Following the Nuclear Suppliers Group agreement which was achieved in September 2008, the scope for sourcing both reactors and fuel from suppliers in other countries opened up. Civil nuclear cooperation agreements have been signed with the USA, Russia, France, UK, South Korea, Czech Republic and Canada, as well as Australia, Argentina, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Namibia. A further nuclear cooperation agreement was signed with the UK in November 2015, with “a comprehensive package” of collaboration on energy and climate change matters involving £3.2 billion ($4.9 billion) in programmes and initiatives related to energy security and energy access. However, there was no civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Japan, which loomed as a limiting factor for some technology provision involving GE Hitachi and Westinghouse. Eventually a preliminary agreement was signed in December 2015, and after six years of negotiations a full nuclear cooperation agreement was signed in November 2016. It will allow India to import Japanese nuclear technology, and secures Japan’s support for India to join the international Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). A civil nuclear cooperation agreement was signed with Japan in 2016 and passed by Japan’s parliament in June 2017.
