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Rediff.com  » News » N-separation plan tabled in Parliament

N-separation plan tabled in Parliament

By R Prema in New Delhi
May 12, 2006 18:31 IST
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The full and complete text of India's Nuclear Separation Plan was tabled in Parliament on Friday.

According to the details given in the plan, two new atomic reactors No 3 and 4 under construction at Tarapur with the capacity to generate 540 megawatts of electricity each have been excluded from the list of 14 reactors that will be thrown open for international scrutiny and safeguards as per the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Among the six other plants that are excluded are four of Kaiga's and Kalpakkam's two reactors, all of which have 220 MW capacity.

The plan lists Tarapur reactors No 1 and 2 among the six reactors that are already open for inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency and as such included in the list of 14 given to the United States.

It was believed that the government would club all reactors at one place and place them all or exclude them all from international scrutiny.

It was also expected that since the first two Tarapur reactors were under safeguards, Tarapur reactors 3 and 4 will also be opened up.

Tarapur's power reactor fuel reprocessing plant, which was among the nine specific units placed under US sanctions in November 1998 after India's nuclear tests, will also be thrown open for IAEA scrutiny after 2010.

Others in this category include the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and the Board of Radiation and Isotope Technology, and the three heavy water plants at Hazira, Thal Vaishet and Tuticorin.

The government's stand is that all these facilities are "safeguards-irrelevant" and hence opening them up will engage them in playing a prominent role in international cooperation.

While tabling the deal that was signed with the US President George W Bush in Parliament on March 7, the prime minister had promised that further details of the specific reactors and dates on which these would be offered would be laid separately.

A covering note to the document tabled on Thursday said: "These details have now been added and the complete text of the same document is enclosed."

Among other reactors, RAPS 1 and 2 at Rawalbhata and KK 1 and 2 under construction at Kudankulam are listed for the IAEA "safeguards" from the current year as they are already committed for such safeguards.

For the remaining eight reactors, different deadlines have been set.

Rawalbhata's RAPS 5 and 6, which are under construction, will be opened up to IAEA in 2007 and 2008 respectively while its two other reactors 3 will be opened for inspection only in 2010.

The two reactors under construction at Kakrapar are similarly to be opened in 2012 while both plants at Narora will be open to IAEA only in 2014.

All these reactors have the power generation capacity of 220 MW each.

The Separation Plan also identified the individual facilities within Hyderabad's Nuclear Fuel Complex that will be offered for safeguards by 2008. These are; Uranium Oxide Plant, Ceramic Fuel Fabrication Plant, Enriched Uranium Oxide Plant, Enriched Fuel Fabrication Plant and Gadolinia facility.

The document also makes it clear that the fast breeder reactors, operational as well as under construction, will not be open for IAEA.

The earlier document tabled by the PM in Parliament had also made it clear that there won't be safeguards on the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor and the Fast Breeder Test Reactor, both located at Kalpakkam. India argued that these are at the research and development stage.

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R Prema in New Delhi