India's nuclear growth plan provides “ample opportunity” for U.S. exports, as the nuclear power sector there is much more mature, and companies are working on developments in the technology, like smaller and cheaper nuclear reactors.
Wanner said governments are critical in getting nuclear power projects underway and India's plan “very positive” for the nuclear industry.
Local communities have protested at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in southern India and at proposed nuclear sites in the western state of Maharashtra in the last decade, citing security and environmental concerns.
But for investors and governments, “the level of interest (in nuclear power) now is the highest it's been since the oil crises in the 1970s,” said Brent Wanner, head of the power sector unit at the International Energy Agency.
Nuclear power is around three times as expensive as solar energy in India and can take up to six years to install as opposed to similar amounts of solar that usually take less than a year.
