NEW DELHI: Even as the BJP and the Left came down heavily on the government for seeking to water down a key provision in the Nuclear Liability Bill that could hold foreign suppliers liable for damages in the event of an accident caused by their gross negligence, no Minister or official was willing to offer an explanation for the change or even to confirm or deny that a decision to amend the draft

The long-delayed and farcical verdict in the Bhopal gas tragedy case should make us all think twice about the pending Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill, which seeks to limit the maximum compensation that a company setting up a nuclear power plant in India has to pay in case of a disaster.

Siddharth Varadarajan

New Delhi: At Washington's request, the Manmohan Singh government has agreed to delete a key provision of the draft civil nuclear liability bill allowing American suppliers to be sued for recovery of damages in the event of an accident caused by gross negligence on their part.

Siddharth Varadarajan

AEC chairman questioned on Bill's provisions

# Banerjee quoted as saying the government is prepared to be flexible

# DAE likely to revert with fresh language on a couple of provisions

Siddharth Varadarajan

New Delhi: The Bhopal outcry may make the introduction of changes in the draft Nuclear Liability law inevitable but the downside for the Manmohan Singh government is that each measure to strengthen the Bill in favour of potential victims is likely to anger the U.S. government and American nuclear suppliers.

Huma Siddiqui

The onus of accident placed on the operator, rather than on the supplier of reactor
INDIA

Saint-Etienne (France)

French nuclear safety authorities says six people have been contaminated by a leak of radioactive cobalt in a foundry. The Institute for Radioactivity Protection and Nuclear Safety says the six were brought to a hospital unit at a nuclear plant near the foundry in Feurs in France.

Rajiv Shah | TNN

Gandhinagar: In move to put the 6,000 MW nuclear power plant on fast track, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has asked Gujarat government to quickly go in for acquiring 780 hectares (ha) of land on southern Saurashtra coast to kickstart work for the ambitious Rs 60,000 crore project.

Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari has referred the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010, to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests.

The committee is chaired by T. Subbarami Reddy.

Mumbai: Five months after a fire broke out in a chemistry laboratory at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (Barc) in Trombay, killing two researchers, an incident of radioactive contamination took place at the establishment on Tuesday evening, which officials claimed was minor,