US to halt A-fuel to India; S. Africa making its own

April 30, 1981

The United States has told India it will halt its supply of nuclear fuel for the Tarapur atomic plant near Bombay, Indian External Affairs Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao said. He told Parliament the two countries were studying how to terminate a 30-year nuclear cooperation agreement under which the US was contracted to supply low enriched uranium for the US-built plant.

Meanwhile in Pretoria, the South African mineral and atomic affairs minister announced that South Africa is now producing its own nuclear fuel, enriched uranium, which will in the future be used to operate its atomic researc h reactor, Safari 1.