Australia may keep its uranium

NEW DELHI: After signing a landmark nuclear agreement with Russia, India is on its way to signing nuclear deals with Britain and Canada.

Sources said negotiations with Britain over a nuclear pact are now complete after rounds of negotiations. India and Canada had concluded negotiations during the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Port of Spain last month.

India will now ink the agreements with Britain and Canada during high-level visits from both countries which are expected to take place early next year. Sources indicated that during negotiations, India had blocked any attempts to bring in NPT elements in the agreements.

Both Canada and Britain want a share of the Indian civilian nuclear sector. Early this year, nuclear teams from the two countries visited India to scout for opportunities with the lifting of all curbs on civilian nuclear trade with India.

The cooperation will see Canadian firms trade in nuclear equipment, technology and uranium. Once the agreement is signed, cooperation with Canada, which is the world’s largest producer of uranium, will resume after over three decades.

Similarly, the agreement with Britain too relates to transfer of nuclear technology and equipment to India. Britain has also expressed an interest in setting up nuclear reactors in India.

The conclusion of negotiations on agreements with UK and Canada takes place even as India and the US continue negotiations on a reprocessing agreement. Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao had said that dates for the next round of negotiations, which is being pitched as the final round, had not yet been fixed.

She did, however, express optimism that all the steps for implementation would be concluded `well within the timeline’ of July 2010. “It will certainly be done within the timeline, within a year, before July 2010,’’ Ms Rao had said.

At the end of last month, the government had expressed hope that the negotiations would be concluded within two weeks. There are still differences of opinion on the issue of the continuation of reprocessing in case India tests a weapon. India has continued to maintain that it will not go beyond the assurances in the 123 Agreement. The last round of negotiation was held last month on the eve of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s meeting with US president Barack Obama.