N-deal won't impact nuke programme: Kakodkar

The Indo-US nuclear deal would not have any adverse impact on the country's nuclear programme, including defence, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar said here today.

"We are trying to develop cooperation as means of opening up of international cooperation and the idea is that we have our domestic programme and have to be self-reliant," Kakodkar, who was on a visit to the Uranium Corporation of India  (UCIL) mines at Jadugora, said.

The domestic nuclear programme had a long-term objective of realising the full potential of thorium towards energy independence of the country, he said.

"Now, the question is our energy requirement is very large. So there should be additional input over and above our domestic programme... That is where we are looking at international nuclear co-operation. The importance of the Indo-US nuclear deal is that it would pave the way to meet our nuclear energy requirement," he said.

International nuclear cooperation was possible through Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for which the country was not eligible at the moment according to NSG guidelines, Kakodkar said. The guidelines stated that a country should have full safeguard of its nuclear programme to have international cooperation in the nuclear energy field.