India passed a law that exposes firms supplying equipment to nuclear plants to liability in the case of accidents. This law threatens to effectively exclude U.S. companies from Indian projected $150 billion nuclear power market. In nearly all countries with nuclear power, suppliers are immune from lawsuits while all liability is channeled to nuclear-plant operators.India's nuclear-plant operator, state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd., believes making suppliers liable, whether domestic or foreign, will hurt India's nuclear projects because no manufacturers will want to participate in them. Under India's law, the cap on liability for any nuclear accident is about $322 million . Though plant operators would be primarily responsible for accidents, they could seek "recourse" by suing suppliers.
India generates about 3% of its electricity from nuclear energy. (WSJ, 9/9/2010)
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