India, Australia agree on long-term uranium exports in Melbourne
The supply will be limited to peaceful uses under IAEA oversight, tying the deal to India’s non-fossil power goals.
India and Australia signed an agreement that paves the way for long-term uranium exports from Australia to India during a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese in Melbourne on Thursday, July 9. Both sides said the supply will be for peaceful purposes only and will be subject to oversight by the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA. For India, the deal is important to support plans to expand nuclear power generation amid surging electricity demand. Australia, which is said to hold about 28 percent of the world’s uranium resources, had previously been constrained from exporting to India by legal hurdles and political sensitivities. At the same meeting, Canberra and New Delhi also agreed to deepen cooperation on defense, critical minerals supply chains, and to build a temporary space-tracking terminal in the Cocos Keeling Islands.