India is third country to get reprocessing rights from US

India will be the third country to get reprocessing rights from the US as talks on arrangements and procedures of the bilateral nuclear deal are expected to be completed within a week or two,the US-India Business Council USIBC said on Thursday. Under the agreement,the spent nuclear fuel from US nuclear plants to be set up in India will be allowed to be reprocessed. USIBC expects the bilateral pact on reprocessing which is one of the threshold points for implementation of historic Indo-US deal to be completed in a week or two, USIBC director Ted Jones said.

Only the European Atomic Energy Community EURATOM and Japan currently have the right to reprocess,Jones said. National security advisor M K Narayanan had said during Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs recent visit to the US,we have arrived into the last stage of negotiations on reprocessing8230; only one issue remains,that of finalising the legal text.

The US is also trying hard to complete the process on Part 810 assurances on non-proliferation protocol for the transfer of nuclear technology, Jones said. 8220;The Inter-governmental agreement on Assurances is very crucial and we hope they all will be in place soon, Jones said. During the PMs visit,India handed over the draft Assurances agreement to the US but the US lawyers said New Delhi has to make some changes.