The negotiations were part of the final bits of the long and complicated India-US Civil Nuclear Agreement.
Doubts over US granting reprocessing nuclear technology to India has finally been put to rest.
The government announced on Monday that the two countries have finally wrapped up negotiations on “arrangements and procedures” for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel imported from the US.
The negotiations were part of the final bits of the long and complicated India-US Civil Nuclear Agreement.
The talks on what to do with the spent fuel began in July last year and finally concluded during talks held here on March 2-4.
This agreement will “enable Indian reprocessing of US-obligated material under IAEA safeguards”, a statement issued by the ministry of external affairs said.
Officials of the two sides took a long time to finally come up with an agreed text. The reprocessing agreement was to be signed and sealed when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Washington last year. It took much longer.
“These arrangements will help open the door for US firms in India’s rapidly expanding energy sector, creating thousands of jobs for citizens of both our countries. The US and India are one step closer to ensuring greater access to clean and affordable energy and electricity for all Indians, particularly those most in need,” US ambassador Timothy Roemer said in a statement issued in Delhi on Monday.
The US is eager for American companies to get a major share of the multi-billion dollar nuclear business in India. But without parliament endorsing the nuclear liability bill that puts a cap on compensation in case of a nuclear accident, American companies will not do business.
The draft bill proposed by the government puts the cap at Rs500 crore. The Opposition has lambasted the UPA for fixing the ceiling at this measly sum, considering that the damage caused by a nuclear accident would be horrendous and much more deadly than what happened in the case of the Union Carbide plant leak in Bhopal.
The government failed to place the draft liability bill in parliament, realising that the opposition BJP as well as the Left parties would not let it go through. Prime minister Manmohan Singh will be under tremendous pressure now to get the nuclear liability bill passed quickly to enable American companies to do nuclear business in India.
The Russians and French are also in queue. Two sites for US companies have already been announced in Andhra and Gujarat during Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to India last year. But without the liability legislation, nothing much can happen.
“This important step is part of the great, win-win narrative of the US-India global partnership, affirming the commitment of our two countries to realise the full potential of our landmark civil nuclear agreement,” ambassador Roemer said.
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