ndia is planning to approach the global atomic watchdog IAEA for a review of its nuclear regulatory process which has come under severe criticism from the government auditor and activists. Atomic Energy Commission, AEC Chairman Ratan Kumar Sinha said at the 56th General Conference of IAEA in Vienna, that preparation and planning for inviting IAEA's Integrated Regulatory Review Service, IRRS for peer review of India's regulatory system is also in progress. India had announced the IRRS and Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) mission as part of measures to instill public confidence in nuclear energy in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear accident. The first OSART mission is planned between October 29 and November 15 at the units 3&4 of the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS) at Rawat Bhata. Sinha told the gathering of top nuclear scientists and administrators that India would soon commission the first 1,000 MW unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project which is being developed with Russian collaboration. He said construction of four indigenously designed 700 MWe Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors - two each at existing sites of Kakrapar in Gujarat and Rawatbhata in Rajasthan - is on schedule and these will be progressively completed by 2017.

Announcement

 The IAEA Chief Yukiaa Amano has urged Iran to grant the UN Nuclear Inspectors access to the Parchin military site. He also said that in case any clean up activity has taken place at Parchin facility, it would have an adverse impact on the IAEA’s investigation, if and when it was allowed to go there. Amano was addressing the 35-nation governing board meeting of IAEA in Vienna. The IAEA Chief expressed frustration at the lack of progress in the talks over Iran’s nuclear program.

The IAEA Chief’s statement comes ahead of the talks between the UN Nuclear watchdog, and Iran over Teheran’s controversial nuclear program in Vienna. The talks assume significance in the wake of the report released by the agency on August 30 that Iran has doubled its uranium centrifuges at its underground Fordo facility. 

The IAEA report also expressed concern that at the Parchin site Tehran may have conducted explosives tests for the development of nuclear weapons and the site might have been clean up or sanitized.

The IAEA has held several rounds of talks with Iran in recent months to press for access to sites and to talk to the scientists involved in its nuclear program. Iran denies conducting any such research and says that the IAEA’s allegations are baseless.

On the other hand, the western nations have been insisting that Iran should shut down its Fordow plant, stop uranium enrichment and ship already enriched uranium to other countries. They allege that Iran is trying to acquire nuclear weapons capability. Iran denies the charges and says its nuclear program is for peaceful civilian purposes.

Piling up pressure on Iran, the leaders of the world's eight most powerful economies have asked it to swiftly address all outstanding issues related to its nuclear programme. They vowed to ensure that crude markets are fully and timely supplied despite oil embargo on Tehran.

In its "Camp David Declaration", the G-8 grouping also supported Kofi Annan's settlement plan for Syria. It cautioned North Korea against further provocations, besides pledging to take steps to mitigate economic impact of Afghan transition. The grouping stressed that Greece, which is battling a crippling debt crisis, should remain in the Eurozone.

As Iran faced sanctions, the G-8 leaders said increasing disruptions in the global oil supplies pose a substantial risk to the world economy. 

At the end of a series of brain-storming sessions that began with a dinner in this US presidential retreat on Friday night, the G-8 expressed grave concern over Iran's nuclear programme and urged Tehran to meet the requirements of International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Board of Governors in this regard.

Reducing the risk of nuclear terrorism is high on the agenda of discussions in the two-day nuclear security summit The World leaders at the summit will review the progress made since the first nuclear security summit held in Washington in 2010. Over 50 Heads of States and Governments are participating in the summit. 

They include U.S. President Barack Obama, his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani apart from Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. Heads of international organisations like U.N., IAEA, European Union and Interpol were also participating in the summit. 

the Prime Minister's summit reports from the venue that the U.S. President and the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh exchanged pleasantaries at the beginning of the summit. The South Korean President is hosting a dinner in honour of visiting dignitaries