Indian-American Vijay Sazawal appointed to Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee

WASHINGTON: A noted Indian-American expert on India-US civil nuclear deal has been re-appointed to the Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee of the US Department of Commerce.

Vijay Sazawal's appointment to Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee ( CINTAC) was announced by US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker along with 38 other members.

"Maintaining US leadership in the nuclear industry is critical to our country's economic vitality and to global efforts to combat climate change," Pritzker said.

"The Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee is a valuable mechanism for private sector representatives to contribute to policy discussions and work with government leaders to create the conditions that will strengthen US competitiveness in this sector," Pritzker said in a statement.

Sazawal is the only Indian-American in the advisory committee.

Born, raised and schooled in Srinagar, Sazawal came to the US in 1970 to pursue his doctoral degree in Structural Mechanics at Michigan Tech.

He received a distinguished alumina award from the university in 2015. After completing his doctoral degree, Sazawal joined Westinghouse Electric Corporation in the Advanced Reactors Division as part of the design and technology team working on the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project.

His tenure at Westinghouse lasted 20 years during which time he rose through successive management positions with responsibility for fast reactors, advanced terrestrial and space reactors, nuclear defense programmes, and US government programmes to promote safety upgrades of Russian-built reactors in Central and Eastern Europe.

Vijay is also a founding member of the Indo-American Kashmir Forum (IAKF) and in the past has been its president.