General Electric Co sees a market for "tens of billions of dollars" of equipment for nuclear power in India following the US's decision to reopen nuclear trade with the world's second-most-populous country, a GE official said on October 02.
The US conglomerate, which has a nuclear joint venture with Japan's Hitachi Ltd, has already begun preliminary talks with India on nuclear equipment, Karan Bhatia, vice president for international government relations at GE said in an interview.
"They are looking at constructing potentially 30 new reactors by 2030 alone," Bhatia said. "You're clearly talking about billions, tens of billions of dollars in terms of reactor technology, fuel, services. So it's a substantial opportunity. You need only look at the growth in the Indian economy in general. It's an economy that's been steadily growing at between 8 percent and 10 percent for the last decade and we see that likely to continue in the energy space as well."
The US Senate on October 02 agreed to lift a three-decades-old ban on nuclear trade with India. The bill now goes to President George W. Bush, who has said he looks forward to signing it.
GE has had limited discussions with the Indian government on nuclear power ahead of the law's passage, but Bhatia expects that to change. "We are very much looking forward to engaging more vigorously with the Indian government now that the legislation has been passed," Bhatia said.
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