Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, on his first overseas tour since winning an election last month signed four agreements with India including one for civilian nuclear co-operation, which envisages an “exchange of knowledge and expertise, sharing of resources, capacity building and training of personnel in peaceful uses of nuclear energy.” Bloomberg reports that Sri Lanka is seeking to incorporate nuclear energy into its long-term energy plans to diversify from biomass, hydroelectricity and imported oil products.
“The bilateral agreement on civil nuclear cooperation is another demonstration of our mutual trust,” Modi told reporters.
Sri Lanka and India began talks on a civilian nuclear cooperation pact in 2012 and held another two rounds of talks last year, according to government statements.
India is one of the few countries with expertise in reactors suited to smaller power grids, and state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited has previously expressed interest in exporting them. It offers more than five decades of experience in atomic energy. Its industry has built 5.8 gigawatts of capacity using mostly indigenous technology and plans to increase that to 62 gigawatts by 2032.
