India's civilian nuclear accord with the U.S. steers clear of references to weapons testing or its effect on the agreement, which may help the South Asian nation's coalition government get parliamentary approval for the plan.
While the agreement gives the U.S. the right to seek the return of fissile material and technology at the end of the accord, it also ensures a qualitative audit of the “circumstances that may lead to termination,'' according to the text of the accord on the Web site of India's foreign ministry.
“The innovative use of the English language has ensured that a future nuclear test by India will not be examined by the U.S. in a vacuum or in isolation,'' C. Uday Bhaskar, an Indian strategic analyst, said in a phone interview from the southeastern city of Vishakhapatnam today. “By not referring to it directly, the U.S. seems to recognize implicitly India's security needs. Our lawmakers would be imprudent not to accept the agreement bound by this text.''
The accord, a key element in U.S. President George W. Bush's foreign policy, was held up by differences over whether India would get a perennial supply of nuclear fuel, be allowed to reprocess spent fuel and have the right to conduct nuclear tests. Each side will need to give the other one year's notice for termination, giving rights to the U.S. to recall fuels and technologies supplied to India.
India will be paid a “fair market value'' as compensation for the return of fuels and technologies and for the costs incurred as a consequence.
Reprocessing Rights
The accord gives India reprocessing rights in facilities under global safeguards. It leaves India's military program out of its purview, while promising uninterrupted fuel supplies to the civilian nuclear program.
India's security needs are featured in the section on terminating the agreement, which will be in force for 40 years and can be renewed for 10 additional years at a time.
“The parties agree to consider carefully the circumstances that may lead to termination or cessation of cooperation,'' according to the text of the agreement. “They further agree to take into account whether the circumstances that may lead to termination or cessation resulted from a party's serious concern about a changed security environment or as a response to similar actions by other states which could impact national security.''
Under the accord, the U.S. would accept that India, which exploded atomic bombs in 1974 and in 1998, operates its civilian and military nuclear programs outside the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty.
Policy Pillar
The agreement is an important objective of Bush's foreign policy because it symbolizes deeper ties between the two most populous democracies amid China's economic and military surge.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, a federal Indian opposition party, is against the agreement, saying it curbs the South Asian nation's weapons program.
Although the text doesn't directly mention the fallout of an Indian nuclear test, it subjects unattended issues to the scope of the Hyde Act that gives discretionary powers to the U.S. president to terminate the accord, the Press Trust of India cited former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha as saying today.
The civilian nuclear cooperation agreement between India and the U.S. will not “hinder or otherwise interfere'' with the South Asian nation's military nuclear program, according to the text. The accord allows India to develop strategic reserves of nuclear fuel to guard against any disruption of supply while the agreement is in force.
Supply Guarantees
The U.S. is committed to assuring fuel supplies for India's civilian nuclear program and will jointly work with India to secure supplies from “friendly'' countries such as Russia, France and the U.K. should such a need arise in the future, according to the text of the agreement.
The conclusion of negotiations on the so-called “1-2-3 agreement'' paves the way for General Electric Co. and other U.S. companies to participate in the South Asian nation's nuclear power program. Indian utilities, which are straining to supply power to industry, homes and farms, would be allowed to buy equipment, fuel and reactors from firms such as Fairfield, Connecticut-based General Electric and Monroeville, Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse Electric Co.
India's pledge to build a “state-of-the-art'' reprocessing site for spent atomic fuel led to a breakthrough in stalled talks on the civilian nuclear energy agreement. The reprocessing will be subject to International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, Nicholas Burns, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, told reporters in Washington on July 27 after a joint announcement that the two countries had completed the agreement.
Further Steps
India's proposal on the facility, which was crucial to both sides concurring on terms, came in early June when Burns was in New Delhi, he said. The conclusion of negotiations opens the way for U.S. companies to participate eventually in India's nuclear power program.
The plan has further steps to clear. India has to reach an agreement with the IAEA for inspections of the proposed reprocessing facility. The Nuclear Suppliers Group, a 45-nation forum dedicated to limiting the spread of atomic weapons, must also approve the agreement. After that, President Bush will submit the accord to the U.S. Congress for approval, attempting to overcome concerns that India's nuclear weapons program would be a beneficiary.
On July 25, two Indian cabinet panels endorsed the draft of the nuclear cooperation agreement with the U.S., saying it “adequately addressed'' the nation's concerns.
The U.S. Congress in December passed legislation to allow the agreement to go forward. The legislation reversed decades of U.S. policy that barred nuclear exports to India after the 1974 atomic test.
