UN ponders India-US nuclear deal

by Sanjay Jha | July 31, 2008 at 11:57 pm

117 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

After holding the move to get the approval signed between the India-US civilian nuclear deal, Indian government has moved fast paced to International Atomic Energy Agency to their approval. Communist parties have forced the Indian government to hold the decision but after their exit from the ruling formation Indian government has approached IAEA for their approval. The nuclear deal will enable India to get access to US civilian nuclear technology and fuel without actually signing Nuclear Proliferation Treaty. US have made this exception to India and this deal is likely to help India to set up more nuclear reactors and buy uranium. Delhi is under pressure from Washington to sign the accord before the US presidential elections in November.

Under the agreement <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />India will have to allow permission of inspection of its civilian nuclear facilities. Opposition leaders including communists feel that assistance to India's civil programme could free-up additional radioactive material for bomb-making purposes.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is set to approve a civilian nuclear deal between India and the US.
Correspondents say that approval is expected to be granted despite qualms about whether it rewards a non-proliferation outsider.
The IAEA's approval of the plan is a key condition for enacting it.
India's government recently survived a confidence vote over the deal, which it says is vital to meet energy demands.
The deal would allow India to enter the world market in nuclear fuel and technology - as long as it is for civilian purposes.
It had previously been banned from doing so under the terms of a 30-year embargo imposed because of its testing of atomic bombs and refusal to join the global Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Correspondents say that if India gets IAEA approval, 14 of its 22 existing or planned reactors would come under regular IAEA surveillance.
India must then win an unprecedented waiver from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) later in August which would allow it to trade in sensitive nuclear materials.
The deal must also be ratified by the US Congress.