The Hindu : Front Page : G8 curbs a matter of concern, says Kakodkar

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Sunday, Jul 12, 2009
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G8 curbs a matter of concern, says Kakodkar

D. Chandra Bhaskar Rao

Anil Kakodkar

MANUGURU (Khammam dt.): It would be a matter of concern if the G8 nations insisted on curbing transfer of nuclear enrichment and reprocessing technology and equipment to all the non-signatories of the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), including India, Atomic Energy Commission Anil Kakodkar said here on Saturday.

He was responding to a question from this correspondent about apprehensions that the G8 ban would undermine the promise of full civilian nuclear cooperation to India under the Indo-U.S. nuclear agreement.

Dr. Kakodkar was talking to journalists after inaugurating the elemental Boron Production facility at the Manuguru Heavy Water Plant of the Department of Atomic Energy.

He said he was yet to go into the text of the joint statement issued by the G8 nations on non-proliferation at the close of the L’Aquila summit.

There were several elements to be looked into in the India-U.S. civil nuclear cooperation initiative that resulted in the bilateral agreement on peaceful nuclear cooperation.

He said it would not be proper to comment at this stage, going by media reports that the curbs of the G8 might undermine the Nuclear Suppliers Group’s “clean waiver” on nuclear supplies to India.

He said the boron enrichment technology was indigenously developed. A lot of R&D effort had gone into its development at the BARC.

Similar work was done at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), which was engaged in a multi-disciplinary programme of scientific research and advanced engineering for the development of the Fast Breeder Reactor technology.

S. Benerjee, Director, BARC, inaugurated the boric acid enrichment plant set up at the Heavy Water Plant. In the final stage, the elemental boron was converted into boron carbide, required by the control mechanism of the prestigious Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor being set up at Kalpakkam for generating electric power.

G8 blocks ‘full’ nuclear trade with India

Corrections and Clarifications

The first paragraph of a report "G8 curbs a matter of concern, says Kakodkar" (July 12, 2009) was "It would be a matter of concern . including India, Atomic Energy Commission Anil Kakodkar said here on Saturday." It should have been Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar.

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