India and Russia are discussing the expansion of bilateral cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy, Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
In a written reply, he said two reactors of 1,000 MW each were being constructed at Kundakulam, Tamil Nadu, in technical cooperation with the Russian federation.
The two countries had agreed to further expand their bilateral ties, Sharma said, adding that India was in contact with a broad range of Nuclear Supplier's Group countries, including Russia, to enable full civilian nuclear energy cooperation with the country.
To another question whether America was fulfilling the terms of Nuclear Energy Agreement made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year, he said the two countries are continuing their discussion to fully implement the understanding on cooperation in civilian nuclear energy.
Under the terms of this understanding, he said India will be identifying and separating its civilian and military nuclear facilities and programmes in a phased manner and filing a declaration regarding its civilian facilities with the IAEA safeguards.
Based on its national interests, India will separate the Indian nuclear facilities voluntarily. He informed the Upper House that US was considering opening an additional Consulate in India and that the matter was under examination.