Even as the Indo-US nuclear deal completes three years on October 8, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has emphasised that India should have the right to reprocess imported spent fuel. The DAE said the deal should in no way affect India’s indigenous nuclear programme. The remarks were made by SK Malhotra, head of public awareness, DAE, even as Geoffrey Pyatt from the US Department of State, said an unease prevails over the current playing field in the Indian nuclear energy sector. While the latest guidelines from the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group say only those countries that have signed the NPT will be entitled to obtain enrichment and reprocessing technologies, India has reiterated that it will not sign it. “Through engagement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), we believe concerns can be mitigated in a way that satisfies all of India’s international partners. We welcome India’s commitment to ratify the Convention on Supplemental Compensation later this year. We encourage India to engage with the IAEA to ensure that the liability regime that India adopts by law fully conforms with international requirements under the convention,” said Pyatt, principal deputy assistant secretary, South and Central Asian Affairs Bureau, US Department of State. Malhotra said there should also be a guarantee for lifetime fuel cycle. “We have accumulated a large volume of spent fuel for Tarapur (TAPS 1 and 2). We’re at a loss as to what to do with it. As per the agreement (40 years ago), we cannot reprocess it nor can we send it back to the country of origin (US). So, whatever reactor comes to India under civil nuclear commerce, we must have the right to reprocess spent fuel,” Malhotra told the Indo-US nuclear energy summit on Friday. “We have our own reprocessing technology (for indigenous plants). But when the question of reprocessing spent fuel from reactors using imported uranium arises, we can’t reprocess it in our indigenous plants.” He said once the right to reprocess imported spent fuel was established, India looked forward to putting up reprocessing plants to take care of spent fuel from imported reactors.