US joins India to set up global N-Centre in Haryana

The US today joined hands with India to set up a Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership for research and development of secure and proliferation resistant reactor systems.

The US on Monday joined hands with India to set up a Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership for research and development of secure and proliferation resistant reactor systems.

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India had announced at the Nuclear Security Summit in April in Washington to set up the Centre as part of its efforts to promote non-proliferation.

A Memorandum of Understanding for coooperation in building the Centre was signed by Srikumar Banerjee, Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy and Timothy Roemer, the US Ambassador to India, on the sidelines of the talks President Barack Obama held with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.

"The Centre will facilitate deliberation and discussions of international experts on various issues including innovation in nuclear reactors and the nuclear fuel cycle, development of proliferation-resistant reactors, security technologies and the effects of radiation exposure," Banerjee said.

He said the Centre would also host short-term training courses for international nuclear experts in the field of nuclear security.

"As countries having advanced nuclear technology, both India and the US would like to promote cooperation on initiatives aimed at strengthening global nuclear security and addressing threats of nuclear terrorism, and cooperating in programmes for capacity building of interested states," said a media note on the subject.

It will consist of four schools dealing with Advanced Nuclear Energy System Studies, Nuclear Security, Radiation Safety and application of Radioisotopes and Radiation Technology in areas of healthcare, agriculture and food.

The Centre, which is expected to come up at Bahadurgarh in Haryana, is visualised to be a state-of-the-art facility based on international participation from IAEA and other interested foreign partners.

It will conduct research and development of design systems that are intrinsically safe, secure, proliferation resistant and sustainable.

The objective of the School of Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems Studies would be to pursue design studies and analysis of advanced nuclear energy systems with features to achieve intrinsically enhanced safety, security, proliferation resistance and sustainability.

The programme modules will encompass reactor systems and applications, fuel cycle studies, accelerator driven systems, risk assessment studies, emergency planning and management and sustainability parameters assessment.