Tarapur deal sealed, uranium is on its way

MICS -India By shekhar kulshreshtha

Posted online: Saturday, March 18, 2006 at 0000 hrs

Russia Moscow informs NSG of 60-tonne supply; given critics in US Congress, India doesn’t talk reactors yet

NEW DELHI, MARCH 17: Encouraged by the movement forward on the civilian-military separation as per the Indo-US nuclear understanding, India and Russia have sealed the deal on fuel supplies for Tarapur reactors. The consignment is expected to reach India in a matter of days.

The supply of 60 metric tonnes of low enriched uranium will ensure that the Tarapur 1 and 2 reactors—both (160 MW each) under safeguards—run for the next five years. Currently, the reactors would have run out of fuel over the next six to eight months. The two reactors have recently been refurbished.

“I would like to convey our warm appreciation to the Russian government for responding positively to meet the requirements for nuclear fuel supplies to Tarapur 1 & 2,’’ said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a joint press conference with visiting Russian PM Mikhail Fradkov.

While the US is upset over the timing of the deal arguing that this bolsters critics on the Hill, both New Delhi and Moscow have clarified this in line with guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Russia has notified the NSG on the fuel supply citing safety of the two reactors.

New Delhi is also underlining the point that the supplies would not have come through so promptly—in 2001, Russia’s supplies provoked international criticism—had it not been for the positive movement on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

India had been raising this with Russia for nearly a year and even last December, Russian President Vladimir Putin had made it clear that supplies would be made under NSG guidelines.

Still, Moscow waited as India and US negotiated the details of the nuclear deal and now that the two countries have agreed on a separation plan, Russia moved to notify the NSG. All this even though TAPS 1 and 2 are already under international safeguards. They were set up with American help four decades ago.

Seeing the opportunity, sources said, Moscow is now more positive on building more 1000 MW reactors in Kudankulam.

This was conveyed by Fradkov today and Singh even described Kudankulam as the ‘‘flagship’’ of Indo-Russian cooperation in this sector. But on this, New Delhi prefers to take its time given the debate underway in the US Congress where the Bush Administration has tabled the India-specific legislation that will enable it to sign a full civil nuclear cooperation agreement with India.

In the case of fuel for Tarapur, the July 18 joint statement does cater for other countries stepping in even as India and the US finalise the deal.

Moreover, South Block feels it is a matter of technical detail of when and how the fuel reaches India.

But New Delhi was careful not to enter into negotiations for new reactors precisely because the deal is being discussed in Washington. There is clear sense here that once the deal is through, it will transform the range of options before India which will turn into a lucrative market for countries like US, France and Russia to sell power-producing reactors.

Besides this, the two counties today set up a joint study group to look at ways to raise the trade volume to $10 billion by 2010. Russia also agreed to re-invest much of the Rupee debt (close to $1 billion) in India. The two countries also signed an agreement on Indian participation to the the global satellite navigation system (GLONAS), an alternate to the US global positioning system.