US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan speaking in New Delhi on January 6, 2025. Photo: X/@ANI
United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Monday (January 6, 2025) that the United States is finalising necessary steps to remove barriers in India-United States civil nuclear cooperation.
The United States is finalising steps to remove roadblocks to the civil nuclear partnership with Indian companies, he said during in New Delhi on Monday (January 6, 2024)
He said the formal paperwork for this will be done soon. The move will allow India access restricted technology in the US.
Washington and New Delhi have been discussing the supply of U.S. nuclear reactors to energy-hungry India since the mid-2000s.
But a longstanding obstacle has been the need to bring Indian liability rules in line with global norms which require the costs of any accident to be channelled to the operator rather than the maker of a nuclear power plant.
The deal was signed by then President George W. Bush in 2007, a major step toward allowing the United States to sell civilian nuclear technology to India.
Mr. Sullivan is on a visit to India two weeks ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president of the US.
Washington expects the impact of Chinese upstream dams, artificial intelligence, space, military licensing and Chinese economic overcapacity to be discussed while Mr. Sullivan is in New Delhi, a U.S official said on Saturday.
The two countries agreed in 2019 to build six U.S. nuclear power plants in India.
India’s stringent nuclear compensation laws have previously hurt deals with foreign power plant builders, subsequently deferring India’s target to add 20,000 MW of nuclear power from 2020 to 2030.
(With inputs from Agencies)
Published – January 06, 2025 04:43 pm IST
