MUMBAI: India on Wednesday announced that it had commenced engineering activities for setting up facilities for reprocessing spent fuel and management of waste generated by its atomic power plants."Recently, India has commenced engineering activities for setting up of an Integrated Nuclear Recycle Plant with facilities for both reprocessing of spent fuel and waste management," Srikumar Banerjee , Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission , said.He was addressing the 54th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. Setting up adequate reprocessing capability has been an important element of India's closed fuel cycle based programme, he said. Banerjee also noted that Parliament had recently passed the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill which will go a long way in creating a predictable environment in which leading vendors can participate in India's nuclear programme.He also told the gathering that the 500 MW Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor was at an advanced stage of construction."The spent mixed carbide fuel from the Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) with a burn-up of 155 GWd/t was reprocessed in the Compact Reprocessing facility for Advanced fuels in Lead cells (CORAL). Thereafter, the fissile material was re-fabricated as fuel and loaded back into the reactor, thus 'closing' the fast reactor fuel cycle," he said.He told the international nuclear community that India was also setting up the Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership (GCNEP) which will provide a forum for joint work with our international partners in areas of topical interest.Banerjee said that based on the already established indigenous technology, India is expanding its uranium enrichment capacity which will meet a part of the requirements of light water reactors.After elaborating about the progress in the indigenous programme, Banerjee said, "In-principle approval has been accorded for energy parks at five coastal sites. Each park will be populated with a number of water cooled reactors to be constructed through international cooperation."Thus India is poised to expand its installed nuclear power capacity to about 60 GWe by 2032, he said adding international cooperation will not only provide an additionality to India's own programme in meeting immediate requirements but also fill up the energy deficit in the coming decades through the operation of the closed fuel cycle.Banerjee said Indian Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) offer a basket of options for countries that are looking for cost competitive and proven technologies in the small and medium size reactors."Indian industry is not only poised to play a bigger contribution to India's own nuclear programme but also is on the way to becoming a competitive supplier in the global market with regard to special steels, large size forgings, control instruments, software, other nuclear components and services," he said.