Proposed Indo-Canadian uranium deal could see nuke co-operation back on track

India and Canada are likely to resume their commercial cooperation in civil nuclear energy during the ongoing visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to this country.

According to reports, an announcement is likely to be made on Wednesday of a uranium supply deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

According to the Globe and Mail newspaper, Saskatchewan-based Cameco Corp was in late-stage negotiations on a possible agreement as late as last week to finalise a deal to supply uranium worth hundreds of millions of dollars for Indian reactors.

Reports said Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall is hoping that the deal with India will see the light of day, as it could result in more employment opportunities for people of his province.

Wall is already on record, as saying that the Saskatchewan uranium is one of the most robust civilian nuclear programs in Canada, and once access is allowed, the economic potential and outcome would be huge.

India wants to increase the share of electricity it generates from nuclear power to 25 per cent by 2050, and both sides are of the view that bilateral nuclear trade has the potential to go far beyond just the sale of uranium, extending to exports of hardware too.

Canada had banned the exports of uranium and nuclear hardware to India in the 1970s after New Delhi used Canadian technology to develop a nuclear bomb.

The ice on this issue was broken by a highly symbolic Canada-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement in 2013, and now, it is being felt in Canadian Government circles that with India agreeing to limit the legal liability of U.S. nuclear technology suppliers, the same facility could be offered to suppliers of other countries such as Canada, and therefore, no longer be regarded as a nuclear commerce pariah.

In fact before Prime Minister Modi left on his three-nation nine-day-long foreign tour of France, Germany and Canada, Canada's High Commissioner to India Nadir Patel had said his country was pleased to know that the civil liability issue had been resolved.

He said the resolution of this issue would provide greater opportunities to the broader nuclear industry eco-system.

However, both India and Canada still realize that major challenges remain.