Part 1 of 3 Parts
     Vakisasai Ramany is a senior vice-president of Electricité de France (EDF), a major French electric utility company. In April of 2021, he traveled to India to deliver a technical and commercial offer for nuclear reactors in person. During his visit, Ramany met with officials of the Indian Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL). NPCIL is the state-owned company that operates most of India’s commercial nuclear power plants. He submitted a long-delayed techno-commercial offer to supply engineering studies and equipment for the construction of six European Pressurized Reactors (EPRs) at the Jaitapur site in Maharashtra, India. The project was claimed to be the ”most powerful in the world”. It consisted of a nuclear power plant with a total installed capacity of nine and a half gigawatts of electricity. EPRs have had a significantly troubling record of cost and time overruns. The proposed Jaitapur project has faced strong protests from local residents and environmental activists. The cost of these reactors is likely to be in the tens of billions of dollars. So, the stakes are high for the French nuclear company to conclude its deal with India.
     In 2008, France and India signed a bilateral agreement for civilian nuclear cooperation on the development of nuclear energy. India had been placed under U.S. sanctions for conducting nuclear weapons tests in 1974 and 1998. India could not conduct trade in nuclear technology with other countries under the sanctions. India signed an agreement with the U.S. that allowed India to trade in nuclear technology which was followed by the agreement between France and India.
     India’s first nuclear test in 1974 provided the impetus for the creation of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). The NSG is a trade consortium established by countries involved in exporting nuclear energy technologies. The group established requirements that nuclear technologies and materials should be exported only to countries that had signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The NPT entered into force in 1970. By 1974, India was not a signatory of the NPT and has never joined the treaty. Because of this, it was not allowed to purchase nuclear reactors or uranium from any member of the NSG. In 2008, India’s Prime Minister and the U.S. president formed an agreement. The U.S. government used its political power to force many of the more reluctant members of the NSG to sign a special waiver for India. Many countries, especially France and Russia, supported the waiver. They were drawn by the opportunities represented by India’s rapidly expanding energy market.
     Following the creation of the India-France bilateral agreement, India’s NPCIL and the French nuclear-maker Areva signed an agreement in 2009 for the supply of two to six EPRs. Soon after Areva fell into major financial trouble, it was taken over by EDF in 2016.
     EPRs are a type of pressurized water reactor built by a French and German collaboration. The reactors are advertised to have better safety features than some earlier designs. These features include a double barrier to ensure containment of radioactive materials in case of accidents. They are also claimed to be able to resist extreme hazards like earthquakes, flooding and extreme temperatures.
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