![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]()
New Delhi (AFP) Dec 6, 2008 India's government has pledged to open up its nuclear sector to private players -- once it completes bilateral civil nuclear cooperation pacts. The statement late Friday came after Indian Premier Manmohan Singh signed a landmark nuclear deal with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev earlier in the day covering the building of four new nuclear energy reactors in India. "Once negotiations with Russia and possibly Canada in nuclear commerce talks are done with, the government will soon open up the sector for private players to participate," Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said. He was speaking in New Delhi at a government-organised technology summit. The four new nuclear energy reactors will be built in Kudankulam in southern Tamil Nadu state, where Moscow is already building two 1,000-megawatt light water reactors. The value of the new deal, signed in New Delhi, was not given. The nuclear deal with Russia was the third such agreement India has signed after a decision in September by the Nuclear Suppliers Group to waive its ban on the trading of atomic technology with New Delhi. The United States and France are the other powers to have signed agreements with New Delhi but former Cold War ally Russia remains so far the only state actively involved in building reactors in the energy-hungry country. A host of private companies such as Westinghouse Electric Co and General Electric of the United States have been jockeying for a slice of India's lucrative civilian nuclear technology market. The end to India's nuclear pariah statushas paved the way for atomicfuel and technology sales worth tens of billions of dollars and companies are racing to exploit the market, industry officials say. Related Links Nuclear Power News - Nuclear Science, Nuclear Technology Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
![]() ![]() In the new "great game" for the Caspian's hydrocarbon riches, one of the new petro-states, Kazakhstan, is seeking to diversify its energy exports by increasing its uranium exports. Western investors have focused on the country's massive oil and natural gas reserves -- hardly surprising in light of the fact that Kazakhstan has the world's second-largest proven uranium reserves after Australia, estimated at 15 percent of the world's uranium deposits. According to Kazakh geologists, the country's reserves stand at an impressive estimated 1.5 million tons. Kazakhstan's resources are dwarfed by Australia, which has the world's largest known recoverable resources of uranium, estimated by the World Nuclear Association at 23 percent, but Kazakhstan's reserves are half again as large as Russian reserves, estimated at 10 percent. |
![]() |
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement |