Nuclear deal is not dead, Kakodkar says talks on

DEAL MAKER: Kakodkar says India has begun talks with IAEA for India-specific safeguards.

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Keywords: IAEA, Anil Kakodkar

New Delhi: Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar on Tuesday expressed optimism about clinching an agreement with the IAEA and implementation of the Indo-US nuclear deal.

"I always work in a positive way. If everything works out, we will do it," he said when asked whether the talks with the IAEA were going on as planned and would be completed in good time to have the deal with the US.

Kakodkar, who initiated the talks for India-specific safeguards with the IAEA, said a lot of technical details need to be discussed step-by-step. "Talks are going on. Work is in progress," he said.

India and the IAEA have held four rounds of talks in Vienna to finalise the draft on India-specific safeguards agreement, which the Congress-led government has to place before the UPA-Left panel to get a political go-ahead for the deal that aims to get the country out of nuclear isolation.

It is learnt that India and the global atomic watchdog IAEA are yet to find a common ground on the draft safeguards agreement.

Pitching for the use of nuclear energy to produce electricity, Kakodkar said, "We have been working on a domestic programme with the aim of using atomic energy as much as possible to produce electricity."

"But the energy requirements are much more than this and hence efforts are being made for an international civil nuclear cooperation," he said.

Evading a question on politics delaying the Indo-US nuclear deal, he said, "I am a technical person and can talk only about the technical matters."