CRANBERRY TWP — A deal between the United States and India that will have the Westinghouse Electric Co. build six nuclear reactors in the Indian state of Gujarat.

The beginning of engineering and design work by Westinghouse was announced recently by President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A final agreement on the project, which still is trying to arrange financing with the help of the U.S Export-Import Bank, is expected to be signed by June of 2017.

In 2015 Bloomberg News reported that industry experts estimated the cost of one AP1000 reactor, which Westinghouse calls “the most advanced commercially available nuclear power plant,” at about $5 billion. The company says the plants, which use pressurized water reactors, take less time to build because of design “simplification,” and are smaller, use less nuclear material and produce less waste, and have a lifetime of 60 years.

The first AP1000 reactor in China, which is one of four under construction in that country, is expected to start operation in 2017. Four of the reactors are are being built in the United States; one in Bulgaria; and one in the United Kingdom.

Westinghouse has been pursuing a major nuclear deal with India since 2013, when the company signed an “early works agreement” with the Nuclear Power Co. of India Limited to build two and eight nuclear reactors in Gujarat, according to a press release on Westinghouse’s website.

In January of 2015 Westinghouse president and CEO Danny Roderick was among a group of CEOs that accompanied an Obama-led delegation to India and met on a wide range of business issues, according to the company. At that time Roderick teased the India deal, saying the company was already in discussions with potential partners in India to build the reactors.

One of the main sticking points to the deal has been India’s nuclear liability law, which many companies regarded as deal breaker.

The law leaves nuclear equipment suppliers vulnerable to lawsuits from power plant operators and the public in the event of an accident, and has been the single greatest obstacle to India’s ambitious plan to expand its nuclear fleet, Westinghouse has said.

In January 2015, during Obama’s visit to India, Westinghouse hoped the issue might be closer to a resolution.

The world leaders announced a promise by the Indian government to create an insurance pool totaling $250 million that would pay out damages on behalf of nuclear suppliers in the event that an operator chooses to sue them.

Westinghouse, a subsidiary of Toshiba Corp., employs 12,500 people worldwide.

It has more than 3,000 at its Cranberry headquarters.