Need to speed up nuclear energy collaboration: Montek

Ahluwalia’s assertions assume significance as they come a day before the Indo-US civil-nuclear working group meeting in Mumbai.

Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Tuesday said impasse over liability in case of nuclear accidents can be resolved in the ongoing negotiations within the framework of the Indian Civilian Liability for Nuclear Damages Act 2010.

Sharing a dais with the visiting US energy secretary Ernest Moniz after the first leg of the US-India Energy Dialogue 2014, Ahluwalia said the pace of civil-nuclear energy collaboration required to be speeded up. “The negotiations are ongoing and the issues can be resolved within the framework of the (Indian) Civil Nuclear Liability Act,” he said.

The Act holds the operator fully liable in the case of an accident, and confers the right of recourse against suppliers if a mishap is caused by any defective equipment.

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Ahluwalia’s assertions assume significance as they come a day before the Indo-US civil-nuclear working group meeting in Mumbai. Unfazed by the hiccups, Moniz said the US remains fully committed towards a civilian nuclear cooperation with India.

Moniz recalled that an achievement of the Indo-US energy cooperation was a small contract put in force during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit last fall which has led to Westinghouse working with the state-run Nuclear Power Corporation on advancing a possible deal.

The key issue, he said is the resolution of the Viability Convention to enable India to align with the international convention on Supplementary Compensation, which is likely to come into force this year, Moniz said. America has been eager that the government signs this convention to allow American firms significant legal protection in terms of liability.

Global investment in the energy infrastructure space is estimated at $36 trillion, amounting to 0.6 per cent of the cumulative GDP over the next few decades. This would provide a huge opportunity for the private sector to scale up new technologies and meet the emerging challenge of climate change.

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America’s discomfort with India seems to be growing. It protested at the World Trade Organization a year ago over India’s solar power especially on domestic procurement requirement in its solar mission. Ranging from patents to the use of child labour and aviation to pharmaceuticals, the list is growing.

Simultaneously New Delhi has been battling Washington’s move to reform its immigration process under which relevant provisions would be included to either restrict or raise the cost of H1B visas, which could hit the Indian companies hard. The Obama administration is said to be upset on India’s patent laws, which the detractors say some are frivolous ones.