Hard on the heels of falling oil prices and affordable shale comes another dramatic energy change for the industry: the falling cost of solar energy. This has many implications, but the most immediate impact is on the nuclear power industry, large parts of which may have just become obsolete. This means that the new nuclear power plants being planned by India, especially those with foreign collaboration, must be reconsidered and scrapped if they are financially unviable.
Most significant is the impact on the India-U.S. nuclear deal, held up by the liability clause to enable these reactors, and a sticking point in the bilateral negotiations for several years. Technological advances have addressed an issue that negotiators couldn’t resolve.