Breaking a two-year impasse, heads of state from India and Canada have announced a deal that will allow the export of Canadian uranium to the subcontinent.
With roughly 17 percent of the world's production in 2011, Canada is the second largest miner of uranium behind Kazakhstan. According to the World Nuclear Association, producers in Canada like Cameco and Areva Resources Canada oversee known U308 resources of 572,000 metric tons, with exploration ongoing. India represents a critical market for that uranium as it implements an ambitious program of new reactor construction in the coming decades.
Until 2009, India's status as a non-signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty curtailed imports of nuclear fuel and materials. In Canada, this mistrust was heightened further for decades following India's use of a pre-NPT, Canadian-provided research reactor to produce the plutonium for its first nuclear weapons test.
Restrictions were set to ease in 2010 after an Indian-Canadian nuclear cooperation agreement that followed an Indian accord with the Nuclear Suppliers Group two years earlier. But implementation of the agreement between the two countries stalled over the specifics of non-proliferation guarantees.
On Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the formation of a joint committee to share information on the use of Canadian nuclear material, the National Post reported. While they did not announce a date when the terms of the deal would take effect, they said negotiations over the agreement are now complete.