Australia will begin exporting uranium to India for peaceful purposes after the two countries on Thursday finalised the administrative arrangements needed to implement a civil nuclear cooperation agreement that had remained stalled since 2014.
The announcement was made on Thursday when Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met in Melbourne.
In a joint statement, the countries said they had “finalised the administrative arrangements necessary to enable the export of Australian uranium to India for exclusively peaceful purposes and under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards”, as provided for under a 2015 nuclear cooperation agreement.
However, the leaders did not announce how much uranium Australia would export or when shipments would begin.
Australia agreed in 2014 to allow uranium exports to India despite New Delhi not being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. However, the implementation of the agreement was delayed because of concerns that the material could be diverted for weapons use, AP reported.
Australia has the world’s largest known uranium reserves.
India plans to install 100 gigawatts of nuclear power capacity by 2047 as part of its long-term sustainable energy strategy. Presently, the country has 8,780 megawatts of nuclear power capacity.
India has argued that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is discriminatory because it recognises only countries that tested nuclear weapons before January 1967 as nuclear-weapon states. After India conducted nuclear tests in 1998, it faced international technology sanctions and restrictions on uranium trade.
However, in 2008, the Nuclear Suppliers Group granted India a waiver allowing it to purchase uranium from member countries. New Delhi has since signed bilateral uranium supply agreements with several countries, including Canada.
On Thursday, India and Australia reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening energy security, maintaining stable energy supply chains and expanding cooperation in energy trade and investment through existing bilateral agreements.
Modi said on Thursday that India’s relationship with Australia presented “historic opportunities” for both countries to cooperate across several areas, The Indian Express reported.
In a subsequent statement, the Indian prime minister said: “Today, we have signed an important agreement in the field of nuclear energy. This will open the way for uranium supplies from Australia to India and give new impetus to our clean energy objectives.”
Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.
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