Washington, July 31 (Saba) - India and US have signed an agreement on reprocessing of American nuclear spent fuel by India, marking the final steps in terms of implementation of the landmark civil nuclear deal between the two countries, according to Qatar News Agency (QNA).

Upon entry into force, the arrangements and procedures will enable reprocessing by India of the US obligated nuclear material at a new national reprocessing facility to be established by India, dedicated to the reprocessing of safeguarded nuclear material under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, Indian media reported on Saturday.

The agreement in this regard was signed on Friday by US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Bill Burns and Indian Ambassador to the US Meera Shankar, at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.

"This arrangement, negotiated and concluded under President Obama, reflects the Administration's strong commitment to building successfully on the landmark US-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative and is a prerequisite for US nuclear fuel suppliers to conduct business with India," the State Department said in a statement.

The Indian Embassy said signing of the Agreement is a significant step which highlights the strong relationship and growing cooperation between the two countries.
It enables reprocessing by India of US-obligated nuclear material under IAEA safeguards and will facilitate participation by US firms in India's rapidly expanding civil nuclear energy sector, the statement said.

"With this we have taken another significant step forward in the implementation of our bilateral agreement for cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy," Shankar said in her remarks on the occasion.