France and India near nuke accord

PARIS - Agence France-Presse

India and French group Areva are close to deal on a contract for Areva to build a nuclear power station on the west coast of India, Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid has said.

The project is for two European pressurized reactors (EPR) at Jaitapur 400 kilometers south of Mumbai.

The talks had reached a “very advanced stage,” the minister told Le Figaro. “We have to settle the questions of safety raised by the tsunami in Japan,” he said. This was being studied by experts but “a final agreement is within reach,” he said.

The reference to Japan concerned a disaster at Fukushima in March 2011 when a tsunami caused by an earthquake overwhelmed a nuclear power station built on the coastline.