Kakodkar hints at India''s keenness on nuclear deal at IAEA meeting
Our Economic Bureau
20 September 2007
On 19 September, in his address to the 51st General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar gave a clear hint of India''s interest in the deal. He said, "We are looking forward to the possibility of opening up of international civil nuclear cooperation. We expect such cooperation to be sustainable, free from interruptions and consistent with our national policy of closed fuel cycle."
Given the threat of political disruption issued by the Left and the BJP on this issue, the Indian government has had to refrain from officially beginning the negotiations with the 144-nation IAEA and the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group. This stance has also prevented the AEC chairman from making explicit references to the Indo-US nuclear deal-in-the-offing. But it is clear from Dr. Kakodkar''s statement that the Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government is not backing down.
For the Indo-US deal to be completed, India must come to an agreement on safeguards with the IAEA, the United Nations watchdog on matters nuclear, and then get the Nuclear Suppliers Group to relax its rules for equipment and fuel supplies to India to begin.
The Left parties, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), say they would withdraw their support to the minority UPA government is it "operationalises" the deal. They define any discussions with the IAEA on the safeguards agreement as "operationalising" - never mind the fact that the safeguards will only relate to the reactors the Indian government chooses to put in the civilian-use category. Never mind, also, that the term "operationalisation" would, in any normal sense, would refer to the actual import of equipment and fuel from the US or one or more of several other countries that are keen to build a nuclear relationship with India. Never mind also the fact that once these agreements are reached, enabling India to access nuclear technology, equipment and fuel from many countries, which are prevented from selling these to India after India''s nuclear bomb tests, the country can always decide not to actually import.
The result of the decision not to launch the negotiations was that (apart from the indirect reference to India''s interest in the deal) an opportunity was lost to make a direct and forceful approach to the IAEA members at a time when China and Pakistan are trying desperately to torpedo the nuclear deal through diplomatic channels.
But the hints were strong. After talking of the climate change issue, Kakodkar said, "We are looking forward to the possibility of opening up of international civil nuclear cooperation. We expect such cooperation to be sustainable, free from interruptions and consistent with our national policy of closed fuel cycle. With a view to significantly augment nuclear power generation capacity in the near-term through imports, as an additionality to the ongoing indigenous programme, a Site Selection Committee has evaluated coastal sites in the country for the reactors to be set up in a convoy mode."
