Tag: Nuclear

NEW DELHI: Russia and India on Tuesday agreed on a series of defence and nuclear deals potentially worth billions of dollars and pledged to deepen cooperation on counter-terrorism and regional security.
The agreements surrounded talks in New Delhi between visiting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Indian Premier Manmohan Singh, during which both sides set a target of doubling bilateral trade to 20 billion dollars by 2015. They also signed a contract envisaging the joint

NEW DELHI - Russia and India on Tuesday signed a pact worth up to 30 billion dollars on the development of a fifth-generation fighter aircraft and agreed to pursue a deal to build two Russian nuclear reactors.
The agreements surrounded talks in New Delhi between visiting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during which both sides set a target of doubling bilateral trade to 20 billion dollars by 2015.
President Medvedev arrived in India

MOSCOW: President Dmitry Medvedev will try to convince India to buy Russian fighter planes and seal a nuclear deal when he travels there this week for talks aimed at boosting ties with the second-fastest growing economy the world.
Russia was one of India's closest partners in Soviet days, but the Kremlin will have to convince New Delhi that Moscow can deliver on vast defence and nuclear orders in the face of competition from the United States, Europe and China.
Medvedev,

ISLAMABAD: After reaching an agreement for two more nuclear power reactors to Pakistan, China could approach the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for a waiver for Islamabad, similar to that provided to India for a nuclear deal with the US.
The NSG is a multinational body concerned with reducing nuclear proliferation by controlling the export and re-transfer of materials that may be applicable to nuclear weapon development. China's position on nuclear energy cooperation with

ISLAMABAD: Criticising the multi-billion nuclear agreement between France and India, Pakistan on Thursday said the deal, under which India would receive two nuclear reactors, would create mistrust and would have serious security implications in South Asia.
"We strongly believe that creating exceptions for any country is not only a step backwards in terms of promoting peaceful nuclear cooperation, but also has serious security implications at the regional and global levels,"

ABU DHABI: Gulf Arab leaders meeting in Abu Dhabi appealed on Tuesday to Iran to "respond positively" to talks with world powers about the Islamic republic's contentious nuclear programme.
Gulf Cooperation Council states "welcome international efforts, including those made by the P5+1, to peacefully resolve Iran's nuclear crisis and hope it will respond positively to these efforts," said a joint GCC statement.
They also stressed the "right of all countries in the region to

NEW DELHI: France signed a 9.3-billion-dollar framework agreement to sell two nuclear reactors to India on Monday during a trade-centred visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to New Delhi.
India inked the deal with France's state-run nuclear group Areva for the purchase of two reactors for a new plant in Jaitapur in the western state of Maharashtra.
"Negotiations (with Areva) have reached an advanced stage to pave the way for the launching of nuclear power reactors in

TEHRAN: Iran announced what it called a major step forward in its nuclear programme on Sunday, showing determination to pursue it a day before talks with world powers which fear Tehran may be seeking atom bombs.
Nuclear energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran would use domestically produced uranium concentrates, known as yellowcake, for the first time at a key nuclear facility, cutting its reliance on imports of the key ingredient for nuclear fuel.
"This means that Iran

VIENNA: The UN atomic watchdog on Friday voted to set up a nuclear fuel bank, under its auspices, to allow countries access to nuclear energy without risking the spread of atomic weapons.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-member governing board approved a United States-sponsored proposal for a $150-million fuel bank, with 28 countries in favour. No country voted against the resolution, but six developing countries - Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, South Africa, Tunisia and

PARIS: President Nicolas Sarkozy heads to India on Saturday to try to sell French fighter jets and nuclear technology to the Asian giant while his pop star wife Carla Bruni pursues her AIDS charity work.
Sarkozy is taking seven ministers and a bevy of French industrialists along on the four-day trip, his first visit to a G20 state since France took the presidency of the group of developed and major developing economic powers. It shows France's "recognition" of India's position as

TEHRAN: Iranian atomic energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi said on Wednesday that the assassination of a top nuclear scientist was a warning from the West ahead of new talks on Tehran's programme.
"These wicked people wanted to show their hideous side which demonstrates their carrot and stick policy in the run-up to the new nuclear talks," state television's website quoted Salehi as saying.
He was speaking at the funeral of Majid Shahriari, the scientist who was killed by

MOSCOW: Russia announced on Wednesday that it had created the world's first international atomic fuel bank as part of a global effort to curb the spread of nuclear arms.
The Rosatom state atomic energy corporation said the Siberian fuel reserve - which will operate under the auspices of the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog - will have enough material to refuel two civilian nuclear power plants.
The Angarsk facility now stores 120

SEOUL: Secretive North Korea boasted advances in its nuclear programme on Tuesday, making sure it held the world's attention, saying it had thousands of working centrifuges, as pressure built on China to rein in its ally.
Nuclear-armed Pyongyang's revelations about its uranium enrichment, which gives it a second route to make a nuclear bomb, came a week after it fired an artillery barrage at a South Korean island, killing four people, including two civilians.
Experts have

TEHRAN: Two car bomb blasts killed an Iranian nuclear scientist and wounded another in Tehran on Monday in what Iranian officials called an Israeli or US-sponsored attack on its atomic programme.
The bombings, rare attacks in the Iranian capital, occurred ahead of a possible meeting between Iran and major powers next month to discuss its nuclear activity, which Western officials suspect is aimed at developing atom bombs. Iran denies this.
In the past few months, the

TOKYO: North Korea's claimed uranium enrichment programme "should never be tolerated" and was "absolutely unacceptable", Japan said Monday as Pyongyang's nuclear scheme sparked anger in the region.
"Nuclear weapons development by North Korea should never be tolerated," prime minister Naoto Kan told reporters.
"Japan will maintain the position and cooperate firmly with the United States and other nations."
His comments followed disclosures by a US scientist that he had

ISLAMABAD: On his return from China, President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday said Chinese leaders had committed full assistance to Pakistan in the field of civilian nuclear energy.
The president was talking to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who called on him at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
An official statement issued after the meeting stated, "The current situation in the country and the recent visit of the president to China came under discussion."
An official privy to the

GORLEBEN: A convoy of 123 tonnes of highly radioactive nuclear waste arrived at its storage site in Germany Tuesday, following days of furious protests that massively delayed the shipment.
Accompanied by swarms of riot police and dozens of armoured police cars, the convoy of 11 white containers on lorries crawled slowly into its storage site at Gorleben, northern Germany, after a 20-kilometre (12-mile) road trip.
The shipment left France on Friday and endured a tortuous