India to separate N-facility voluntarily

Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said outstanding issues in Indo-US deal were being addressed.

India will separate its nuclear facilities voluntarily based on the country's national interest, Lok Sabha was told in New Delhi on Wednesday.

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The government has seen reports of nuclear experts and former diplomats expressing a wide variety of views on the extent and implications of the separation of nuclear facilities.

Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said the government has consulted all relevant organisations in addressing the issue of separation.

The India-US Working Group on civil nuclear energy, led by the Foreign Secretary, has representatives from the National Security Council Secretariat, Department of Atomic Energy and Ministry of External Affairs, he said in a written reply.

The government is engaged in a dialogue with several countries including Russia, France and Canada who have agreed on the need to have full international civilian nuclear cooperation with India, Sharma said.

The government was engaged in discussion with these countries as well as with others to further deepen bilateral cooperation in this sphere and to achieve the objective of full civilian nuclear cooperation, he said.

Sharma said Both India and US were continuing their discussions to fully implement the nuclear understanding and outstanding issues were being addressed.