USIBC Leads U.S. Executives to Help Operationalize Historic Nuclear Deal

On the heels of a celebrated state visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Washington, DC, the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) – in partnership with the Nuclear Energy Institute, the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service, and the Confederation of Indian Industry – commenced today a major commercial nuclear trade mission to India. Co-led by Mr. Daniel Roderick of GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Ms. Meena Mutyala of Westinghouse Electric Company, the Mission assembles more than 50 senior executives representing more than 25 of America’s leading commercial nuclear suppliers.

“It is appropriate, in the wake of last week’s successful state visit, to bring the historic U.S.-India civilian nuclear accord into commercial reality,” said Ron Somers, President of USIBC.

The November 24 Joint Statement by Prime Minister Singh and President Obama declared the countries would “realize the full potential of the India-U.S. Agreement for Cooperation concerning the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy” by expediting commercial implementation of the Agreement.

“The robust presence here of the U.S. commercial nuclear industry speaks to our optimism that critical implementation steps will soon be completed, and that U.S.-India commercial nuclear trade is close at hand,” observed Ted Jones, USIBC Director for Policy Advocacy.

The U.S. executive delegation brings together America’s top companies across the wide spectrum of the commercial nuclear industry. Represented are leading reactor companies, the largest uranium producer, the largest enricher of uranium, the leading civil nuclear engineering and construction firms, and many other companies at the forefront of the global commercial nuclear industry.

The U.S. Delegation will meet with key Government of India officials and the top executives of the Nuclear Power Corporation, the National Thermal Power Corporation, and other leading public-sector undertakings. It will also convene with Indian industry counterparts via the CII-USIBC Joint Task Force on Commercial Nuclear Cooperation, an industry forum which has met regularly since 2006 to identify and clear away obstacles to U.S.-Indian commercial nuclear trade.

“As nations convene in Copenhagen to address global climate change, U.S. companies are eager to participate in one of India most impressive, and least discussed, national plans to mitigate growth in its carbon emissions,” said Jones.

India plans to expand its generating capacity for clean nuclear power to 60,000 MW by 2030, which would avoid each year the equivalent of today’s annual carbon emissions of Spain. Whereas a modern 1,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant emits more than 6 million tons of carbon every year, a similar nuclear power plant emits negligible carbon. Because nuclear power is also baseload, scaling up nuclear generation capacity will enable India to provide large quantities of reliable power to continue its economic development in a sustainable manner.

“U.S. firms are planning to partner with Indian companies in India, in the U.S. and around the world,” said Jones. “Already several U.S. companies, including GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Westinghouse Electric Company, and Lightbridge, have signed MOUs with Indian firms, and this collaboration will continue to progress as final implementation steps are taken.”

Today the U.S. commercial nuclear industry leads the world in size, performance, innovation, and engineering. The U.S. is by a wide margin the largest generator of nuclear electric power in the world – with 27% of the world's total installed capacity and nearly double the number of reactors as France. The U.S. also produces at roughly 1/2 to 1/3 of the cost in other major countries. In recent decades, U.S. reactor companies and civil nuclear engineering companies have remained at the forefront of innovation and engineering worldwide.

The U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), formed in 1975 under the aegis of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is the premier business advocacy organization representing 300 of the largest U.S. companies investing in India, joined by global Indian companies, whose mandate is to deepen U.S.-India commercial ties.

www.usibc.com