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PARIS-French nuclear giant Areva signed a preliminary deal Wednesday to provide India with up to six new-generation reactors-a move hailed in India as ending its nuclear isolation and transforming the country into "a responsible nuclear state."The Paris-based company says the deal signed with Indian electric utility Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. paves the way for technical cooperation on at least two and as many as six of Areva's so-called EPRs, or Evolutionary Power Reactors, at the Jaitapur site in the western state of Maharashtra.Areva's statement didn't estimate the value of the deal, which expands the list of countries adopting the technology in response to skyrocketing energy demand. Last year, an executive at Areva rival General Electric Co. estimated the size of India's nuclear market at more than $30 billion.Indian officials at Wednesday's signing said the deal marked the start of a wide-ranging future collaboration on nuclear issues between the two countries."This is just the beginning," said Anil Kakodkar, Chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission.Prithviraj Chavan, minister in the prime minister's office responsible for nuclear issues, said the deal marked the end of India's "nuclear isolation" and signaled its emergence as "a responsible nuclear state."The deal follows the conclusion of a landmark nuclear deal between the United States and India earlier this year, which opened the way for nuclear trade between India and other nations. Previously, India had faced a nuclear trade ban since its first atomic test in 1974 amid its refusal to sign international treaties designed to limit the illicit spread of such materials.India has already inked deals with Russia to build new nuclear plants, but the deal with Areva is the first commercial agreement since India received the go-ahead from the International Atomic Energy Agency last year. Chavan said India needs to quadruple power generation by 2032, so the country can keep its economy growing and pull millions out of poverty. Current shortfalls, particularly at peak periods, mean that India's cities suffer frequent power outages-sometimes lasting an entire day.The utility company NPCIL already has five reactors under construction, which will increase its electricity generating capacity by 2,660 megawatts, from 4,120 megawatts currently.It operates all of India's 17 existing nuclear reactors.Today, India gets just 3 percent of its energy- about 4,100 megawatts-from nuclear power. By 2032, the government plans to generate 700 gigawatts overall, with nuclear accounting for 63,000 megawatts.That adds up to about 40 new nuclear reactors worth some $80 billion, according to NPCIL chairman Shreyans Kumar Jain.
Besides GE, Areva competes with Westinghouse Electric Co. and Russia's Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corp. to build new reactors in India. Rosatom is already helping India build two nuclear reactors.The Areva-designed pressurized water reactors, which are meant to replace aging reactors around the world whose designs date from decades ago, are already under construction in Finland, France and China. Areva also has plans to build the new reactors in Britain and the United States, company spokeswoman Patricia Marie said.However, the Finnish project has been plagued by repeated delays due to faulty materials and planning problems since construction began in 2005. The 1,600-megawatt plant was to be online in 2009, but the latest estimated startup date is 2012.
Eds: Associated Press Writer Gavin Rabinowitz in New Delhi contributed to this report.
by GREG KELLER, AP Business Writer
As in the days of Noah....
