NEW DELHI, 8 July 2006 — India and Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will hold discussions today on “India-specific safeguards agreement.”
A team of senior IAEA officials arrived yesterday morning for talks with officials from Indian External Affairs Ministry and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) headed by Atomic Energy Chairman Anil Kakodkar.
The IAEA team will be in New Delhi for two days to discuss “the application of safeguards to nuclear material and facilities that constitute India’s civilian nuclear facilities,” an IAEA statement said.
The talks are in keeping with India’s decision to allow international inspections and safeguards of its 14 civilian nuclear reactors as part of an agreement of nuclear energy cooperation with the United States inked during the visit of President George W. Bush in March.
This Indo-US nuclear deal was first agreed to in Washington during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit in July 2005.
Under the India-US nuclear deal, New Delhi has identified 14 of its 22 nuclear reactors as civilian, which will be brought under IAEA monitoring for the first time.
If the much-publicized Indo-US nuclear deal assumes final shape, it would grant India access to the US nuclear fuels and reactors despite India being a non-signatory to the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). Conclusion of “India-specific safeguards agreement” between New Delhi and IAEA will enhance chances of the Indo-US nuclear deal securing a green signal from the US Congress.
The deal was cleared late last month by House International Relations Committee with an overwhelming majority. The 50-member committee approved by a vote of 37 to 5 the legislation that will make exemptions in the 1954 Atomic Energy Act to enable US to sell nuclear fuel and technology to India in return for New Delhi placing its civilian nuclear reactors under permanent safeguards.
Though the New Delhi-IAEA talks are expected to progress, they are not likely to conclude soon into an agreement and may last several months.
“This (India) will be new territory for us as we have never had a (presence) there before. This is the start of technical discussions,” an IAEA diplomat said in Vienna. “I think (US) Congress wants India to wrap up a deal with the IAEA before they go to a vote,” he said.
Preliminary discussions on the issue were held earlier this year when Kakodkar visited Vienna. He and IAEA officials worked on finer details of the safeguards agreement that will supervise India’s present and future civilian nuclear facilities.
The present discussions between New Delhi and IAEA are to focus on devising India-specific safeguards that will take into account New Delhi’s independent strategic program and its commitment to nonproliferation despite the fact that it is not a signatory to NPT.
India has repeatedly stressed that the Indo-US nuclear deal does not compromise its right to determine the size of nuclear deterrence.
With India’s eight nuclear plants, designated as military, remaining off-limits, critics are apprehensive that the Indo-US nuclear deal could boost India’s nuclear arsenal. However, those supporting the same, viewing India as a crucial ally that has always managed its nuclear technologies responsibly, say that it would supply India with the much-needed nuclear energy.
