External Affairs Ministry defers allotment of nuclear reactor site to South Korea

NEW DELHI: South Korea's first lady President Park Geun-hye has a lot to cheer about the environmental clearance to Posco's Rs 52,000-crore steel plant project in Odisha after an eight-year delay, but she will be disappointed with Delhi's decision to go slow on the bilateral nuclear pact and not allot any site for the reactor during her four-day visit to India beginning January 15.

India and South Korea signed a civil nuclear agreement in July 2011, essentially to set up Korean reactors in the country, but the proposal hasn't made much headway despite several rounds of discussions between the two sides.

"Both sides are cooperating on nuclear partnership, but India will not allot site for South Korean reactors during President Park's visit to India. The government is currently busy with ongoing projects," Gautam Bambawale, Joint Secretary (East Asia), Ministry of External Affairs told reporters in Delhi on Monday. Bambawale is the ministry's poinstman for dealing with China, Japan and Korean peninsula.




The government does not want to undertake setting up of new nuclear power plants with no progress achieved regarding US firms, Russian-made reactors for Kudankulam III and IV and French reactors at Jaitapur (Maharashtra), officials said, adding these projects have fallen behind schedule for various reasons including Nuclear Liability Act and price factor among other issues.

Seoul had expressed its desire to build a nuclear plant in India when one of its scientific delegations visited the country. Last November, an Indian delegation from the Department of Atomic Energy had visited Seoul.

The area of focus between the two sides is nuclear research. South Korea has developed its own nuclear, cost-effective technology and is currently building a plant in the United Arab Emirates. South Korea currently ranks fifth in terms of electricity generation from nuclear power.