U.S. Alters Nuclear Deal, Indian Officials Say

Indian officials believe the United States is trying to backtrack on commitments it made when agreeing to a bilateral nuclear trade deal in 2005, The Hindu reported today (see GSN, April 20).

Legislation exempting India from U.S. nuclear nonproliferation laws includes several measures that would restrict Indian nuclear activities in ways that the two nation’s leaders did not intend, according to Indian officials.

The legislation, known as the Hyde Act, cleared the initial path for the United States to sell nuclear technology and material to New Delhi even though India is not party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and would not permit international inspectors to monitor its entire nuclear program.

Officials have complained that the Bush administration has accepted the Hyde Act limits as it negotiates a detailed agreement to implement the nuclear deal.

“Now that it is clear the Hyde Act itself is inadequate, the U.S. side is trying to reopen and reinterpret the commitments it made in its agreements with us,” said one official.

Several issues have spurred Indian concern, in particular a disagreement over the conditions required for the United States to demand the return of nuclear equipment and material it provided to India.

The United States proposed in a draft document that if either nation felt that its “supreme national interests” were threatened, consultations would begin that, failing any resolution, could lead to Washington demanding the return of its nuclear supplies, according to the Hindu.

This trigger language is too broad, Indian officials said, describing the measure as an effort to restrict New Delhi’s freedom to conduct nuclear tests in the future.  India has observed a testing moratorium since 1998, but has avoided making a permanent commitment to a test ban.

The United States has also encouraged other nations to adopt similar “right of return” measures in international nuclear trade guidelines, Indian officials said, thus restricting New Delhi’s ability to seek nuclear aid elsewhere if U.S. relations sour.

Aside from limiting India’s testing rights, the “right of return” condition would discourage private industry from investing in India’s energy sector, according to Indian officials.

“Which company would like to tie up its investment in a situation where the U.S. may invoke the clause?” said one official.  “Even if the actual return can be stalled, the U.S. would insist at a minimum that the plant be shut down.”

In the end India would not agree to the condition, said an official.

“They are demanding the return of nuclear fuel stockpiles, which is a no go for us,” the official said.

Another issue frustrating Indian officials is a U.S. demand that India agree to place its civilian nuclear sites under permanent international supervision.

The bilateral agreement calls for India to open its civilian nuclear facilities to monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency, but Indian officials have said the United States has changed its position since 2005 and now requires that those sites could never be switched back to India’s military program.

That position is unfair, according to Indian officials, because the United States could terminate nuclear supplies to a site under the “right of return” process, but the site would remain under agency safeguards.

Indian officials are also frustrated by the United States seeking to deny New Delhi permission to produce plutonium from spent power plant fuel originally provided by the United States, according to the Hindu.

“We were the first country to have reprocessing capabilities in Asia, since 1965,” one official said.  “There is no danger of leakage contributing to weapons program, unlike breakout countries where a little bit of cooperation might make all the difference.”

Furthermore, any reprocessing activity would be conducted under international monitoring to ensure the plutonium was not diverted for military purposes, officials said (Siddarth Varadarajan, The Hindu, April 25).

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