Rawatbhata: A day after it signed nuclear cooperation deal with Australia, India on Saturday said that it will used the fuel procured through this deal for reactors that are under the UN watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, Ratan Kumar Sinha said that Australian uranium or fuel procured through any international cooperation would be used in reactors, which were under IAEA safeguards, as per the Indo-US nuclear cooperation agreement.
He also reiterated that India will not sign Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). "There is absolutely no question about it. We cannot sign Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), having been a strong supporter of non-discriminatory (nuclear) regime. All our international agreements have got a few common elements like cooperation will be civil nuclear agreement and that we will be bound by international safeguards," he said.
"We are bound by IAEA safeguard with respect of facilities in which equipment, material or the fuel will be used if they are coming through these international agreements and not beyond that," Sinha added. The DAE Secretary said under the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, there is a separation plan and some facilities have been under IAEA safeguards.
These facilities are eligible for international supply of uranium. "If we have to use the Australian uranium for reactors that are not under safeguards then we have to undergo the process of first bringing the reactor under (IAEA) safeguards," Sinha said while replying to a question that uranium procured from Australia will be used in a specific reactor.
He added that country's first Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) was taking time as it was first of its kind in India and even the one tried by Russia has not reaped expected success. "There are very few successful examples of PFBR. Even there was a tsunami at the site and salty water had occupied filled the site. So we had to elevate the site and that took a year," Sinha said.
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