRod Adams

    Reliable, accessible and affordable energy has been one of the primary pillars of American prosperity since the dawning of the Industrial Age. Unfortunately, many of the energy sources that we have always used have been seriously depleted or produce a dangerous build up of waste products in our common environment. As the people’s representatives, Congress…

  • John Edwards – a candidate who needs some help with his math

    ByRod Adams

    Last night I joined several hundred Washington DC residents at a bar at 1223 Connecticut Ave, paid my $15 donation, and listened to John Edwards explain his plan for leading America. I have a reasonable quality recording of the event that I plan to process and share via The Atomic Show feed, but that effort…

  • Steve Darden on Seeker Blog – CBO generation cost study

    ByRod Adams

    Steve Darden at SeekerBlog.com has some thoughts worth a read in his post titled CBO Study: Nuclear Power’s Role in Generating Electricity. You might also want to visit the Wall Street Journal’s Environmental Capital Blog post titled Going Nuclear: Will Dems Support Nukes To Fight Climate Change?. That one contains some interesting comments that lead…

  • Charles Faddis Does not Know Beans About Nuclear Energy or Nuclear Power Plants

    ByRod Adams

    A few days ago, a former intelligence officer and current fear-mongering book writer published an op-ed piece in the New York times titled Al Qaeda’s Nuclear Plant where the word “plant” is intended to convey a nuanced meaning about a covert operation insider while also fitting into context as a word frequently associated with nuclear…

  • Nuclear war of words in California

    ByRod Adams

    Janis Mara of the Contra Costa Times published a summary article about the conflicted response to nuclear power in California titled Nuclear War in California. It is worth a read. Please remember as you read it, however, that good journalists work very hard not to reveal their own stance on an issue. That is why…

  • Decommissioning Oyster Creek would hurt Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey

    ByRod Adams

    I wrote a letter to the author of a 16 February 2006 article from the Asbury Park Press titled “Closing Oyster Creek would be anything but simple.” The article told its story mainly from the point of view of people that were fighting the license renewal process and talked about things like stopping the production…