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India’s govt manipulating to satisfy USA nuclear salesmen

India’s stated commitment to ratifying the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage in the next year and to fairly treat U.S. firms was key to alleviating Washington’s worries about the liability rules,

Indian Atomic Liability Rules Satisfactory, U.S. Says, NTI: Global Security Newswire 17 Dec 10, The Obama administration’s apprehensions about a new Indian civil atomic liability law have been assuaged and U.S. and Indian companies have begun discussing potential collaboration on nuclear facilities under the two nations’2008 nuclear trade pact, a U.S. State Department official said yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 28).

Asked if U.S. concerns about the law had been dealt with, Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake said, “I think, they have been,” the Hindustan Times reported. The law limits nuclear reactor operator liability following an accident to roughly $320 million and allows lawsuits against suppliers of nuclear materials, services and technology — a measure that conflicts with international norms.

India’s stated commitment to ratifying the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage in the next year and to fairly treat U.S. firms was key to alleviating Washington’s worries about the liability rules, Blake said.

“Our companies have begun negotiations to help provide reactors to meet India’s energy needs,” he said (Hindustan Times, Dec. 15).

NTI: Global Security Newswire – Indian Atomic Liability Rules Satisfactory, U.S. Says

December 17, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, politics international