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U.S. Deal No Proliferation Risk, Says Indian Envoy By Joe Fiorill WASHINGTON — India’s envoy to Washington said today that the controversial U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation deal poses no proliferation risk (see GSN, Feb. 17). Speaking just before U.S. President George W. Bush visits India to discuss nuclear issues and other matters, Ambassador Ronen Sen defended his country’s nonproliferation record and declined to offer detailed comment on the U.S.-Indian agreement. “I don’t think it’s a risky agreement,” said the ambassador, a former secretary of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission. Given what he described as India’s exemplary record in nonproliferation, Sen said he saw “irony” in nonproliferation advocates’ criticisms of the U.S.-Indian deal. The deal, which Bush announced last year and appears poised to submit for congressional approval, would see Washington provide nuclear technology and materials to India in exchange for New Delhi’s opening of facilities deemed civilian in nature to International Atomic Energy Agency inspections. A major focus of controversy in North America over the deal is the question of which nuclear facilities India — which is not a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty — will deem civilian and which it will effectively shield from inspections by designating as military. Asked whether India would classify its 40-megawatt, Canadian-supplied Cirus reactor (see GSN, Jan. 19) as a civilian facility, Sen said he “would not like to comment in detail” on the agreement being negotiated. However, he added that “no country has alleged that India has broken any laws” with respect to the Cirus facility, which produces much of India’s weapon-grade plutonium. “We have taken note of the sentiments which have been expressed in Canada and in some quarters in the United States,” the ambassador said, referring to calls for the reactor to be classified as civilian.
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