Australia may supply uranium to India for JV power plants

I / Cairns August 7, 2009, 15:47 IST

 India today expressed its interest in having civil nuclear cooperation with Australia amid indications that the two countries are likely to sign an energy agreement in November under which Australia may supply uranium for joint venture power plants.

Australia's policy of not supplying uranium to countries that have not signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) was noted by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna who had discussions on a wide variety of bilateral subjects with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his counterpart Stephen Smith.       

Nevertheless, Krishna told a press conference here after his discussions "while we have noted Australia's position on the issue of the supply of Uranium to India, we would be interested in having civil nuclear cooperation with Australia as well, as and when it is ready."       

 

Rudd is expected to visit India in November when the two countries are likely to sign an "Energy Declaration" for generation of nuclear power for which his country may supply uranium.       

Krishna said that "India needs to expand the use of nuclear power to meet our growing energy requirement in a climate friendly way. We are thankful for Australia's support in IAEA and NSG. Following the NSG waiver we have been making progress on civil nuclear cooperation with partners such as US, France and Russia."