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Indo-Russia Tarapur deal today
Russia, a member of NSG, will supply uranium under the safety exception clause, reports NR Chaudhury.
Russian Premier Mikhail Fradkov will seal the deal to supply uranium fuel for the Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) during his meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday.
Russia, a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), is supplying the uranium for fuel-starved Tarapur under the safety exception clause.
The decision to supply 60 tonnes of uranium to the safeguarded TAPS 1 and 2 will be finalised despite US reservations that it was "important" for India to first fulfill its "obligations" under the Indo-US statement on civil nuclear cooperation.
Diplomatic analysts say the reservations stem more from the process of sealing the deal than the actual supply of fuel.
NSG members should not be seen to be acting independently or out of consensus, they said.
"It's not a question so much of who, the French or Russians or Americans, supply the fuel," a source said, but that "the process should not appear to be hurried and it should be completed as a process in totality. India needs to take the initiative to work with the IAEA on the additional protocol and safeguards."
The US is trying to solve the issue on a long-term basis, and is "committed to providing a regular supply of fuel through the NSG," state department spokesman Adam Ereli said.
India, however, insisted the proposed sale does not violate any international law, including the NSG guidelines, as Russia has informed the NSG it was making the sale under the safety exception clause.
New Delhi had to seek "urgent and limited supplies of uranium fuel to enable the Tarapur reactor to function in safe and reliable conditions," MEA spokesman Navtej Sarna said. The supply of nuclear equipment for construction of the Kudankulam plant in Tamil Nadu, expected to go critical by 2008, would also figure in talks between the Indian and Russian PMs.
Russian PM Fradkov arrived in New Delhi on Thursday, the day the Bush administration introduced draft legislation to the US Congress.
