In a significant step which will enable it to engage in international nuclear commerce, India signed the Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC) on Wednesday, which sets parameters on a nuclear operator's financial liability, at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.
India is the world's fourth-largest importer of natural gas, accounting for six per cent of the global market.
In the letter, they have demanded the halting of the construction of the plant claiming that it violated the International Atomic Energy Agency safety guidelines as 'the nuclear plant is in a tsunami and earthquake prone region, which has also experienced small volcanic eruptions and is affected by water shortages".
Voicing "serious concern" over India's nuclear liability law, the United States on Friday said New Delhi could seek International Atomic Energy Agency's help in evaluating its legislation's compliance with the Convention on Supplemental Compensation.
India's first report on safety of civilian nuclear power plants was presented on Thursday at the Convention of Nuclear Safety at Vienna by Atomic Energy Regulatory Board Chairman S K Sharma. India's complete compliance with obligations under all the relevant articles of the convention in a 206-page report was presented by Sharma at the International Atomic Energy Agency, AERB Secretary Om Pal Singh told PTI in Mumbai.
Top space scientist and former Indian Space Research Organisation chief K Kasturirangan Tuesday asserted that the country was capable of dealing with International Atomic Energy Agency inspections of its nuclear installations.
The report also said that without greater transparency and spot checks, the International Atomic Energy Agency cannot affirm that Tehran's nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes to produce energy and not weapons.
Notwithstanding the Left parties' threat to the government not to carry forward the safeguards talks with IAEA beyond December, India opened the second round of discussions with the nuclear watchdog.
On a surprise visit to Beijing amid speculation that he may unveil Tesla's autonomous driving technology in the burgeoning electric vehicle (EV) market in China, billionaire Elon Musk on Sunday met Chinese Premier Li Qiang and discussed future expansion plans for his automobile.
The government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea also declared its total freedom from the binding force of the safeguards accord with the International Atomic Energy Agency
The threat came a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted a resolution seeking a complete halt to the enrichment programme and threatened to report Iran to the UN council if it did not.
With the International Atomic Energy Agency weighing options to deal with Iran's nuclear programme, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said the issue should be dealt with diplomatically as he discussed it with US President Barack Obama.
Search giant Google has released satellite images of facilities at two Iranian cities that the United Nations claims may be used to develop nuclear weapons.
The final decision will depend on the confidence of the Israeli military and intelligence leadership that it can destroy Iran's retaliatory capability through a pre-emptive strike, says B Raman
"Iran is an important neighbouring country on the other side of Pakistan. Iran is a major source of energy. It is the only route to have access to Central Asia and Afghanistan. It is a very important Gulf nation. We cannot undermine our ties with it"
India on Monday signed a key safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency to allow inspection of additional civilian reactors, clearing the decks for supply of atomic fuel and technology by the international community after a 34-year-old nuke trade embargo was lifted last year.
'...to bring the Global South and others to the negotiating table on the basis of Gandhi's non-violence so that we can leave a safer world for our children.'
Russia's unprecedented rapprochement with North Korea has raised concerns about the re-emergence of a Russia-China-North Korea alliance which could increase the probability of conflict on the Korean Peninsula, explains Dr Rajaram Panda.
Only a few thousand chargers dot the Indian landscape, some in working condition, others not, with some held hostage to the power supply vagaries of local utilities, reports S Dinakar.
In the first high level contact since New Delhi voted against Tehran at the February 4 International Atomic Energy Agency meeting
Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar on Tuesday expressed optimism about clinching an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency and implementation of the Indo-US nuclear deal.
The reliability of US information and assessments on Iran is increasingly at issue as the Bush administration confronts the emerging regional power on multiple fronts.
The announcement comes three days after the International Atomic Energy Agency demanded that Teheran freeze all operations connected with uranium enrichment or face possible retaliation.
IAEA chief ElBaradei said participating countries would be required to pledge not to develop dual-use facilities.
The United States and the European Union on Friday led the international community in promptly welcoming the International Atomic Energy Agency's approval of India-specific safeguards agreement, saying it will boost non-proliferation efforts and hoped that the Nuclear Suppliers' Group will too give a waiver to New Delhi for nuclear commerce.
"This cooperation can only help strengthen the strategic cooperation between our two countries," the letter signed by the eight lawmakers said.
"Our aim is to bring the nuclear power plant into production by 2015," Chief of country's Atomic Energy Commission Shafiqul Islam Bhuiyan was quoted as saying by the New Age newspaper on Monday.
Ambassador Ronen Sen has said that India's decision has been based on independent assessments.
Iran has threatened to review its economic and political relations with the countries that voted for the referral to UNSC.
Now that the United Progressive Alliance coalition has nine months in office, it must be transparent and accountable to those who pay and elect it to serve the people of India. A single mis-step on the 123 could irreparably damage rather than advance India's national interest
India and the International Atomic Energy Agency will hold negotiations in New Delhi on Saturday on the proposed Safeguards Agreement.
"The request comes a day after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said they planned to send nuclear centrifuges to the agency for investigation relating to Iran's nuclear programme," Pakistan Foreign office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani was quoted in
India hopes to wrap up a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency later this month in Vienna, before approaching the Nuclear Suppliers Group, for changes to permit international nuclear commerce. India needs to reach a safeguards agreement and then get the nod of the 45-member NSG for operationalising the India-United States civil nuclear agreement.
"China's cooperation with Pakistan in nuclear power is for peaceful means and is supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency, (IAEA). The US always questions Pakistan's nuclear activities, but how about its latest nuclear deal with India," Chinese newspaper Global Times quoted He Maochun, director of the Research Centre for Economic Diplomacy Studies of Tsinghua University, as probing.
India may see a structural shift in supplies of crude oil with Russia emerging as a key source of fuels, a development that reduces New Delhi's dependence on West Asian oil, gives Indian refiners better bargaining power with price-setter Saudi Arabia, and improves overall energy security. The unexpected surge in supplies of Russian crude in the last few months, unthinkable until the war in Ukraine, may also deliver other unforeseen gains such as boosting exports of refined fuels to Europe, which historically has counted on Russian shipments. India has jumped on to the bandwagon of opportunistic buying of Russian crude but if calibrated carefully, Urals crude can be a long-term asset for India refiners.
Anil Kakodkar will also discuss with IAEA representatives an Additional Protocol.
In 2017, a consortium led by Russian state oil company Rosneft agreed to buy Essar Oil for $12.9 billion in India's biggest foreign acquisition of a homegrown company. Rosneft's buyout of Essar's assets was meant to herald a wave of energy investments in India - over six decades after Esso, Caltex and Shell invested in India's refining sector in the 1950s. But the government has tripped up in its efforts to sell Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), formerly Burmah Shell, a blue chip public sector company. Bidders include a couple of global funds and resources firm Vedanta.
