On Tuesday, after two years fine-tuning details of their nuclear cooperation agreement, Canada and India have finally reached a consensus and announced a deal that will see Canadian companies ship their uranium to the South Asian nation for nuclear energy.
Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh revealed the finalization of the co-operation agreement between the two nations – originally signed in 2010. The implementation had been delayed over the fine print.
In Harper’s second visit to India, the Prime Minister was able to secure more oversight as to where the nuclear products will end up, something India had resisted in the past. According to Canadian Press, there will be now a joint committee that will ensure that Canada gets the kind of follow-up it requires.
Under the deal, Canadian firms will be able to export uranium and nuclear reactors to India for the first time in almost four decades.
India’s 20 operating reactors, spread across six sites, have an installed capacity of 4.8 gigawatts (GW) and consume about 1000 tonnes of uranium a year. With New Delhi setting revised goals of boosting nuclear output to 14.4 GW by 2020 and between 27.5 and 63 GW by 2032, experts believe the agreement reached today presents an opportunity for Canadian producers such as Cameco (TSX:CCO) (NYSE:CCJ) and Areva Resources Canada.
Canada was the world’s largest uranium producer for many years, accounting for about 22% of world output, but that spot was overtaken by Kazakhstan in 2009.
Canada’s uranium production comes mainly from the McArthur River mine in northern Saskatchewan, the largest in the world.
Photo: Canadians celebrate Canada Hockey Team Gold Medal win at 2010 Winter Games. By Sergei Bachlakov / Shutterstock.com.
