French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to visit India early next year in an effort to advance EDF’s plans to build six nuclear reactors at the Jaitapur nuclear power station in Maharashtra.
India’s Science Minister Jitendra Singh said the aim was to resolve “technical, financial and civil nuclear liability issues” around the project, reports The Hindu newspaper.
The announcement followed talks between Singh and a French delegation headed by France’s development minister Chrysoula Zacharopoulou.
In April last year, EDF submitted an offer to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India to build six of its EPR reactors at Jaitapur. At the time, EDF described the offer as a “major milestone for EDF, its partners and the French nuclear industry”.
The reactors would each have a rating of 1,650MW making Jaitapur the world’s largest nuclear site, with an output of 9.9GW. At present, India has a total nuclear output of 6.78GW.
The offer was followed in May this year by detailed talks about how the project would proceed.
The two countries established a framework civil nuclear deal in 2008.
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