EDF’s Suppliers’ Day took place on 23rd February 2023 in Mumbai.

Almost 200 people attended the event, representing more than a hundred companies from the Indian and French supply chain, demonstrating their strong commitment towards the Jaitapur project.

Dr. R B Grover, Emeritus Professor at the Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) and Member of AEC, recalled in his welcome address, the critical role that civil nuclear energy must play for India to achieve its net zero target by 2070.

The submission by EDF of a binding Technical and Commercial Offer in April 2021 accelerated the convergence between EDF and NPCIL. Meanwhile discussions at Government level on the Nuclear Liability Legal Framework are progressing in the right direction. Mr. Vakisasai Ramany, Senior Vice President Development, considers that this progress is to be taken as an encouraging sign to conclude. At a time in which various countries are showing a keen interest in embarking on nuclear power projects, the Jaitapur Project will not only enable India to achieve significant progress in the fight against climate change and in the increase of its energy independence, but it will also support the Indian supply chain’s contribution to the various EPR projects of EDF worldwide.

Mr. Sébastien DE MONPLANET, working as the Supply Chain Director EPR JNPP Project at EDF Project Directorate along with Mr. Navnith NAIR, working as Supply Chain Development and Localisation Manager – JNPP Offer at EDF – Nuclear New Build Directorate reminded the various stakeholders involved in the JNPP Project of the past, present, and future activities undertaken by EDF on the localisation opportunities for the project. 

EDF is strongly committed to the Skill India and Make in India initiatives. Mr.  Sébastien De Montplanet and Mr. Navnith Nair, recalled that a dedicated and significant scope will be performed by Indian suppliers. They presented the process that was put in place to identify, select, evaluate, and finally qualify Indian suppliers. This presentation was accompanied by a testimony of one of the most important Indian manufacturers in the field of nuclear, Larsen & Toubro, who is the first to go through the EDF qualification process for two of its manufacturing plants in India. Beyond the EDF qualification process, Larsen & Toubro is leading the way in demonstrating its commitment to the nuclear quality as it became the first company in India to receive the ISO 19443 (Nuclear Specific Quality Standard) certification.

The Suppliers’ Day concluded with more than 120+ B2B meetings that enabled Indian and French companies to network and discuss potential collaboration in the nuclear sector.