Mumbai: The pact on India’s right to reprocess spent nuclear fuel of US origin is likely to be announced by the two countries on 22 March.

This is one of the few important steps left towards implementation of the historic Indo-US civil nuclear deal which envisages a clearly defined accounting of reprocessing of nuclear material under international safeguards.

India and the US had ironed out their differences and finalized the pact on the ‘arrangements and procedures’ for reprocessing US-origin spent fuel in India during their final meeting on the subject in the first week of this month in New Delhi as per the 123 Agreement, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) sources said.

“Both countries had finalized the text of the accord early this month and are likely to make a formal announcement on Monday after obtaining approval of their political leadership,” sources said.

“Wait till the formal announcement for more details,” they said when asked about various other aspects of the pact.

The negotiations were held between a team of India’s Department of Atomic Energy officials led by it director, strategic planning group, RB Grover and Rmiichard Stratford, the non-proliferation and disarmament expert in US State Department.