At a meeting at the White House between President Obama and Prime Minister Modi of India it was announced that Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse Electric Corporation and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd., will begin engineering and site design work immediately for six AP1000 reactors in India which will be operational by 2030. Contractual arrangements will be completed by June 2017.
According to Reuters, Westinghouse Electrics six AP-1000 reactors will now be located on a 2000 acre plot of land in Kovvada in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh. Ajay Jain, energy secretary of Andhra Pradesh, told Reuters that the purchase will close this year, and that “construction can begin in 2017.”
These reactors will bring clean energy to India and generate thousands of jobs in the U.S., Brian Deese, Senior Advisor to the U.S. President, told reporters in a conference call. Once completed, the project will be among the largest of its kind, and will meet India’s growing energy needs while reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
Both leaders noted the intention of India and the U.S. Export-Import Bank to work together toward a competitive financing package for the project, reports Economic Times.
