Click to play videoNew Delhi: It's nuclear payback time. US Ambassador, David Mulford is hardselling his country's nuclear industry to India, telling sceptics that even if no reactors had been built in many years, America was still Number 1.
"From the standpoint of the US, the industry is a private industry and I can assure you that it is ready to start tomorrow, provided one or two housekeeping issues are addressed," he said.
This was Ambassador Mulford's not so subtle hint to India to buy American. He also advised a dose of good American style private enterprise to re-tool India's nuclear industry.
"Well-organised blueprint for a regulatory system of the nation that is India as opposed to a state-by-state approach is very, very important because this is a uniquely complex industry," he said.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Nuclear Envoy, Shyam Saran held his own, indicating India would go wherever it got the best deals.
"We will be looking for offers from a large number of countries because today it is possible for us to look at a number of vendors and we will try and get the best terms and conditions for India," Shyam Saran said.
But Mulford isn't whistling in the dark. The US produces 27 per cent of the world's nuclear power. It is the world's cheapest producer of nuclear power and it ranks number one in the world with 104 operating nuclear reactors.
Some Indian diplomats admit that no matter what public stand South Block may take on nuclear trade, it is payback time and India cannot afford to not buy American nuclear reactors or technology.
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