Moscow Vies With West For India Nuclear Deals

By JACKIE RANGE in New Delhi and GREGORY L. WHITE in Moscow

Russia hopes to increase its nuclear-power presence in India and gain ground against Western suppliers with plans to sign a deal this week, during a state visit by President Dmitry Medvedev.
Mr. Medvedev's three-day visit, which began Thursday, comes after a large U.S. nuclear-business delegation postponed a planned trip to India amid heightened security concerns following deadly terrorist attacks in Mumbai last week.
Associated Press
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, left, with Indian Junior Foreign Minister Anand Sharma, after arriving in New Delhi on Wednesday for a three-day visit.
International competition is growing to gain a slice of the Indian nuclear-energy market, where nuclear power is expected to reach 40,000 megawatts of capacity by 2020. In 2007, India had installed capacity of 3,900 megawatts.
The commercial battle has intensified after the U.S. approved a landmark nuclear pact in October, opening the way for American companies to sell their technology to India. That arrangement came on the heels of a civilian nuclear deal between India and France.
Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Rosatom, Russia's state-run nuclear company, told a Russian news agency Russia planned to sign an agreement with the Indian government Friday to build four reactors for the Kudankulam plant in southern India.
An Indian government spokesman declined to confirm the likelihood of a nuclear agreement with Russia being concluded, however, saying he "cannot and will not comment on the outcome of the visit."
India's power-supply system is widely viewed as abysmal. Some parts of rural India suffer 15 hours or more a day of power cuts, and major towns and cities endure blackouts of several hours a day. The power shortages are seen as a serious brake on India's economic expansion goals. The economy has grown an average of 8.7% annually during the past five years. But the rapid expansion, combined with rising incomes, has lifted electricity demand 9% a year.
India has become a key market for Rosatom, which is currently working with the state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. to build two nuclear reactors in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, at the same site where Russia said new plants are slated to be built.
Mr. Medvedev's foreign-policy adviser, Sergei Prikhodko, confirmed the planned agreement in comments Thursday, saying "the quality, pricing and reliability of Russian nuclear plants get a high assessment in India, so we have a chance to seriously strengthen our position on this market, even despite rising competition."
In an interview with Indian television aired before his visit, Mr. Medvedev said he hopes nuclear cooperation with India "can be put on a fundamental, industrial basis."
Russia is also hoping for more defense business from India. India has long been a major buyer of Russian military hardware, but the weapons purchases have been marred by tensions over cost overruns and delays. In the televised interview, Mr. Medvedev said he hoped to make progress in a long-running dispute with India over the cost and timing of an aircraft carrier that New Delhi ordered several years ago.
He also said Moscow hopes to expand defense links to include areas such as submarine leasing and possible joint production of weaponry.
Coming on the heels of Mr. Medvedev's trip to Latin America -- the first tour of that region by a Russian president in years -- the visit to India is part of the Kremlin's push to show it is again a major player on the world stage.
Write to Jackie Range at jackie.range@wsj.com and Gregory L. White at greg.white@wsj.com