Last week, the Indian Parliament passed a law that forbids American Energy companies, such as General Electric, to produce nuclear power plants with in their country. The Indian parliament banned American companies because there are no liability laws that protect workers from accidents. Other countries such as Switzerland and France offer these laws and therefore India sees an advantage with them.
The United States and India are working on an agreement to allow American nuclear plant companies into their country. One of the proposals is the “government-to-government agreement.” This agreement would force India to take cover over foreign suppliers if they are ever sued. The other proposal is for India to ignore the law or pass one that is the exact opposite so that American companies may still produce nuclear power plants there. The last option is that India’s only nuclear operator takes full responsibility of all United States suppliers.
I think it is imperative that the United States and India work out an agreement because this law that was just passed could be harmful to the American economy closing the market and offering less demand to the American companies. Nuclear power plants are seen to be as something that is supposed to “boom” in the future, and if countries like India who need a lot of power are rejecting companies from the American market, than the US economy misses an opportunity in the economic advancement.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704362404575479603830675106.html?mod=WSJ_Energy_leftHeadlines
Yes, this situation is certainly tragic, but one must consider it could be much worse--think Chernobyl II. I'm sure, however, that technology has advanced much since that fateful incident the event still looms overhead. I wish we knew how safe nuclear plant really are. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how this political chess game will unfold.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Mariana. I hope they can reach an agreement about letting American companies like GE or Westinghouse build in India. I have read about innovation in this industry, and it seems to be much safer than people might expect. Think of the last major nuclear disaster. Chernobyl, as Clarke pointed out, was it. Since then, the technology has come a long way. Whenever you see issues with nuclear power plants in the news, the result is simply shutting down the plant briefly, and nothing more. I believe that nuclear energy should supply America with a majority of its power, as it already supplies 80% of France’s.
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