“We are looking to build 200 SMR nuclear reactors in India”: Holtec CEO

AMerican atomic force business firm Holtec is provision a john roy major expansion into India’s nuclear industry by building 200 Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), Holtec’s founder and CEO Kris Singh told HT in an interview. Singh made clear that an India-US nuclear power partnership would be crucial to compete with Chinese dominance in the nuclear power industry. Singh also stated that disagreements over the Trump tariffs on India and possible delays in the amendment of the Civil Nuclear Liability law is not helping business.You came to the United States in the 1960s as a student and now run Holtec, which is one of the world’s most prominent nuclear technology firms. It must have been one of the original Indian-American success stories.I actually came to America during the Vietnam War. Now this is a dirty little story that people don’t know about. The US government couldn’t recruit technical talent from American universities because the country was so divided, so they were looking for people who were politically neutral and basically ran a scientific program through organizations like the National Science Foundation, they sponsored research that could be used for military purposes. That’s how they offered me a very good fellowship to get to study here in America. At that time, there were two exciting industries to go to: nuclear and aerospace. Nuclear energy was taking off, and it was an exciting field with a whole new set of problems and challenges. Of course, when I got here there were only about 20,000 Indians in the US at the time. When I first came to America, I knew no one.Your company Holtec is planning to expand into India with your SMR300 nuclear reactors. What is your pitch for the Indian market?Small modular reactors for India are a natural fit because the country doesn’t have a power grid that will transport large quantities of energy over the wires. It will need to rebuild infrastructure that will cost billions. Holtec’s SMR300 is essentially a small power station with a 300 MW generation capacity. It’s versatile and you can put it next to an industrial park and provide electricity as well as steam to the industries there. The SMR300 relies on distributed power generation, which basically means power can be generated near where it is needed and not in a remote place. Historically, nuclear plants need a big exclusion zone where you can’t have anything for safety reasons. Now, in a well populated country like India, that’s not very desirable. You need the land. Our reactor has been designed so the fence of the plant is also your exclusion zone. You can put in apartment buildings, factories and whatever you need outside. So it’s very efficient in land utilization. Two reactors will produce a little over 600 megawatt of electricity with just 30 acres. The Kudankulam nuclear plant produces 1000 MW and needs 1000 acres. Another thing we have done that is particularly important for India is we can produce energy in deserts. And finally we have designed one reactor design that can be installed anywhere. That will bring down the cost. That’s also part of the strategy, because India needs a few hundred of these SMRs so we need to build plans where we can produce the large components as an assembly line in plants across the country.You’ve recently got the clearance from the Department of Energy to transfer some technology to and work with Indian partners. What are your expansion plans in India?We think that we should be able to build 200 SMRs by standardizing the design and building them in bulk. We are working with our friends at Larsen and Toubro, which is a major manufacturer in India, and we expect to use their resources for manufacturing. We are also planning to build additional manufacturing capabilities in India that will for manufacturing components, working with L&T, so we have a coordinated approach to develop the manufacturing infrastructure that will serve India. Now America is, of course, also interested in making sure that manufacturing occurs in the US. Our plan would be to build at least four or five more plants in the US here, because the demand is so large. But there will be enough work in both countries. Actually, if we try to build all of them in India, it won’t be possible. The trained workforce simply isn’t available.. And the same applies to the US. Expanding in India is natural, and that’s what I’ve got to get the State Department to understand.Where do you see the India-US nuclear partnership going?US nuclear companies need India. In the future, the fight will be in the Global South, where they need a large number of nuclear plants. Presumably, SMRs will be used. And these countries look at price. If they can’t afford a higher price charged by American companies, they will turn to China. So the global nuclear industry runs the risk of getting co-opted by China because their economy is heavily government subsidized. So we look at India as the means for US to bring our average cost down. We could manufacture, say, a reactor vessel in the US and then make the auxiliary heat exchangers in India which would help the total cost level out. It becomes more competitive with China, than if we built it all in the US. Manufacturing is going to go to places which are more suitable, particularly in terms of cost. Lower sophistication items will be built in India and extremely critical items like the nuclear reactor, generators and pressurisers will be built here in America.How important is it that India pushes through the amendments to the Civil Nuclear Liability Law?Look, we understand that India is a democracy. There are many forces at work and the current tariff dispute is not helping. I hear that in India right now, the sentiment towards the United States is not particularly favorable. So it might not be the right time to bring a bill that is focused on helping American companies come in. I totally understand it, but some Americans may not realize what’s going on, and they may not realize the nature of Indian democracy. I hear PM Modi has sent the amendment bill to the committees for more deliberation and that’s fine if the time is used prudently. But India needs to normalize the friendship with the US, and that will take time. Of course, it takes two hands to clap, so it will depend on how the US behaves.Are there any other changes that you are pushing the US government to make to boost India-US nuclear cooperation?Yes, there are a few. The United States should give a general authorisation to India that allows US companies to come there more easily. If I want to build a nuclear plant in Great Britain, I can just file a paper and get an authorisation. When it comes to India, the case is a lot more complicated and regulations are more restrictive. This is an unnecessary irritant between India and the US. For the energy trade to grow, it is necessary that India be given easier access to cooperate with US nuclear companies.