.:: SAMAA - Canada, India conclude nuke trade talks

PORT OF SPAIN: Canada has concluded negotiations on a nuclear cooperation agreement with India to sell nuclear technology and materials to the energy-starved South Asian nation, Canada's prime minister said on Saturday.

Conservative leader Stephen Harper met with Indian Prime Minister on Saturday, following the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago.

Harper said Canada and India will now take the necessary steps to finalise and implement the agreement, which will open up the lucrative Indian market to Canadian nuclear exports for the first time in more than three decades.

Trade Minister Stockwell Day announced earlier this year that government-owned Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. had signed a memorandum of understanding with India for next-generation nuclear reactors.

It was a turning point for Canada, which stopped nuclear co-operation with India in 1974 after its government used plutonium from a Canadian reactor to build an atomic bomb.

The international community lifted a three-decade ban on nuclear trade with India last September even though India still refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Some anti-nuclear activists worry India will stockpile domestic uranium for military weapons and use uranium imports for civilian purposes.

Day said Canadian negotiators insisted India allow nuclear inspectors into civilian facilities.

Under the deal, Canadian nuclear exports cannot be used for military purposes, he said.

Now that the moratorium has ended, countries are lining up to sell nuclear technology to India, which wants to build 25 to 30 new reactors in the coming years.

"India's needs for nuclear energy are enormous," Prime Minister Singh said on Saturday.

Atomic Energy of Canada said earlier this year that it is eyeing foreign markets for its next-generation ACR 1000 reactors.

AECL has already signed a deal with a leading Indian engineering firm to start costing out the ACR 1000s - the prelude to a possible sale.

Saskatchewan's Cameco Corporation, is also poised to sell uranium to India.

Canada's nuclear energy industry generates approximately 6.6 billion (b) Canadian dollars (6.2 billion (b) US Dollars) in annual revenue, 1.2 billion (b) Canadian dollars (1.12 billion (b) US Dollars) in exports each year and employs approximately 31,000 people. AGENCIES