Committed to implementing nuke deal: Obama admn

The Barack Obama administration has asserted its commitment towards implementing the India-United States civilian nuclear agreement, a landmark foreign policy achievement by the previous George W Bush government.

The US Department of Energy on Thursday issued a statement, following the conclusion of a three-day meeting of the 'US-India Civil Nuclear Energy Working Group'. The second meeting of the group, and the first after the nuke deal was signed last year, was  held at the Idaho National Laboratory from April 28 to 30.

The Obama administration said it looks forward to India to bring its International Atomic Energy Agency Safeguards Agreement into force, filing its declaration of facilities pursuant to the safeguards agreement, publicly announcing reactor park sites for US companies and enacting global standards of liability protection.

The American delegation was led by Shane Johnson; the acting assistant secretary for nuclear energy in the US Department of Energy. The Indian side was represented by Ravi Grover, director of India's Strategic and Planning Group in the Department of Atomic Energy.

Both served as co-chairs of the meeting and opened the dialogue by reaffirming their commitment to work collaboratively to face global economic crisis, climate change and energy security challenges, the statement said.

Discussions at the meeting focused on deepening mutual understanding of each country's nuclear energy development plans, including light water reactors, near-term reactor deployment, licensing, management of nuclear waste, research and development programmes as well as best international practices.

The US delivered presentations on safeguards and physical protection. "The Working Group will continue its efforts by developing an action plan to focus collaborative work efforts," it said. The next meeting of the working group is scheduled later this year.