123 Agreement impasse to resolve soon: USIBC

Mumbai: The US-India Business Council (USIBC) said Thursday that talks with the United States on 'arrangements and procedures' of the bilateral nuclear deal are expected to be completed within a week or two. Once this is done, India will become only the third country, along with the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and Japan, to get reprocessing rights from the US.

Prime minister, Manmohan Singh meets US energy secretary, Steven Chu in Washington on 25 November 2009.

Under the 123 Agreement, the spent nuclear fuel from US nuclear plants to be set up in India will be allowed to be reprocessed. ''USIBC expects the bilateral pact on reprocessing which is one of the threshold points for implementation of historic Indo-US deal to be completed in a week or two,'' USIBC director Ted Jones said.

''The US is also trying hard to complete the process on Part 810 assurances on non-proliferation protocol for the transfer of nuclear technology,'' Jones said. "The Inter-governmental agreement on Assurances is very crucial and we hope they all will be in place soon,'' Jones said.

It is now been given to understand that India had handed over the draft 'Assurances' agreement to the US in the course of the Indian prime minister's recent summit, but apparently it failed to pass muster with American legal eagles, who asked for changes.

There are now three outstanding issues that are prevent implementation of the 123 Agreement:

• an agreement on reprocessing nuclear fuel;
• a Part 810 Assurance - which is the non-proliferation aspect of the deal and a domestic American requirement - that India has to provide for safeguarding American technology;
• a domestic Indian liability law which will cater for nuclear accidents.

While the first two pertain to America, the last is a domestic issue. A draft of the liability law has already been put up before the Indian union cabinet.