India And US Close To Finalizing Nuclear Cooperation Deal
New Delhi (RIA Novosti) Jul 23, 2007 India and the United States said they had made significant progress on a major agreement in the sphere of civilian nuclear cooperation after four days of intensive negotiations that ended Friday in Washington. "We had a constructive and positive discussion," both sides said in a statement. "We will now refer the issue to our governments for final review." Last year, Congress approved the Hyde Act, which allows the U.S. to supply civilian nuclear fuel to India, but talks to coordinate technical details on an overall cooperation plan have been dragging for months without a breakthrough. The statement provided no details of the latest deal, but some media reports suggested that the U.S. promised uninterrupted supplies of fuel to 14 civilian nuclear plants in India and accepted New Delhi's initiative to build a special storage for spent nuclear fuel in the country. The U.S. has been previously reluctant to allow India, which is not officially recognized as a nuclear power and has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, reprocess spent fuel with U.S. components in concern over its possible use for military purposes. Meanwhile, New Delhi believes that Washington's position violates its sovereign right to develop nuclear energy and threatens India's energy security. The deal, if it goes through, would give India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and reactors, but the two countries still have to obtain an approval by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a conglomerate of countries that export nuclear material. India also must reach a non-proliferation safeguard agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency, a UN nuclear watchdog.
Source: RIA Novosti Related Links Nuclear Power News - Nuclear Science, Nuclear Technology Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
Sarkozy Wants All-French Energy Giant Berlin (AFP) Jul 23, 2007 French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to kick Germany out of a Franco-German nuclear engineering joint venture to create an all-French energy giant, a German magazine reported Saturday. Sarkozy wants to buy Siemens AG's 34 percent stake in Areva NP, a joint venture set up in 2001 with French nuclear group Areva, Wirtschaftswoche said in an article to appear on Monday, citing company sources. |
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement |