To bite the US nuke bullet or not

I am not an expert on the Indian nuclear issue, but I am aware that the Indian decision to sign a civilian nuclear deal with the United States or not will have a long term impact on the strategic and energy security of the country. President Bush is coming to India next month, and hectic activity is underway in both governments to strike a deal in his presense here. The US position is that India seperate its civilian and military nuclear program and open its civilian reactors to IAEA inspections.
There are a couple of scientists who have come out against such a deal with the US, and I will put their articles in here as well. At the same time, there are others who support the deal.

Of course that is not the only issue at stake here. The US is increasingly looking to take India on its side against Iran. The Iran-India pipeline hangs in balance here as its abandonment is another condition by the US. Of course the benefits of such a deal have been listed by all, no technology denial in future and energy security in the long run. There was a vote in the IAEA meet last week for referring Iran to the UN Security Council because of its secret nuclear program. India voted for Iran to be referred to the UNSC, much to the Left's chagrin. It didnt matter that all 5 of the veto powers voted the same. In fact, newspapers reported that the US 'warned' India to vote against Iran or the nuke deal would die!

I tried to research the background and will try to make sense of it though newspaper clippings.

Nuke deal: India, US look forward but admit it’s long haul

JANUARY 20: The key issues: India’s plan to separate its military and civilian nuclear reactors, the kind of safeguards agreement Delhi will have to sign with the IAEA. And, on a broader political plane, India’s stand on referring Iran to the UN Security Council at the upcoming IAEA meeting in February.

In the two-day talks between Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and Under Secretary Nicholas Burns, India shared details of its roadmap on separation of reactors.

Saran said India explained plans for a ‘‘very significant expansion’’ of its civilian nuclear energy capability over the next few years and the scope of “international cooperation” for meeting these targets.

On safeguards, both sides agreed that India will not sign the kind of agreement that non-nuclear weapon states have with the IAEA. It will have to be a new model, details of which were discussed.

On Iran, India is guarded with Saran, in response to a query, saying that Delhi would like to find a solution ‘‘within the purview of the IAEA and avoid confrontation.’’

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Nation's top scientists flay Indo-US N-deal

Top nuclear scientists and experts have come out in full support of Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chief Anil Kakodkar's stance on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Kakodkar had said that putting the fast breeder reactor programme under IAEA safeguards would jeopardise the country's strategic interests.

Defending Kakodkar, former AEC Chairman PK Iyengar says, "We are a nuclear weapon country and it is for us to decide which reactors to put under IAEA safeguards."

"Clearly we should be able to tell the Americans that both BARC and Kalpakkam will be completely out of safeguards in addition to few others decided by the Government," Iyengar said.

He said that even in the US, the separation of civilian and military programme was not very distinct. For example, Los Alamos and other strategic labs do research both on civilian and military strategies.

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Hmm, I just had a deja vu back there. I think i dreamt it already that I would be posting that exact story in a blog! Thats besides the point here, but what is the fast breeder reactor program that the Atomic Energy Commission chief talks about? well, I came across this official release of the agreement and I think it has a good background of the Indian nuclear program.

Official Release on India-US Accord On Civilian Nuclear Uses

The India-US nuclear accord, agreed in principle last July, is to promote civilian nuclear power and other peaceful nuclear applications by India. Even so, the nuclear accord cannot entirely bypass the controversies arising out of the two decades history of nuclear powers' sanctions against India with the United States having been in the forefront of this sanctions regime. However, under the terms of the accord, Washington takes an about-turn, accepting India's right to acquire advanced international nuclear technology for peaceful uses, including advanced reactors for power generation, without giving up its nuclear weapon capability.

Terms Of Accord

Under the accord on civilian nuclear power, the USA has announced its readiness to end sanctions against India, imposed because of India's refusal to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) for retaining its nuclear weapon deterrent.

India, on its part, has agreed to separate its civil and military nuclear facilities, and to place the former under IA safeguards, while signing the Additional Protocol of IA, an extension to India's existing limited safeguards agreement with IA.

International observers note that the agreement aims to put India on the same footing as China, but with much closer international scrutiny of its nuclear facilities, since only China's imported power plants are under safeguards.

At the same time, the terms of the accord contain propositions, not fully elaborated, which could impose constraints on India's unhindered development of its nuclear capabilities, particularly hedging its weapon capability. Much would therefore depend on the way separation of civil and military nuclear facilities is enacted.

India's Nuclear Capability

With fifty years of a sustained indigenous nuclear programme, India has traveled a glorious road to attain what is being described as 'advanced nuclear capability'.

The Indian path gave primacy to building nuclear infrastructure and R&D centers of excellence - some of them matching R&D centers of the West. The most significant is that the Indian path combines nuclear power generation programme with the Indian weapon option in a way no other country has done.

The weapon-grade plutonium pool, from which India's weapon stock-pile has been built, emanates from spent fuel from a research reactor built by Indian nuclear metallurgists, engineers and physicists on way to developing Indian nuclear power capacity. The technology break-through this entails was achieved under Bhabha's stewardship in 1964.

The fruits of this sustained, indigenous uphill road taken by the Indian nuclear establishment are blossoming. Indian Pressurized Heavy Water (PHW) reactors are now among the best in the world, incorporating new technologies and advanced international safety features.

Another high watermark of the Indian nuclear scene, the 500 MW prototype fast breeder reactor construction is now in full stride at IGCAR, Kalpakkam. The PFB construction has been undertaken after 10 years of operational experience of the Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR), India's first fast breeder reactor.

At BARC and IGCAR, the second and third stages of India's power programme are being ushered in by R&D breakthroughs in building reactors fueled by thorium, lifting the Indian nuclear power perspective to a lakh MW of nuclear power .

Construction of India's first light water reactors - 1000 MW each VVER reactors of Russian design - has been launched at Kudankulam in Tamilnadu with Russian collaboration and help. The two 1000 MW VVER light water reactors will begin commercial operations in 2008.

Global Recognition

In entering the nuclear accord with the USA, which is of benefit to both countries, India speaks from a position of achievement. An important achievement for India is to become part of the global fusion research - International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor - in which United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, China and South Korea have joined hands to build the fusion demonstration reactor that will deliver mankind from its search for its expanding energy needs.