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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Russian reactors in Kudankulam to fall under liability law-Rajeev Deshpande

Russian reactors in Kudankulam to fall under liability law-Rajeev Deshpande

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published Published on Aug 13, 2012   modified Modified on Aug 13, 2012
-The Times of India

In what will set the bar for India's nuclear contracts, Russia's plea that two reactors planned at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu — apart from units 1 and 2 — be exempted from provisions of the tough nuclear liability law may not be accepted. 

Reactors 1 and 2 that are to go on stream soon are not covered by the 2010 liability law that makes suppliers of a nuclear plant, not just the operator, open to legal action under the "right to recourse" in the event of a nuclear mishap. 

"It may not be possible for provisions of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act to be kept in abeyance for units 3 and 4 at Kudankulam," an official source said. 

Applying the liability law will settle the issue of right to recourse. The griping may not end, but the government will assert that foreign suppliers need to live with India's national laws despite concern over legal action and higher insurance costs. 

New reactors part of deal signed in 1988? 

India may turn down Russia's plea that two new reactors planned at Kudankulam be kept out of the nuclear liability law of 2010 but there may be legal issues to tackle. 

The first two reactors at Kudankulam, units 1 and 2, were the result of a deal inked by the late Rajiv Gandhi with the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1988 while construction began in 1997 during the tenure of the United Front government. Thereafter, India and Russia signed an agreement for four additional units in 2008 that were an extension of the cooperation. A case was made to keep units 1 and 2 out of the 2010 law as they were seen to be the product of the 1988 agreement. The argument that this pact "grandfathered" the subsequent deal for four additional units has not found favour with the government which feels such exceptions will only lead to US and French suppliers seeking similar concessions. 

Arguing that the exemption granted to the reactors that are ready (1&2) should also cover units 3 and 4, Russia has asked for a suitable clarification before work on these plants begins. After evaluating the request, the government seems to have come around to the view that the new reactors will be governed by the liability law. A source said, "Foreign suppliers will need to work with the Indian law from here on." 

But Srikumar Banerjee, former secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy, said the government needed to consider the Russian agreement specifically as it predated the 2010 legislation. "It is a legal issue. The Indian company will be guided by the government," he said. 

The government is treading carefully as relaxing the applicability of the liability law will give a boost to anti-nuclear activists who are smarting at being outflanked by the Centre and the state government at Kudankulam where the stir against the plant has died down.The government is hopeful that the insurance agreements regarding units 3 and 4 will be sorted out soon and construction begins shortly after the two units that are now ready are commissioned. 

The Times of India, 13 August, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Russian-reactors-in-Kudankulam-to-fall-under-liability-law/articleshow/15469143.cms


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