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Canada close to sealing $2.8 billion deal to supply uranium to India’s nuclear plants: Report
The uranium will be supplied by the company Cameco Inc, which is based in the province of Saskatchewan in Canada
Toronto: Soon after the launch of negotiations on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA), Ottawa and New Delhi are closing in on a deal worth $2.8 billion to supply uranium to India’s nuclear plants.
The Canadian outlet Globe and Mail reported on Monday that the term of the deal could span a decade and could could be “part of a broader nuclear co-operation effort” between the two countries.
Following the meeting between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Mark Carney on the margins of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg on Sunday, a release from the Ministry of External Affairs said both sides “reaffirmed” their longstanding civil nuclear operation and expanding that with measures including through long-term uranium supply arrangements.
The uranium will be supplied by the company Cameco Inc, which is based in the province of Saskatchewan.
Cameco earlier had a supply agreement with the Department of Atomic Energy, which expired in 2020. That agreement came in effect after Modi travelled to Canada in the spring of 2015 and held a bilateral with then Canadian PM Stephen Harper.
Export of Canadian uranium to India for the generation of electricity was authorised by the Canada-India Nuclear Co-operation Agreement which came into force in September 2013.
A broader nuclear cooperation agreement could be in the works, with India also interested in small modular reactors, a senior official had indicated earlier.
The uranium supply, if it happens, will also follow the Australia-Canada-India Technology and Innovation (ACITI) Partnership, which was announced on Saturday in Johannesburg following a trilateral meeting that featured Modi, Carney and Australian PM Antony Albanese. “The initiative will deepen collaboration between democratic partners across three continents and three oceans in emerging technologies, support diversification of supply chains, clean energy and mass adoption of AI,” Modi posted on X at the time.
