Agreement with Areva SA for Jaitapur to be vetted by Cabinet

The terms of the final agreement with French company Areva SA for the Jaitapur nuclear plant in Maharashtra will be vetted by the Union Cabinet, a senior official said here on Sunday.

“The terms for the final contract are ready from our end and they will be circulated among Ministers, soon after which it will be placed before the Cabinet for its approval,” Secretary to the Department of Atomic Energy and chairman Atomic Energy Commission Srikumar Banerjee told PTI.

He was in the city to inaugurate an exhibition.

The development signals the government’s firmness in implementing the first phase of the 1650MWx2 plant out of a total six Evolutionary Power Reactors totalling 9900 MW to be executed by State-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India.

Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactor accident following the devastating tsunami would not be a barrier to going ahead with the project, he said.

However, Mr. Banerjee had earlier said, “We are not trusting the safety reviews done by the vendors. The licensing and safety reviews for the Jaitapur reactors will be done by our own nuclear regulators.”

Mr. Banerjee said a team from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board had already been formed to look into the safety measures of the Jaitapur nuclear project.