United States is advancing toward a civil nuclear partnership with Indian companies

The United States is in the process of overcoming obstacles to establish a civil nuclear partnership with Indian companies, as stated by U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Monday. This initiative aims to revitalize a significant agreement between the two nations. Discussions regarding the provision of U.S. nuclear reactors to meet India’s growing energy demands have been ongoing since the mid-2000s.

A major challenge has been aligning India’s liability regulations with international standards, which stipulate that the financial responsibility for any nuclear incident should rest with the operator rather than the manufacturer of the nuclear facility.

The agreement was initially signed by former President George W. Bush in 2007, marking a pivotal moment in enabling the United States to export civilian nuclear technology to India. Sullivan remarked in New Delhi, “The United States is now finalizing the necessary steps to eliminate long-standing regulations that have hindered civil nuclear collaboration between India’s prominent nuclear organizations and U.S. firms.” His visit to the Indian capital comes just days before President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office.

During Sullivan’s time in New Delhi, discussions are anticipated to cover the implications of Chinese upstream dams, advancements in artificial intelligence, space exploration, military licensing, and China’s economic overcapacity, according to a U.S. official. In 2019, both countries reached an agreement to construct six U.S. nuclear power plants in India. However, India’s strict nuclear compensation laws have previously complicated agreements with foreign power plant developers, delaying the country’s goal of adding 20,000 MW of nuclear power from 2020 to 2030.