India to supply nuclear reactors to Sri Lanka

NEW DELHI: With an eye on checking China's growing ambitions in South Asia, India has signed a landmark civil nuclear pact with Sri Lanka – the first such agreement to supply nuclear power reactors to a foreign nation – and decided to expand defence and security cooperation to address Colombo's requirements.

This is the first civil nuclear pact that Sri Lanka has signed with any country. The agreement signed after Modi-Sirisena talks would help bilateral cooperation in the transfer and exchange of knowledge and expertise, sharing of resources, capacity building and training of personnel in peaceful uses of nuclear energy, including use of radioisotopes, nuclear safety, radiation safety and nuclear security, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. India also plans to supply indigenously made light small-scale nuclear reactors to Lanka which wants to establish 600 MW of nuclear capacity by 2030, government officials said. Delhi has been contemplating to export smaller sized nuclear reactors to friendly countries for few years now.

Sirisena began his India visit on Sunday, his first trip abroad since he created history by unseating Rajapaksa in January, which has provided Delhi with an opportunity to repair ties that had become tense under the previous regime. Modi was the first foreign leader to congratulate him and invite him to Delhi. And on Monday he formally announced to visit Colombo next month. The two leaders understandably also discussed empowerment of Tamil minorities in Sri Lanka which is crucial for BJP's political ambitions in Tamil Nadu.

The nuclear agreement would also facilitate cooperation in radioactive waste management and nuclear and radiological disaster mitigation.