AREVA, a leader in nuclear power technology solutions, has signed a contract for the first foreign uranium supply since the reopening in September of nuclear businesses between India and the rest of the world. This contract, AREVA hopes, will pave the way for a Franco-Indian partnership in the field of civil nuclear electricity generation.

Signed at a ceremony held in Mumbai, the agreement includes a commitment from AREVA to the Indian Department of Atomic Energy to supply some 300 t of uranium to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCI) to supply its reactors under the International Energy Atomic Agency control. The contract comes in the wake of the agreement made at the France-India summit of September 30, for cooperation in developing peaceful nuclear energy applications. The fuel will supplement the shortages in domestic reserves for use in India’s nuclear plant fleet. This supply represents more than a third of NPCI’s total installed capacity.

With its considerable energy needs, India plans to make quick strides in increasing the share of nuclear electricity in its energy mix. By 2020, the country’s installed nuclear plant capacity could grow from 3 to 40 GW, taking nuclear from 3 to 20% of all electricity generated.

Commenting on the new contract, Arthur de Montalembert, President of AREVA India, said: “AREVA has won India’s trust for this first ever foreign fuel supply signed since the September 2008 agreement.” He described it as “a turning point in the deployment of its ambitious energy program; India has taken the considered decision to give nuclear prominence in its energy mix as a means of meeting its energy needs.”