|
Russia to supply nuclear fuel to India
Russia plans to sell India uranium for two nuclear reactors, an official said Tuesday, adding that the United States had turned down a request by New Delhi for the atomic fuel.Moscow has notified the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an association of nations that export nuclear material, of its plans to send fuel to the Tarapur nuclear facility in western India, Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said. The issue is expected to be discussed during a visit to India this week by Mikhail Fradkov, the Russian Prime Minister. Sarna said civilian nuclear cooperation would be on the agenda during Fradkov's Friday-Saturday visit, which also was to include talks on defense, space research, commerce and technology. Fradkov will meet with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior leaders. India has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Sarna said the export deal was being made "under the safety exception clause" of the suppliers' group guidelines. The guidelines permit export to countries such as India that have not submitted their atomic programs to U.N. safeguards, but only to prevent or correct "a radiological hazard to public health and safety which cannot reasonably be met by other means." Although there's no immediate threat of radiation leaking from the reactors, they would have to be shut down without the fuel from Moscow. "A shortage of fuel for Tarapur would have affected its continued operation under reliable and safe conditions," Sarna said. Sarna said the Russian fuel will enable the Tarapur I and Tarapur II plants "to continue to operate at safety and provide much-needed electricity to the western power grid of the country." The western grid supplies electricity to the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya, Pradesh and Goa, together home to some 210 million people. A similar request for fuel from the United States was turned down because US law prohibits nuclear materials exports to countries that have not signed the nonproliferation treaty. But the administration of US President George W. Bush is seeking to change those laws under a landmark civilian nuclear agreement completed by Washington and New Delhi earlier this month. If finalized, the pact would allow the United States to provide nuclear technology and fuel. In return, India has pledged to separate its programs and open the civilian ones to IAEA inspections. New Delhi is seeking much-needed uranium even as it develops technology to use another radioactive material, thorium, instead of uranium, in its nuclear plants. India has the world's largest thorium deposits. India's nuclear dealings have come a long way from 1998, when New Delhi carried out multiple nuclear tests that led to economic sanctions from several countries. India later vowed to never use nuclear weapons unless attacked. In the years since, India's swiftly globalizing economy has soared at some of the world's fastest rates, led by an information technology boom. With international oil prices rising, India is now looking to other sources, including nuclear power, to support the swift economic growth. Posted by: john 2006-03-14 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=145446 |