Nuclear regulator bill in Parliament's monsoon session

The government will table a bill to set up an independent Nuclear Regulatory Authority of India (NRAI) in the monsoon session of Parliament, national security adviser Shivshankar Menon said on Friday.

"The bill to establish Nuclear Regulatory Authority of India will be tabled during the monsoon session of parliament. It will expand the country's nuclear power programme in a significant manner," Menon said. The session begins mid-July.

Menon was in Chennai to present the Lifetime Achievement Award to N Srinivasan, the first director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR).

According to Menon, the NRAI will be independent and autonomous.

Menon later left for Sri Lanka, leading a five-member delegation that includes Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, to discuss various issues like rehabilitation of Tamils displaced in the civil war against the LTTE that ended in 2009.