PM Modi, President Trump agree to move forward on India-US civil nuclear cooperation

Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump vowed to move forward to facilitate building American-designed nuclear reactors in India under the framework of the epochal civil nuclear deal sealed by the two nations over 16 years back.

In their talks at the White House on Thursday, the two leaders decided to significantly expand energy cooperation.

The civil nuclear deal changed India's overall engagement with the US as it paved the way for building the bonds of a strategic partnership, especially in areas of high technology and defence.

"The leaders announced their commitment to fully realise the US-India 123 Civil Nuclear Agreement by moving forward with plans to work together to build US-designed nuclear reactors in India through large-scale localisation and possible technology transfer," according to a joint statement.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Union budget on February 1, announced plans to amend India's nuclear liability law as well as the Atomic Energy Act.

Certain clauses in India's Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 have emerged as hurdles in moving forward in the implementation of the civil nuclear deal.

Both sides welcomed the recent budget announcement by the government of India to take up amendments to the Atomic Energy Act and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act (CLNDA) for nuclear reactors, the statement said.

It said the two sides further decided to establish bilateral arrangements in accordance with CLNDA, that would address the issue of civil liability and facilitate the collaboration of Indian and US industry in the production and deployment of nuclear reactors.

The Atomic Energy Act of 1962 prohibits investments by the private sector in nuclear power plants. The proposed amendment is expected to remove this provision.

In January, the US removed restrictions on Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC), Indira Gandhi Atomic Research Centre (IGCAR) and the Indian Rare Earths (IRE), a move that was seen as Washington's intent to move forward on civil nuclear cooperation with India.

India and the US unveiled an ambitious plan to cooperate in civil nuclear energy in July 2005 following then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's meeting with American President George W Bush.

The historic civil nuclear agreement was finally sealed around three years later following a series of negotiations.

It was expected to pave the way for allowing the US to share civilian nuclear technology with India.

However, the planned cooperation did not move forward for a variety of reasons including the strict liability laws in India.

US nuclear reactor makers such as General Electric and Westinghouse had shown keen interest in setting up nuclear reactors in India.

In the last few years, India has been in talks with a number of countries including the US and France on cooperation in small modular reactors (SMRs).