IAEA Safeguards Team Heads to India

The International Atomic Energy Agency has dispatched a high-level delegation led by Safeguards Director Olli Heinonen to New Delhi for two days of talks on bringing Indian civilian nuclear facilities under agency monitoring, Reuters reported yesterday (see GSN, July 5).

Some U.S. lawmakers have said India must complete its safeguards agreement before they will grant final approval to the planned U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation deal. Under that agreement, New Delhi would negotiate an agency inspections regime for nuclear facilities it deems to be civilian, as well as negotiate technical aspects of a formal treaty with Washington.

An agency diplomat said safeguards negotiations could take up several months.

“This will be new territory for us as we have never had a (presence) there before. This is the start of technical discussions,” the diplomat told Reuters (Mark Heinrich, Reuters, July 7).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.