Saturday, November 26, 2011
U.S. wants “level playing field” for nuclear companies
From The Hindu
The State Department said that the U.S. hoped India would provide American companies with “level playing field” even as they seek to resolve the impasse over India’s Nuclear Liability Act.
In response to a question fromThe Hindu on whether the new rules notified by the Indian government last week would help advance negotiations on this matter the State Department issued a statement saying, “Ensuring a level playing field for U.S. companies to invest in India’s civil nuclear industry remains a priority for the State Department.”
The statement added that completing the U.S.-Indian civil nuclear cooperation partnership was “central to both our nations’ long-term prosperity and India’s future energy security,” and it only reiterated an earlier response saying the U.S. continued to “study” India’s regulations on civil nuclear liability.
Labels: ASEAN Summit., Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, Manmohan-Obama meet
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
India's concern on ENR norms
From The Hindu
With a few days left before the India-United States Strategic Dialogue kicks off in New Delhi, a top Indian official here said India had conveyed to the U.S its “concern” at the changes made to Nuclear Suppliers Group's guidelines for sale of Enrichment and Reprocessing technology.
While there is still an open question on whether the U.S.' subsequent reassurances that the “clean waiver” granted to India for ENR sales will supersede the wording of the new guidelines restrictive passed by the NSG, the Indian official nevertheless reiterated that ENR technology continued to be “an important issue for India.”
The official added that both in this context as well as regarding foreign partners in India's civilian nuclear energy programme India was not only holding discussions with the U.S., but also with Russia and France in parallel.
Confirming that the Indian nuclear operator, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, and U.S. companies were nevertheless currently involved in detailed discussions on legal and design aspects of prospective joint nuclear projects, the official however expressed optimism that Strategic Dialogue would lead to progress on this front.
In particular the official noted that new regulations relating to the implementation of the nuclear liability bill would be finalised in the months ahead.
Official sources here also added that for the first time the India-U.S. discussions would directly focus upon West Asia, including a discussion of recent developments in West Asia.
Similarly while India's and the U.S.' engagements in East Asia and the United Nations have already been a subject of discussion even before U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to New Delhi last year, that will again be an agenda item next week, an official added.
Mirroring the broad structure of the first round of the Dialogue that was held in Washington last summer, the second round will also consider the entire gamut of cooperative efforts in five key areas including defence and counter-terrorism cooperation; energy and climate; economics, trade and agriculture; science, technology, health and innovation; and education, development and empowerment.
With a few days left before the India-United States Strategic Dialogue kicks off in New Delhi, a top Indian official here said India had conveyed to the U.S its “concern” at the changes made to Nuclear Suppliers Group's guidelines for sale of Enrichment and Reprocessing technology.
While there is still an open question on whether the U.S.' subsequent reassurances that the “clean waiver” granted to India for ENR sales will supersede the wording of the new guidelines restrictive passed by the NSG, the Indian official nevertheless reiterated that ENR technology continued to be “an important issue for India.”
The official added that both in this context as well as regarding foreign partners in India's civilian nuclear energy programme India was not only holding discussions with the U.S., but also with Russia and France in parallel.
Confirming that the Indian nuclear operator, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, and U.S. companies were nevertheless currently involved in detailed discussions on legal and design aspects of prospective joint nuclear projects, the official however expressed optimism that Strategic Dialogue would lead to progress on this front.
In particular the official noted that new regulations relating to the implementation of the nuclear liability bill would be finalised in the months ahead.
Official sources here also added that for the first time the India-U.S. discussions would directly focus upon West Asia, including a discussion of recent developments in West Asia.
Similarly while India's and the U.S.' engagements in East Asia and the United Nations have already been a subject of discussion even before U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to New Delhi last year, that will again be an agenda item next week, an official added.
Mirroring the broad structure of the first round of the Dialogue that was held in Washington last summer, the second round will also consider the entire gamut of cooperative efforts in five key areas including defence and counter-terrorism cooperation; energy and climate; economics, trade and agriculture; science, technology, health and innovation; and education, development and empowerment.
Labels: ENR, Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, Indo-U.S. strategic dialogue, NSG
U.S. expects to discuss “new legislation” on implementing liability law
From The Hindu
“New legislation” to implement India's nuclear liability law is expected to form part of the discussions during the United States-India Strategic Dialogue in New Delhi next week, according to a top administration official here.
Speaking at a pre-Dialogue briefing, Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake said it would, however, be up to the Indian government to explain what this new legislation would contain.
He reiterated the Obama administration's view that the U.S. did “expect that [India] will ratify the Convention on Supplementary Compensation [CSC] before the end of the year as they committed.”
Indian Ambassador here Meera Shankar underscored, during a briefing a few weeks ago, that while India had said publicly that it would ratify the CSC this year, “It is for the U.S. companies now to proceed with commercial negotiations ... and we would hope that the companies would move forward quickly in this regard.” She had added that the nuclear companies “have been in touch,” and held discussions and workshops with India's nuclear power apparatus.
Yet, Mr. Blake implied that in parallel to any talks that nuclear power companies may be having, the two governments' leaders meeting on July 19 in New Delhi would also take up the issue in their discussions. In particular, Mr. Blake said he hoped the new legislation would be consistent with the CSC.
Labels: Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, Indo-U.S. strategic dialogue, Nuclear Liability Bill
ENR guidelines do not detract from India waiver: U.S.
From The Hindu
Despite the Nuclear Suppliers Group this week adopting controversial new guidelines restricting the sale of enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technology to certain nations, the United States insisted that it continued to fully support the “clean” waiver granted to India as an exception to such restrictions.
The “new” guidelines were said to be similar in some respects to their 2008 version, according to which countries that are not members of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or are not subject to full-scope safeguards of their nuclear facilities, would not be eligible to purchase ENR technology from NSG members.
Yet the State Department said on Thursday, “Nothing about the new ENR transfer restrictions agreed to by NSG members should be construed as detracting from the unique impact and importance of the U.S.-India agreement or our commitment to full civil nuclear cooperation.”
Neither the State Department nor the White House provided any further explanations on the apparent contradiction between the wording of the new NSG guidelines and the assumption that ENR sales to India would remain unaffected.
However State Deparment officials said in a public statement that the NSG guidelines’ references to the NPT, including those on ENR transfers, “in no way detract from the exception granted to India by NSG members in 2008 and in no way reflect upon India’s non-proliferation record.”
The State Department also defended the passage of the new restrictions at the NSG meeting in the Netherlands this week on the basis that all such efforts by the NSG to strengthen controls on ENR transfers were “consistent with long-standing U.S. policy that pre-dates the Civil Nuclear Agreement and have been reaffirmed on an annual basis by the G-8 for years.”
Arguing that the new guideline reflected “a consensus among all NSG members,” a State Department spokesperson also underscored that the references to the NPT contained within the guidelines “reinforce the commitment of NSG members to prevent the transfer of items that could be used for weapons purposes, which is the mission of the regime itself.”
Despite the Nuclear Suppliers Group this week adopting controversial new guidelines restricting the sale of enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technology to certain nations, the United States insisted that it continued to fully support the “clean” waiver granted to India as an exception to such restrictions.
The “new” guidelines were said to be similar in some respects to their 2008 version, according to which countries that are not members of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or are not subject to full-scope safeguards of their nuclear facilities, would not be eligible to purchase ENR technology from NSG members.
Yet the State Department said on Thursday, “Nothing about the new ENR transfer restrictions agreed to by NSG members should be construed as detracting from the unique impact and importance of the U.S.-India agreement or our commitment to full civil nuclear cooperation.”
Neither the State Department nor the White House provided any further explanations on the apparent contradiction between the wording of the new NSG guidelines and the assumption that ENR sales to India would remain unaffected.
However State Deparment officials said in a public statement that the NSG guidelines’ references to the NPT, including those on ENR transfers, “in no way detract from the exception granted to India by NSG members in 2008 and in no way reflect upon India’s non-proliferation record.”
The State Department also defended the passage of the new restrictions at the NSG meeting in the Netherlands this week on the basis that all such efforts by the NSG to strengthen controls on ENR transfers were “consistent with long-standing U.S. policy that pre-dates the Civil Nuclear Agreement and have been reaffirmed on an annual basis by the G-8 for years.”
Arguing that the new guideline reflected “a consensus among all NSG members,” a State Department spokesperson also underscored that the references to the NPT contained within the guidelines “reinforce the commitment of NSG members to prevent the transfer of items that could be used for weapons purposes, which is the mission of the regime itself.”
Labels: Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, NPT, NSG
Sunday, August 01, 2010
India, U.S. sign accord on reprocessing spent fuel
From The Hindu
India and the U.S. on Friday evening signed the much-debated agreement on modalities for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, under the civilian nuclear deal between the two countries.
The agreement on arrangements and procedures for reprocessing was signed at a State Department ceremony by Indian ambassador Meera Shankar and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns.
Pursuant to Article 6(iii) of the bilateral ‘123 Agreement' on civilian nuclear cooperation, the agreement was hailed as “a significant step which highlights the strong relationship and growing cooperation between India and the U.S.,” by the Indian embassy here. Upon entry into force, it will enable reprocessing by India of United States-obligated nuclear material under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.
The State Department in a statement said that as per the agreement the reprocessing would be undertaken at a new, safeguarded national facility to be established by India, and that it would be dedicated solely to this.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Shankar congratulated negotiators on both sides of the agreement for bringing it to completion well ahead of the stipulated period of one year. “This early completion in some sense reflects how our two countries are increasingly getting into the habit of working together,” she said.
She further reiterated that the Government of India had an ambitious programme for development of civil nuclear energy to meet its growing energy needs, noting that its target was “to increase our installed capacity more than seven fold to 35000 MWe by the year 2022, and to 60,000 MWe by 2032.”
In this context the government had already designated two sites for nuclear power plants to be established in cooperation with the U.S. and the companies of the two countries were now engaged in discussions, she noted.
The State Department corroborated this commitment on the U.S. side, noting that the reprocessing arrangement, negotiated and concluded under President Obama, reflected the administration's “strong commitment to building successfully on the landmark U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative.” It was also a prerequisite for U.S. nuclear fuel suppliers to conduct business with India, a spokesperson noted.
Officials also sought to underscore the rarity of such agreements between the U.S. and other nations, emphasising that on previous occasions, the U.S. had extended such reprocessing consent only to the European Union and Japan.
Hinting at some of the key factors driving this agreement on the U.S. side the State Department spokesman said that the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative had facilitated “significant new commercial opportunities across India's multi-billion dollar nuclear energy market, including the designation of two nuclear reactor park sites for U.S. technology in the States of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.”
He added that increased civil nuclear trade with India would create thousands of new jobs for the U.S. economy and also help India to meet its rising energy needs in an environmentally responsible way by reducing the growth of carbon emissions.
Labels: Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, nuclear fuel re-processing, power generation
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