 Online edition of India's National Newspaper Saturday, Dec 06, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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ENDURING PARTNERSHIP: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh exchange documents after the signing of agreements in New Delhi on Friday. NEW DELHI: India and Russia on Friday signed agreements that would eliminate the supply-demand mismatch in uranium and enable the setting up of more state-of-the-art nuclear power plants in India. At a summit meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev put the final touches on a mega agreement to supply nearly 2,000 tonnes of uranium. This would catapult the capacity utilisation of the existing plants to 90 per cent from an unhealthy 40 to 60 per cent due to shortage of the raw material. Cuts short visitMr. Medvedev later cut short his visit and returned home following the death of the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, considered a part of the ruling establishment, except for the interregnum during the Soviet era, since the time of Peter the Great. The two sides agreed to set up four more power plants at Kudankulam, where Russia is already assisting in installing two plants. They also agreed to explore the possibility of setting up more nuclear plants, possibly two. The contract for the supply of the raw material for the existing as well as upcoming nuclear plants at Rawatbhata is in addition to the deal struck with France to provide 300 tonnes of uranium for two proposed 1000-MW light water reactors by Areva of France at Jaitpur in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district. Significantly, Mr. Medvedev said he discussed the development and leasing of nuclear powered submarines. He admitted that the military relationship had both problems and prospects but dismissed the differences on purchase of military platforms as “nothing special” that could be resolved by “adjustments” by both sides. India also signed a contract for the import of 80 military helicopters for the Indian Air Force. The space agencies of both nations agreed on plans for cooperation in manned space flights. This is in addition to their resolve to cooperate in Chandrayaan II, a key part of India’s lunar space mission. In all, the two sides signed 10 agreements, with the ones on nuclear cooperation, defence and space exploration being of substantial nature. Other pacts were signed on cooperation between stock exchange regulators, customs institutes and anti-money laundering agencies. It was also agreed to step up ties in tourism. The two sides also came out with a joint declaration. India is exploring uranium mining possibilities in Meghalaya, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh-Karnataka region but environmental clearances take time and the sophisticated mining equipment is hard to obtain. At present, mines at Singhbhum in Jharkhand are the only source of the country’s nuclear power plants but the quantity is inadequate to run the plants at full capacity. This was recently corroborated by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited chief S.K. Jain. He was quoted as saying that unless India was lucky to explore new reserves, shortage of fuel may jeopardise the country’s nuclear energy growth plans.
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