India, Australia Complete Formalities for Civil Nuclear Pact
Antalya: India today announced conclusion of a civil nuclear deal
for buying uranium from Australia to increase conventional fuel
supplies to overcome chronic shortages. The announcement came after
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Australian counterpart Malcolm
Turnbull on the sidelines of the G20 Summit here.
"Another milestone achievement as two PMs announce completion of
procedures for India Australia Civil Nuclear Agreement," External
Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted after the meeting.
"With the completion of procedures, including administrative
arrangements, the India Australia Civil Nuclear Agreement will enter
into force," he said.
The nuclear cooperation agreement between India and Australia was signed
in September last year after the two nations agreed on a safeguards
pact to sell uranium for peaceful power generation.
The deal, which follows similar agreements with the US and France, is a
step toward India achieving international acceptability for its nuclear
programme despite not ratifying the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
"PM @narendramodi thanked PM
@TurnbullMalcolm and described the nuclear agreement as a milestone
& source of trust & confidence," the spokesperson said.
India, which has nuclear energy contributing just 3 per cent of its
electricity generation, will be the first country to buy Australian
uranium without being a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation
treaty.
India and Australia began talks on the Civil Nuclear Cooperation
Agreement in 2012 after Australia lifted a long-standing ban on selling
uranium to energy-starved India.
New Delhi faced Western sanctions after testing nuclear weapons in 1998
but the restrictions eroded after a deal with the US in 2008 that
recognised its growing economic weight as well as safeguards against
diversion of civilian fuel for military purposes.
New Delhi has less than two dozen small reactors at six sites with a
capacity of 4,780 MW, or 2 per cent of its total power capacity. It is
plans to increase its nuclear capacity to 63,000 MW by 2032 by adding
nearly 30 reactors at an estimated cost of USD 85 billion.
It currently has nuclear energy agreements with 11 countries and imports uranium from France, Russia and Kazakhstan.
Australia has about 40 per cent of the world's uranium reserves and
exports nearly 7,000 tonnes of yellow cake annually. India and Australia
had commenced negotiations for the sale of uranium in early 2012.
The two-way trade stands at a relatively modest USD 15 billion a year
compared with USD 150 billion for Australia's two-way trade with China.
No comments:
Post a Comment