India to sign safeguards agreement with IAEA on Monday

India will on Monday sign a crucial safeguards agreement with the IAEA to allow supply of atomic fuel and technology to the country moving a step closer to operationalising its international civil nuclear cooperation after the 34-year-old nuke trade embargo was lifted.
     
"We will sign the India specific safeguards agreement(ISSA), a key inspection agreement in the afternoon of Monday in Vienna. The ISSA was approved by the 35-member board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on August 1 last year and now it will get ready for operationalisation of the civil cooperation," Indian ambassador in Vienna Saurab Kumar said.
      
Nuclear Power corporation which is operating its reactors at less than 40 per cent capacity may soon benefit in the form of fuel import once the ISSA is ratified by the Indian Government. India has already signed agreements with the US, France, Russia and Kazakhstan and is planning to sign with Canada for resumption of nuclear commerce.
      
Kumar will be assisted by the chief negotiator Ravi B Grover and Gitesh Sarma, joint secretary, external affairs of the Department of Atomic Energy who are already in Vienna.       

The agreement with IAEA is a pre-condition for the implementation of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal and allow the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) to supply material and technology for India's ambitious nuclear power programme.
     
Asked about when India will be signing the Additional Protocol which is a mandatory step as per the  nuclear deal between India and the US, ambassador Kumar said," it is under discussion with IAEA. It takes time to evolve a draft. But once it is ready, it will be signed."
       
Chairman, Atomic Energy commission Dr Anil Kakodkar said here that once the ISSA is signed on Monday, the next immediate step would be  to work for the process of ratification by Indian Government.

The second step the department will be taking up was to file a declaration to the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA on which facilities will be placed under safeguards and their time frame (it is like filling up the annexure to the agreement),
Kakodkar said.
    
"Since the DAE has signed a contract (order) with French nuclear supplier AREVA for getting 300 tonnes of the yellow cake (Uranium), we will also be working out on which part of the Hyderabad-based Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) will be placed under safeguards for processing and fabricating the fuel.
    
"One part of the NFC is already listed in the Separation Plan which was made public in March 2006," Kakodkar said.
    
Some part of NFC has been under 'Campaign mode' of safeguards for fabrication of imported fuel from different countries for the US-supplied Tarapur atomic power stations units one and two, he added.
    
In campaign mode safeguards, inspection is valid only for the period under which the imported fuel is processed or fabricated. Rest of the period the plant will not be under international safeguards.
    
The AREVA fuel will be used in Rajasthan Unit two which is already under safeguards for the last three decades.
    
On August one last year, the Board of Governors of the IAEA authorised director general Mohammed ElBaradei to conclude with India an India-specific safeguards agreement (ISSA) and subsequently implement the ISSA. A month later, the NSG agreed to lift the ban on nuclear trade with India.

Under the Separation Plan, India has to place 14 civilian reactors under IAEA safeguards.
     
India has already placed six of its reactors under various safeguards agreements which include units one and two of Tarapur in Maharashtra, units one and two of Kota (RAPS), Rajasthan and two units at Koodankulam, Tamil Nadu which will be brought under the umbrella of ISSA after the ratification of the inspection agreement by India.
    
Under the same plan, the civilian plants -- RAPS units five and six -- will be placed under IAEA inspection in 2009 and RAPS units three and four in 2010.
    
In 2012, units one and two of Kakrapara atomic power stations in Gujarat and in 2014, units one and two of Narora atomic power plants in Uttar Pradesh would be brought under international inspection, DAE sources said.
    
Regarding the fuel for the new waiting reactors RAPS five and six, they can be commissioned only after India fills up the annexure of ISSA to IAEA and the ground work like installation of cameras and other required facilities for monitoring and inspection is completed by IAEA, the sources said.