How India, Australia clinched Uranium deal

New Delhi: India and Australia have, through a pragmatic approach, worked out a mutually acceptable and beneficial formula under which Canberra will start supplying uranium for India's nuclear power plants, overcoming its earlier reservations about India's civilian nuclear programme.

Australia, despite signing the India-Australia Civil Nuclear Agreement in 2014, had reservations over the use of uranium sourced from the country despite assurances from New Delhi.

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However, India stood its ground and informed Australia that it follows a standard framework under which it reports to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) the use of the entire quantity of uranium sourced from abroad for its nuclear power plants, highly placed sources told ET.

Now, New Delhi and Canberra have negotiated a mutually acceptable formula that would satisfy Australia's requirements on IAEA safeguards while remaining consistent with India's approach to its civilian nuclear programme, which is applied to all supplier countries, including Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Canada, among others, sources said. India maintains absolute IAEA safeguards on all uranium purchased from abroad, according to people familiar with the issue.

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Last Thursday, India and Australia, following their third annual summit in Melbourne, announced the finalisation of the Administrative Arrangement of the India-Australia Civil Nuclear Agreement. This operationalises the India-Australia Civil Nuclear Agreement signed in 2014 and enables the supply of uranium from Australia to India.