India, US sign nuclear fuel processing deal

India and the 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.The arrangements will enable reprocessing of the US obligated nuclear material at a new national reprocessing facility to be established by India. The facility will be dedicated to reprocessing of nuclear material under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.
The agreement in this regard was signed on Friday by US Undersecretary 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 Co-operation Initiative and is a prerequisite for US nuclear fuel suppliers to conduct business with India,” the State department said.
The Indian embassy said the agreement is a significant step which highlights the strong relationship and growing co-operation between the two countries. It enables reprocessing of US-obligated nuclear material under IAEA safeguards by India 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 co-operation in peaceful use of nuclear energy,” Shankar said. The 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.