India notifies separation plan to IAEA

Mumbai, Oct 16 (PTI) Ahead of Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh's visit to the US, India has notified its
Separation Plan to IAEA under which 14 of its 22 reactors will
be placed under safeguards of the international nuclear
watchdog by 2014.

The notification formalities were completed Thursday
night, a crucial step in paving the way for the implementation
of international civil nuclear cooperation, Department of
Atomic Energy sources said.

It comes almost 14 months after the 35-member board of
governors of the IAEA approved the India-specific nuclear
safeguards agreement.

Singh will be undertaking the first state visit to the
US in the Obama Administration from November 23 and high on
his priority is ironing out the creases for implementation of
the landmark civil nuclear cooperation agreement between the
two countries.

The notification is expected to help in the ongoing
negotiations for the important reprocessing accord that is at
an advanced stage and the two countries are looking at the
possibility of firming it up during Singh's visit.

President Barack Obama has said he is looking forward
to his meeting with Singh. The two sides are hoping for
substative talks and working in the direction of taking
Indo-US ties to new heights.

In the run-up to Singh's visit, National Security
Advisor is expected to travel to Washington later this month
for talks on a whole range of issues.

The India Specific Safeguards Agreement (ISSA) or the
'umbrella' agreement approved by consensus by the IAEA Board
on August 1 last year can now enter into force separating
India's civilian and strategic nuclear establishments.

Under the separation plan that was announced in March
2006 during US President George W Bush's visit here, India
will be placing a total of 14 Indian reactors under IAEA
safeguards by 2014 in a phased manner.

Officials from the two sides had last week in Vienna
completed the second round of consultations to settle the
much-awaited 'Arrangements and Procedures' agreement on
reprocessing spent nuclear fuel of American origin.

"We will have a third round of talks in November,"
Ravi B Grover, Chief Indian Negotiator and Director, Strategic
Planning of the Department of Atomic Energy told PTI.

Clinching this agreement is critical to initiating
interactions in the nuclear field at a commercial level, and
also for operationalisation of the Indo-US nuclear deal, DAE
sources said.

Under the 123 Agreement with the United States, India
has to establish a new national facility dedicated to
reprocessing nuclear material under the safeguards of the
IAEA.

A potential sticking point has been India's insistence
on retaining "...upfront sovereign rights in whatever we do,
including reprocessing," as DAE officials had put it after the
first round of talks at Vienna.

The indigenously built two units of 220 MW of
Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS units 5 and 6) were
formally brought under ISSA on Thursday.

IAEA is likely to carry out inspections this year of
the imported Uranium fuel fabrication at the Nuclear Fuel
Complex at Hyderabad and its transfer and loading on the newly
constructed RAPS 5 and 6.

IAEA inspectors have already fixed cameras at the plant
site of RAPS 5 and 6, which are expected to be commissioned by
December, after a delay of almost one year.

The agency currently applies safeguards to six Indian
nuclear reactors (units 1 and 2 at Tarapur, Units 1 and 2 of
RAPS, Units 1 and 2 of Koodankulam) under Safeguards
Agreements concluded between 1971 and 1994.

India will place Units 3 and 4 of RAPS under safeguards
in 2010, two units of Kakrapar Atomic Power Station and two
units of Narora Atomic Power Station in 2012 and 2014
respectively, the sources said.

Under the separation plan, India has decided to
permanently shut down the CIRUS research reactor located
inside Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), country's
strategic lab, in 2010. PTI LV
ANU