Rolls Royce eyes India's nuke pie

After the entry of French nuclear major Areva, it is now the UK-based Rolls Royce which has evinced a keen interest to participate in India's civil nuclear programme.

Rolls Royce, already a world player in areo-engines, has recently tied up with Areva to build a series of new generation pressurised nuclear reactors in Britain. The new generation of nuclear power plants by Roll Royce in UK will combine with renewable energies to cut pollution caused by the use of fossil fuels in conventional power plants.

Lord Peter Mandelson, the UK Secretary of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, is leading a high level business delegation to India on January 19 to explore collaborations and potential opportunities in the civil nuclear area. Nuclear experts from the University of Sheffields as also senior officials from the UK Atomic Energy Authority will accompany Mandelson.

Besides Rolls Royce, other UK-based companies like Centronic, Lloyds Register, PB Power, Serco, Thompson Valves, TWI, Urenco Enrichment Company, Antech, CMS Cameron Mckenna, Corporate Risk Associates, Halcrow, Herbert Smith, Ultra Electronics, Weir Power will be part of the UK trade delegation to India.

While Areva NP and the Russian state-owned firm Rosatom have already entered India's nuclear power space, the US-based nuclear players including General Electric and Toshiba Corp-owned Westinghouse Electric are also in talks with India's BHEL (BHEL.NS : 2247.2 +11.1) and L and amp;T for supply of nuclear reactors.

Russian firms, which are currently helping India build two 1,000-MWe (megawatt electric) light water reactors at Koodankulam in Tamil Nadu, have signed an agreement for an additional six units at Koodankulam. On its part, Areva has entered into a tie up with India for supply of 300 tonnes of uranium for replenishment of existing nuclear reactors.