US attempts to limit Indias nuclear development program.

[LRPV]

Tighter controls urged in N-pact

September 14, 2006

WASHINGTON: American weapons experts are calling on the Senate to tighten provisions on a landmark civilian nuclear deal with India despite warnings by New Delhi that it cannot accept any more restrictions.


The experts want legislation to have an upfront declaration that India has stopped production of fissile material - plutonium and highly enriched uranium - for nuclear weapons and an annual certification that the deal does not fuel New Delhi's nuclear weapons program. They also want measures prohibiting the US from providing nuclear aid directly or through other suppliers to India if it breaks commitments made under a July 18, 2005, accord between President George W.Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Dr Singh has made clear that India will not accept any conditions that go beyond the agreement with Mr Bush and a plan they endorsed in which New Delhi would have 14 of its 22 nuclear reactors placed under international safeguards.
India does not want to accept any US moratorium on the production of fissile material.
But the weapons experts said the measures were necessary because India had not joined theNuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a global accord to limit the spread of nuclear weapons.
Executive director of the Arms Control Association Daryl Kimball said: "In our view, these are responsible actions and steps the Congress should take to ensure that the deal does not create what we would consider to be adverse and damaging proliferation problems."
Mr Kimball was among 17 experts who sent a joint letter to the Senate with a set of recommendations ahead of a likely vote by the chamber on the nuclear deal this year.
Under the deal, Washington will aid development of civil nuclear power programs in India in return for New Delhi placing its atomic facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.
India tested nuclear weapons in 1974 and 1998 and is banned by the US and other, mostly industrialised, nations from buying fuel for atomic reactors and other related equipment as a result.
In July, the US House of Representatives adopted the deal only after ensuring that even after it was passed by the Senate and became law, the nuclear co-operation agreement would come under full oversight authority by Congress.
AFP

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It will be interesting to see in 2050 how India as a major regional power will be pressed to comply with foreign agreements that it never ratified.

[vrb]

Right..... India has to halt production of nuclear weapon materials whilst neighbours Pakistan and China can build up as much as they want. These 'experts' must either be suffering from radiation sickness or on mind altering drugs. If I were the Indian government I would not accept any such constraints.

[XShipRider]

Yes, India should be our biggest fear. They'll simply find another source.