Govt approves civil nuclear agreement with Australia
India had also signed a contract with Canada for long-term supply of uranium and the first consignment of uranium has already reached India in December 2015The government on Wednesday approved the civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Australia, a deal which was sealed with the Australian government in November this year. “The fuel supply arrangements with Australia will bolster energy security by supporting the expansion of nuclear power in India,” Indian Department of Atomic Energy said in a statement. India and Australia had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy during the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot’s visit to India in September last year. India has made substantial progress in the field of civil nuclear cooperation since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came into power in May 2014. Not only did the Prime Minister close the five-year negotiations on a bilateral civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Japan, but also stitched the nuclear cooperation agreement gaps with the US. Since then, the administrative arrangement for implementing the agreement has been signed and the India Nuclear Insurance Pool set up to implement the understanding on civil nuclear liability. Commercial negotiations between Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and Westinghouse for construction of six units of the AP-1000 reactor at Mithi Virdi, Gujarat are on course for finalisation in 2016,” it said. Besides Australia and the US, India has taken forward the civil nuclear cooperation talks with Russia and France earlier this year. During Prime Minister’s visit to Canada in April 2015, India also signed a contract for long-term supply of uranium and the first consignment of uranium has already reached India in December 2015. In addition, a long term contract for purchase of uranium was signed during Modi’s visit to Kazakhstan in July this year.
December 30, 2015 | 04:45pm IST
to success.