India to Present Nuclear Separation Plan to U.S.

India is expected to detail to the United States this week plans to separate its nuclear and civilian nuclear sites in order to facilitate a nuclear technology sharing agreement between the two countries, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Dec. 15).

The plan is expected to be presented at a meeting of the Nuclear Working Group, which begins tomorrow. A final version of the proposal is not expected to come out of the two-day meeting, according to AFP.

An Indian official told the Times of India newspaper that the number of plants New Delhi is proposing be placed under International Atomic Energy Agency watch will satisfy the White House.

A U.S. official said the deal is not expected to be done when President George W. Bush visits India early next year.

“This deal has a lot of moving parts, it takes time to be negotiated,” said the official (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Dec. 20).

Meanwhile, Canada yesterday asked India to give IAEA inspectors access to a reactor where much of India’s weapon-grade plutonium is produced, Reuters reported.

India’s failure to allow agency inspectors access to the Canadian-supplied Cirus reactor has slowed implementation of the Indo-U.S. nuclear agreement, according to Reuters. Lawmakers and experts in the United States are troubled by the reactor.

The United States has supplied the reactor with heavy water needed to control nuclear fission.

The reactor is “embedded in the nuclear weapons program of India” and should be separated from the Indian military, said Leonard Spector of the Monterey Institute's Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

David Albright, former agency inspector, said that about 25 percent of India’s weapon-grade plutonium comes from Cirus. He said this is a “significant amount … so this is a real issue.” The Institute for Science and International Security, the group Albright heads, released a report yesterday detailing India’s nuclear facilities and their civilian and military roles (Reuters/New York Times, Dec. 19).

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