Areva to Sell Reactors to India’s Nuclear Power

By Gaurav Singh and Archana Chaudhary

Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Areva SA, the world’s biggest maker of atomic reactors, signed a preliminary sales agreement with Nuclear Power Corp. of India that will help build the country’s first large-capacity plant using overseas equipment after a global ban was lifted last year.

Areva will initially supply the Indian state-run monopoly with two reactors of 1,650-megawatt capacity each, according to the agreement signed by the companies in New Delhi today. Nuclear Power will get uranium supplies to run the plants for 60 years, said Anne Lauvergeon, Areva’s chief executive officer.

India needs to buy reactors to help increase nuclear power output as Asia’s third-biggest energy consumer seeks to end shortages of as much as 18 percent during peak-hour demand. India has pledged greater transparency in its nuclear activities in return for being allowed to buy energy supplies from overseas.

The agreement allows Nuclear Power to buy as many as six reactors from Areva, said Prithviraj Chavan, a minister in the prime minister’s office.

Nuclear Park

Areva’s reactors may be set up at Jaitapur in the western state of Maharashtra, Sudhinder Thakur, executive director at Nuclear Power, said by telephone from Mumbai yesterday.

“Final contracts may be signed later this year,” Thakur said. Nuclear Power plans to initially install two reactors and may increase it to six to form a “nuclear park,” he said.

Nuclear Power is buying so-called EPR light water reactors from Areva. The accord comes after Larsen & Toubro Ltd., India’s biggest engineering company, signed two international nuclear venture agreements last month.

Larsen is teaming up with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. to build ACR1000 pressurized heavy water reactors in India and with Toshiba Corp.’s Westinghouse Electric Co. for AP1000 reactors.

India is targeting 60,000 megawatts of nuclear power generation by 2030. Nuclear Power has 4,120 megawatts of nuclear capacity and is building five units with a total installed capacity of 2,660 megawatts, Areva said in a statement today.

The International Atomic Energy Agency and India signed an agreement on Feb. 2 that gives international inspectors access to 14 civilian nuclear reactors in the country. The safeguards agreement is a crucial step toward implementing a U.S.-led atomic accord that helped to overturn the international ban on India’s purchase of nuclear-energy supplies.

To contact the reporters on this story: Gaurav Singh in New Delhi at gsingh31@bloomberg.net; Archana Chaudhary in Mumbai at achaudhary2@bloomberg.net.