The announcement was made following a bilateral meeting between the two leaders during Modi’s visit to Australia. However, details regarding the quantity of uranium to be exported and the timeline for the shipments were not immediately disclosed.
Australia’s uranium exports to India had remained stalled despite a 2014 agreement due to concerns over the potential use of the material for nuclear weapons. Australia possesses the world’s largest known uranium resources but does not operate nuclear power plants or maintain nuclear weapons. All uranium produced by the country is exported.
India, with a population of 1.4 billion and a rapidly expanding middle class, has set an ambitious target of installing 100 gigawatts of nuclear power capacity by 2047. The planned capacity is expected to provide electricity for nearly 60 million Indian homes annually. However, securing reliable uranium supplies has remained a major challenge for India’s nuclear expansion plans.
India has doubled its installed nuclear power capacity over the past decade, but nuclear energy still accounts for only about 3 per cent of the country’s electricity generation.
A major obstacle in India’s access to global nuclear trade has been its non-signatory status to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The treaty recognizes only the United States, China, Britain, France, and Russia as nuclear weapon states. Australia, as a signatory to the treaty, had traditionally refused to sell uranium to countries outside the agreement.
India has criticized the treaty as discriminatory, arguing that it permanently excludes countries that tested nuclear weapons after January 1967 from being recognized as legitimate nuclear weapon states. After conducting nuclear tests in 1998, India faced international technology restrictions and uranium trade bans.
In 2008, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which includes the United States, granted India a special exemption allowing it to purchase uranium from member countries. Since then, India has pursued bilateral agreements to facilitate uranium imports. In March, India signed a similar agreement with Canada.
Australia had historically maintained that uranium exports to India would not be allowed unless New Delhi joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. However, Canberra changed its position and approved uranium exports in 2014, subject to International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards and the separation of India’s civilian and military nuclear programmes.
The administrative agreement signed on Thursday is expected to clear remaining procedural barriers and enable the earlier uranium cooperation agreement to move forward.
During the Melbourne meeting, Modi and Albanese also announced stronger defence and security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, describing the partnership as a significant increase in the depth and ambition of bilateral ties.
The commitment to closer regional security cooperation came days after Australia criticized China for conducting a test launch of a long-range ballistic missile from one of its nuclear-powered submarines into the South Pacific Ocean, a region protected under an anti-nuclear treaty.
The two leaders did not directly mention China while announcing the strengthened strategic partnership and did not take questions from reporters after their statements.
Thousands of people gathered in Melbourne during Modi’s visit, hoping to see the Indian Prime Minister. India is currently Australia’s fifth-largest trading partner, with two-way trade in goods and services valued at 54.4 billion Australian dollars, or $37.7 billion, during the 2024–2025 financial year, according to Australian government figures.
Earlier this week, Modi visited Indonesia, and on Friday he is scheduled to travel to New Zealand for his first visit to the country. India and New Zealand signed a free trade agreement in April.
The uranium agreement marks a major step in India-Australia nuclear cooperation, strengthening energy ties while reinforcing broader strategic collaboration between the two countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
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