Global Security Newswire

Russia completed a detailed agreement with India yesterday to construct four nuclear reactors for New Delhi, contingent upon a change to international export guidelines that currently bar sales of key nuclear technologies to India, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Jan. 25, 2007).

"We have finalized negotiations … on building additional nuclear power plants in India," said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after hosting talks with Russian Prime Minister Victor Zubkov.

Russia is already building two 1,000-megawatt reactors at Kudankulam in southern India.  Russian officials have argued that the arrangement does not violate international guidelines because the construction agreement was completed before the rules took effect.

The guidelines are set by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which currently prohibits sales of key nuclear technology to India and other nations that do not belong to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and do not allow full international supervision over their nuclear activities.

A tentative U.S.-Indian nuclear trade deal, however, would require exempting India from the NSG rules, allowing for Russian sales as well, AFP reported (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Feb. 12).

The U.S. deal has met effective domestic opposition in India, leading Bush administration officials to urge their counterparts in New Delhi to find a way to implement the deal before a new U.S. president takes office next January (see GSN, Feb. 12).

"We don't have all the time in the world," U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said yesterday in London.  "We should now move forward and complete it" (Hasan Suroor, The Hindu, Feb. 13).