Both the US and India are two of the largest democracies in the world and with that, the US government is scrambling to preserve the benefits of a civil agreement with India. India is about to pass a law that has the potential to exclude US companies from it's market for nuclear power. This law, passed by India last week, would have been the final stage of the law that was beginning to assemble in 2005. The US was expecting India to put together this law so it would open a new market for different American companies. This new market would top nearly $150 billion in the coming years.
This new nuclear-liability law has caused much commotion throughout many American companies and even with the US government. The US and India are now trying to discuss ways for American nuclear suppliers to find a way around the new law. Options have been mentioned for the US and India to propose a government-to-government agreement. Another option that has been floating around the media is for President Obama to make a signing statement on this issue. I agree with the US industries that neither of these options would be viable options to get this nuclear-liability law done because it would ultimately cause havoc with New Delhi.
Overall the US and India are not very close to closing up this law because there are a lot more things that need to be thought about. Not only are there economic issues behind this law but the legal side of things are very confusing right now with both nations. Russia and France are as of now front runners to getting this law done with India. I believe that eventually the US government is going to get this law done with India but the US government needs to figure out with India on how they are going to handle the liability legislation before any of this can get figured out.
-Michael Sheinfeld
This article is very interesting. I briefly read this article but it seems that this nuclear agreement would open up market opportunities for energy companies. With this agreement cancelled it can harm the US's plans for profit. I do not know a lot about nuclear power or mean to sound dumb, but are there other countries that the US can turn to in case they cannot come to terms with India? and are there other options beside nuclear power as a source of energy?
ReplyDelete-Kelsey Tomlinson
Those are definitely good questions but India and the US have been the biggest nations involved with this law and they have been serious allies with this nuclear energy since 2005 (and even before then). Then again, this is also India's law so they control who they will be dealing with. And there are other sources of energy out there but as of right now, nuclear energy has been the most important to the US for the past few years
ReplyDelete-Michael Sheinfeld