French Energy Giant EDF Discusses Nuclear Reactor Plans with Indian Officials

Senior officials from the Ministry of Power met with representatives from the French energy company Électricité de France on Friday to discuss putting European Pressurised Reactors into service in India. This meeting follows India's recent decision to open its tightly controlled civil nuclear sector to private companies, which has drawn renewed interest from nuclear companies in France, the United States, and Russia as the government works to finalise rules under the SHANTI Act. During the talks, the power ministry stated that discussions focused on European Pressurised Reactor technology, India's new nuclear rules, joint work on pumped storage projects for hydropower, and building a strong partnership. The meeting included Pankaj Agarwal, who is the secretary at the Ministry of Power, along with officials from the Ministry of External Affairs, the Central Electricity Authority, NTPC Limited, and NPCIL on the Indian side. The French side included officials from EDF and the Embassy of France in India. EDF updated Indian officials on its plans to build a local supply chain and ecosystem to support large-scale work within the country. The company stated that a large program using multiple reactors would give suppliers confidence and lower costs by using the strengths of Indian industry. In response, Agarwal explained how India is progressing in setting up its regulatory framework, including the draft SHANTI Rules and Regulations which the Department of Atomic Energy recently released to the public for feedback. Both sides also talked about cooperating on pumped hydro storage projects, building on a proposed joint venture between NTPC and EDF. EDF is already working with the state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India on next-generation reactors, such as the Jaitapur nuclear plant which has a proposed capacity of 9,900 megawatt-electric. However, that project has faced delays for years because of high electricity costs. Last year, India and France also signed a letter of intent covering small modular reactors and advanced modular reactors. These developments tie into India's plans to expand its domestic civil nuclear capacity, which will include building fleets of reactors using both local 700 megawatt-electric pressurised heavy water reactors and foreign technologies. Industry experts note that while early work will likely rely on local reactor technology to keep costs down, foreign tech will also be needed, though keeping prices affordable remains a major challenge.