India and US have signed an agreement on reprocessing of American nuclear spent fuel by
India, marking the final steps in terms of implementation of the landmark civil nuclear deal between the two countries.
Upon entry into force, the arrangements and procedures will enable reprocessing by India of the US obligated nuclear material at a new national reprocessing facility to be established by India, dedicated to the reprocessing of
safeguarded nuclear material under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.
The agreement in this regard was signed on Friday by US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Bill Burns and Indian Ambassador to the US Meera Shankar, at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.
"This arrangement, negotiated and concluded under President Obama, reflects the Administration's strong commitment to building successfully on the landmark US-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative and is a prerequisite for US nuclear fuel suppliers to conduct business with India," the State Department said in a statement.
The Indian Embassy said signing of the Agreement is a significant step which highlights the strong relationship and growing cooperation between the two countries.
It enables reprocessing by India of US-obligated nuclear material under IAEA safeguards and will facilitate participation by US firms in India's rapidly expanding civil nuclear energy sector, the statement said.
"With this we have taken another significant step forward in the implementation of our bilateral agreement for cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy," Shankar said
in her remarks on the occasion.
The hard and meticulous work done by the Indian and US negotiators that led to the completion of negotiations, well ahead of the stipulated period of one year, Shankar said
reflects how the two countries are increasingly getting into the habit of working together.
The signing of this Agreement Saturday, and a few days back, of the Counter-terrorism Cooperation initiative in New Delhi, is a reflection of deepening ties between India and the
United States, Shankar said.
The historic bilateral cooperation agreement for peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the 123 Agreement, that the two countries signed two years back provided for reprocessing of
US obligated nuclear material in an Indian national facility under IAEA safeguards, she said.
Previously, US had extended such reprocessing consent only to the European Union (EURATOM) and Japan.
"The Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative has facilitated significant new commercial opportunities across India's multi-billion dollar nuclear energy market, including the designation of two nuclear reactor park sites for US
technology in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat," the State Department said.
"Increased civil nuclear trade with India will create thousands of new jobs for the US economy while helping India to meet its rising energy needs in an environmentally responsible way by reducing the growth of carbon emissions,"
it said.
"These Arrangements and Procedures are pursuant to Article 6 (iii) of the 123 Agreement and an important component of our bilateral civil nuclear cooperation," said the Indian Ambassador.
Shankar said India has an ambitious programme for development of civil nuclear energy to meet its growing energy needs.
The target is to increase our installed capacity more than seven fold to 35000 MWe by the year 2022, and to 60,000 MWe by 2032.
Observing that international cooperation, including cooperation with US firms, is an important component of this plan, the Ambassador said the agreement will facilitate the participation of US companies in India's rapidly expanding nuclear energy sector.
India has already designated two sites for nuclear power plants to be established in cooperation with the US and the companies of the two countries are now engaged in discussions.