India has announced the cessation of a “Civil Nuclear Deal” for buying uranium from Australia after a bilateral meeting held between PM Narendra Modi and Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Antalya, Turkey.
- With the conclusion of N-deal, India has become the first country to buy Australian yellow cake without being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
- Australia has about 40% of the world’s uranium reserves and exports nearly 7,000 tonnes of uranium annually.
The nuclear cooperation agreement between India and Australia was signed in September 2014 after the two nations agreed on a safeguards pact to sell uranium for peaceful power generation.
- Both Nations began talks on the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement in 2012 after Australia lifted a ban on selling uranium to energy-starved India.
- The trade stands at a $15 billion a year as compared with $150 billion Australia’s trade with China.
India’s nuclear energy contribution
India has nuclear energy contribution of just 3% of its electricity generation. It is plans to increase its nuclear capacity to 63,000 MW by 2032 by adding 30 reactors at an estimated cost of $85 billion.
- Currently India has nuclear energy agreements with 11 countries and imports uranium from France, Russia and Kazakhstan.
Keys
Australia Capital – Canberra
Australia Currency – Australian dollar