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U.S. Still Opposes Russian Uranium Sale to India
U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns yesterday reiterated U.S. opposition to Russia’s plans to sell nuclear fuel to India, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, March 16). Burns said any deal should wait until the Nuclear Suppliers Group and U.S. Congress ratify the U.S.-Indian nuclear technology sharing agreement. “India needs energy ... so one understands that,” Burns said. “We think the proper sequencing would be that if India needs nuclear fuel for its reactors in Tarapur, that the proper way to do this would be to have the U.S. Congress act, hopefully change our laws, have the NSG act and change NSG practices, and then countries would be free to engage at that point in civil nuclear trade with India.” “We think that that is the proper sequencing,” he said. Burns said India and Russia have been made aware of the U.S. position (Agence France-Presse, March 16). Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister John Howard indicated today that sales of uranium by his country to India were not out of the question if the nuclear deal is approved. However, Howard said that Canberra’s policy against selling uranium to nations that remain outside the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty was not going to quickly change, AFP reported. “There isn’t going to be any immediate change in government policy. Obviously, like all policies, you never say never,” he said. “However, we would send in the next little while a team of officials to India to get some more information regarding that agreement and that group would go on to the United States,” Howard added. The prime minister said India has a good nonproliferation record since testing a nuclear device in the 1970s. “But obviously we have a policy and we're not going to automatically change it because of the agreement between the United States and India and despite the fact that India has expressed, as you all know, a great interest in purchasing Australian uranium,” Howard said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, March 17).
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