New Delhi: The Indo-US reprocessing
agreement, on which negotiations were concluded last month,
will be signed after the US completes certain internal
consultation processes and India is through with some
formalities.
"The US has to go through some processes of
consultations and we have to complete some formalities after
which it will be signed," Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told
reporters here when asked about the Agreement on Arrangements
and Procedures for Reprocessing.
The reprocessing agreement is a key requirement for
implementation of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, which was
signed in October 2008.
Negotiations for the agreement began in July last year
and concluded on March 3.
Under the agreement, India has to set up two dedicated
facilities where the American spent nuclear fuel would be
reprocessed under IAEA safeguards and has scope for
establishing additional ones.
India will have to identify the facilities and notify
these to the IAEA for application of safeguards and physical
protection of the facility.
The Agreement has a provision for temporary suspension
of the arrangements, but this can be done only in "exceptional
circumstances".
PTI
First Published: Sunday, April 04, 2010, 21:12