India Inc on Thursday hailed the government for successfully completing the Indo-US civil nuclear deal and urged to immediately initiate the next steps for building nuclear power generation capacity in a big way. 

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry said the Atomic Energy Act needs to be amended immediately providing for private sector participation in nuclear energy generation in the country. The chamber is of the view that Indian private sector has already acquired capabilities for participating in nuclear power projects.

Indian companies like NTPC, Reliance Energy, Tata Power, L&T and Bhel can now look forward to working as partners in collaboration with international companies such as GE, Westinghouse, Areva, Atomstroy and EDF in the field of nuclear energy generation.

According to Ficci, changes in the Atomic Energy Act should allow for majority ownership for private sector investors. This will give a boost to private sector investment in nuclear power generation. The country has the potential to generate 60,000 mw of nuclear power over the next 25 years involving an investment of over $100 billion.

Already 10 nuclear power projects are being vetted by the government. Assocham also complimented the government for taking the nuclear initiative.