India still hopeful of nuclear deal with Westinghouse

India still hopeful of nuclear deal with Westinghouse

Context:

• India is confident of concluding the nuclear deal with reactor-maker Westinghouse Electric very soon as it expects the company to come out of bankruptcy.

Background:

• Following the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, India has been in discussion with Westinghouse since 2005 to build six AP1000 nuclear reactors.
• NPCIL and Westinghouse had finally agreed to work toward finalising the contractual arrangements by June 2017.
• However, the process was stalled after Toshiba Corp declared bankruptcy and decided to move out of reactor-building business.

Second site for additional Russian reactors:

• The second site for constructing additional Russian reactors in Andhra Pradesh is yet to be finalised.
• Various factors such as land type, earthquake potential, availability of water should all be factored in.