Indian, US firms seal deal to bring primary coolant pump technology to India

New Delhi, Sep 2 (PTI) The US' Flowserve Corporation and India's CORE Energy Systems Ltd. have signed a deal to bring the primary coolant pump (PCP) technology to India, a person familiar with the matter said.

The agreement was formalised in Washington DC in the presence of officials from the US Department of Energy and the Indian Embassy. It was approved by both the US Department of Energy and India's Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

"We have set an ambitious target of 100GW of nuclear capacity by 2047. We are somewhere around 8.2 gigawatts.

"So for building nuclear power plants, what is important is the supply chain. In that, the most critical equipment in a nuclear power plant is the reactor and the second is the primary coolant pump," Nagesh Basarkar, Chairman and Managing Director of CORE Energy Systems Ltd., told PTI Videos.

Highlighting the supply chain constraints, he said, "There are some constraints related to primary coolant pump vendors in India because there's only one vendor in India. Flowserve has been a world leader in primary coolant pumps. But there were challenges related to transfer of technology." Basarkar emphasised the significance of the achievement, saying, "This is the first time under Indo-US cooperation... due to various challenges and geopolitical challenges, not a single technology could be transferred. So this is the first time, because it requires CFR 810 approval." During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US in February this year, the two countries pledged to fully implement the US-India 123 Civil Nuclear Agreement. Modi and US President Donald Trump emphasised the importance of localising technology to fully utilise the potential of the deal.

Basarkar said, "This will pave the path to transfer more and more technology and build more nuclear reactors. We have opened the pipeline for many such technologies to come to India for localisation... it will help big companies like Westinghouse or other big technology players, if they're looking for localisation and technology transfer." The CORE group CMD said it takes almost five years to receive approval from the US to transfer this critical technology.

In November 2024, the DAE approved CORE Energy Systems Ltd. to partner with Flowserve, assuring the US that the transferred technology would be used solely for peaceful civil nuclear purposes in compliance with its regulations.

Acknowledging the change in the geopolitical situation and the India-US ties, Basarkar said perseverance is important for firms.

"The first thing is (that) the US company should have confidence in the Indian company and the Indian company should have the capability to absorb that technology," he said. PTI RK DIV DIV