Australia Agrees to Export Uranium to India for Peaceful Civilian Use

Indian leader Narendra Modi said he clinched a uranium supply agreement while visiting Australia on Thursday, securing a fuel source that will play a crucial role in his nation's nuclear energy ambitions. 

Faced with an almost-insatiable appetite for electricity in the world's most populous nation, Modi has outlined plans to substantially scale-up nuclear power generation in coming years. 

Australia lays claim to around 28 percent of the world's uranium resource, but legal hurdles and political sensitivities have hindered exports to India.

"We have signed an



important agreement today on nuclear energy," Modi said after talks with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. "This will pave the way for uranium supplies from Australia to India and give our clean energy objectives fresh momentum." 

A joint statement said the arrangement allowed long-term uranium exports for "exclusively peaceful purposes". The exports would fall under safeguards established by the International Atomic Energy Agency. 

"The arrangement facilitates Australian uranium exports to India, to help increase the share of non-fossil fuel power capacity," Albanese told reporters.