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India Illicitly Acquired Nuke Technology, Group Says
India illicitly obtained nuclear material from Europe, and its acquisition methods could promote proliferation of nuclear technology, the Institute for Science and International Security said in a report issued Friday (see GSN, March 10). The Washington think tank said it “has uncovered a well-developed, active, and secret Indian program to outfit its uranium enrichment program and circumvent other countries’ export control efforts.” The purchases came “certainly from the supplier states from Europe and [possibly] from other places too,” said report co-author David Albright, ISIS president. In promoting the planned nuclear technology sharing agreement, U.S. and Indian officials have argued that New Delhi has a strong nonproliferation record and has not illegally obtained nuclear technology, Agence France-Presse reported. Albright said, however, that “Indian procurement methods for its nuclear program leak sensitive nuclear technology.” In one case of procurement, Indian Rare Earths Ltd. obtained sensitive technology and materials to be used in a secret gas centrifuge enrichment plant. Enriched uranium from the plant might be used for nuclear weapons, according to the ISIS report. Technology and materials suppliers were not told that their goods were heading to “an unsafeguarded uranium enrichment plant,” the report states. That allows “a supplier to easily avoid knowing the true end use of an item and thus the supplier escapes responsibility for providing a dual-use item to a gas centrifuge plant,” according to the report. Indian nuclear acquisition and export methods should be studied closely before the United States or other nations approve nuclear deals with New Delhi, the report states. “The Indian government should commit to stop conducting illicit procurement for its nuclear facilities, implement steps to better control its nuclear information, and improve its implementation of national and international export controls,” the report says (Agence France-Presse/Bernama.com, March 10). The White House is circulating a draft law that would exempt India from U.S. Atomic Energy Act rules against delivering nuclear technology to nations that remain outside the Nuclear Nonproliferation Act, the Indo-Asian News Service reported Saturday. A Bush administration official would not say when lawmakers might begin considering the proposal. U.S. Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.), an opponent of the planned deal, said the exemption bill would give “a blank check to the Bush administration to exempt India from our nation’s nuclear nonproliferation laws.” “It appears that the administration wants to avoid a vote on the actual text of the nuclear cooperation agreement they will be negotiating with the Indian government,” Markey said in a statement (Indo-Asian News Service I, March 11). U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today called on lawmakers to approve the U.S.-India deal, AFP reported. “This agreement is a strategic achievement,” she wrote in a commentary in the Washington Post. “It will strengthen international security. It will enhance energy security and environmental protection. It will foster economic and technological development” (Agence France-Presse, March 13). A group of experts and former diplomats issued a letter of support for amending U.S. laws to allow for the proposed deal, the Indo-Asian News Service reported Saturday. “Congress should support the agreement to promote U.S. strategic interests, U.S. nonproliferation goals, U.S. energy security and global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions leading to global warming,” states the letter, which was signed by 23 people, including Selig Harrison of the Center for International Policy, former Assistant Secretary of State Karl Inderfurth and former U.S. ambassadors to India William Clarke and Frank Wisner (Indo-Asian News Service II, March 11). Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Saturday that he hopes his nation’s agreement with the United States would leak to similar pacts with other nuclear countries, the Associated Press reported. “Our understanding will open the doors for the cooperation and development of the civilian nuclear sector, not only with the United States but also with other key international partners like Russia, the United Kingdom and France,” he said (Ashok Sharma, Associated Press, March 11).
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