NEW DELHI, March 14: India said on Tuesday Russia had agreed to its request to supply uranium for two of its nuclear reactors, a foreign ministry official said. Russia is a member of the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) that controls trade in atomic fuel, which has long been denied to India after it conducted nuclear tests and refused to join the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

The official said Russia had informed the NSG of its decision to supply fuel for the reactors at Tarapur in western Maharashtra state.

“To Indias request, Russia has agreed to supply a limited amount of uranium fuel for the safeguarded units 1 and 2 of the Tarapur Atomic Power Station,” Indian foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters in New Delhi.

“This supply of fuel will enable the plant to continue to operate in safety and provide much needed electricity to the western power grid of the country,” Sarna said.

He said that a shortage of fuel at the Tarapur facilities would have affected their operations under reliable and safe conditions.

New Delhi this month signed a historic nuclear deal with the United States under which sanctions on the transfer of nuclear technology to India will be lifted. In return, India has agreed to separate its military and civilian nuclear facilities, and place the civilian ones under international safeguards. The deal still has to be ratified by the US Congress and the NSG.—AFP