Australia, one of the world's leading uranium producers, has reached a groundbreaking agreement allowing export of the reactor fuel to India.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the accord on Friday, and India's Economic Times reported that shipments could begin in two years or possibly sooner. The agreement also provides for other areas of civilian nuclear cooperation.
Talks on the agreement began in 2012, when Australia lifted a longtime ban on exports of uranium to India. As a non-signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the South Asian nation was excluded from international trade in nuclear power technology for more than three decades before it negotiated a framework with the Nuclear Suppliers Group to end the ban in 2008.
India currently has 21 operating power reactors generating 5,302 megawatts and plans to generate a fourth of the country's power from nuclear by 2050. It's been working to expand cooperation in the sector with several nations, reaching an export agreement with Canada last year while a technology agreement with Japan remains in negotiations.