nuclear-news

Nuclear Suppliers discriminated in favour of India, in order to sell USA nuclear reactors

India is now in the privileged position of being the only known country with nuclear weapons which is not a party to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty but is permitted to carry on nuclear commerce with the rest of the world.  The discrimination is in India’s favour, not against it.. 

Nuclear policy and process dumped at the drop of a hat, The Drum, Paul Barratt, 21 Nov 11 “………India is not a party to the NPT, has never been, has developed a nuclear weapons capability as a non-member of the Treaty, and accordingly, is in an entirely different position from China vis a vis Australian uranium export policy.

As part of a deal to enable India to gain access to US and other nuclear technologies, President Manmohan Singh and then President George W. Bush issued a joint statement in July 2005 to the effect that India would separate its civil and military nuclear activities and place all its civil facilities under IAEA safeguards, in return for which the United States would work toward full civil nuclear cooperation with India.  An IAEA Safeguards agreement was signed in 2008, and India was granted an exemption by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an export control group that had been established mainly inresponse to India’s first nuclear test in 1974.

The IAEA Safeguards Agreement with India is not without its critics. Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director of the Washington based Arms Control Association notes that:

The agreement is based on the IAEA’s facility-specific safeguards (INFCIRC 66 Rev. 2 ) but contains a number of “India-specific” modifications that raise serious questions about the meaning and legal requirements established by the agreement, particularly as they affect
its entry into force and the conditions under which safeguards may be terminated on facilities and materials subject to the agreement.

He goes on to say that the agreement contains important ambiguities because there does not appear to be common understanding between the Government of India and the IAEA Board regarding three critical areas: whether or not India can withdraw facilities from the agreement in certain circumstances, i.e., whether material and facilities once placed under safeguards must remain there in perpetuity; the absence of a declaration stating the facilities, items and materials that India is intending to place under safeguards, and the status of
material subject to safeguards under previous agreements.  The full analysis of the Agreement by Kimball et. al. may be accessed here: http://www.armscontrol.org/node/3205

As a consequence of these changes India is now in the privileged position of being the only known country with nuclear weapons which is not a party to the NPT but is permitted to carry on nuclear commerce with the rest of the world.  The discrimination is in India’s favour,
not against it…..http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3684518.html

November 23, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, politics international