VOA News | Monday, January 6, 2025 
US to remove barriers to civil nuclear cooperation with India

New Delhi — The United States is finalizing steps to lift barriers on civil nuclear cooperation with Indian firms, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in New Delhi on Monday, calling it a significant step in cementing the bilateral partnership between the two countries. A landmark deal signed in 2007 between India and the United States had ended three decades of sanctions imposed on New Delhi for conducting nuclear tests and opened the door for India to get civil nuclear technology. The agreement was expected to help India meet its burgeoning energy needs. But Indian rules which require the liability in the case of accidents to be met by the firm that sets up a nuclear power plant rather than the operator — which do not align with global norms — had posed a hurdle to U.S. companies establishing power plants in India. Saying that the “formal paperwork” to remove long-standing regulations on civil nuclear cooperation will be done soon, Sullivan said that “this will be an opportunity to turn the page on some of the frictions of the past and create opportunities for entities that have been on restricted list in the United States to come off those lists and enter into deep collaborations with our private sector, with our scientists and technologists.” Sullivan’s visit to India came two weeks before a new administration under incoming President-elect Donald Trump takes charge. Speaking at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi…Read more