IAEA gets access to 14 reactors

New Delhi signed a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. This agreement is part of India’s obligations to enable full civil nuclear cooperation with rest of the world.

New Delhi signed a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna on Monday. This agreement is part of India’s obligations to enable full civil nuclear cooperation with rest of the world.

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“An agreement between the government of India and the IAEA for the ‘Application of Safeguards to Civilian Nuclear Facilities’ was signed on Monday in Vienna by IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei and Ambassador Saurabh Kumar of India,” the UN atomic watchdog said in a statement.

Out of its 22 civilian reactors, India has agreed to open up 14 to regular IAEA inspections by 2014.

Until now, New Delhi had allowed the IAEA inspectors regular access to six nuclear reactors under safeguards agreements concluded between 1971 and 1994.

“The safeguards agreement, which is the result of several rounds of consultations conducted between India and the IAEA since November 2007, was approved by the IAEA board of governors in August 2008,” the IAEA statement said.

“The agreement would enter into force once it had been ratified by New Delhi,” it said.

The safeguards agreement has to be ratified by the government before it can use the pact to import nuclear reactors and fuels. New Delhi has already signed civil nuclear agreements with the US, France, Russia and Kazakhstan.