America to remove Indian entities from entity list in attempt to boost nuclear cooperation

UPDATED: Jan 6, 2025 17:46 IST

The US government is in the process of removing restrictions on Indian firms in the nuclear sector in a bid to boost civil nuclear cooperation between Washington and New Delhi, announced America’s Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

“Today I can announce that the United States is now finalising the necessary steps to remove longstanding regulations that have prevented cooperation between India’s leading nuclear entities and U.S. companies,” announced Sullivan while pointing out that the paperwork to enact these changes is currently being processed.

“This will be an opportunity to turn the page on some of the frictions of the past and create opportunities for entities that have been on restricted lists to come off those lists and enter into deep collaboration with the United States - with our private sector, with our scientists and technologists - to move civil nuclear cooperation forward,” he went on to say.

According to an Entity List maintained by the U.S. government, a number of key Indian nuclear entities face technology restrictions. These include the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and the Indira Gandhi Atomic Research Center (IGCAR). Indian nuclear reactors not under Atomic Energy Association safeguards are also placed on the list. The list was first published in 1997 and includes over 1000 entities from around the world. Several Indian firms were added to the entities list in 2024 for dealings with Russia.

Sullivan spoke of the need for India and the United States to push civil nuclear cooperation forward. He cited the successful conclusion of the India-U.S. nuclear deal as an example of such bilateral cooperation.