The United States has agreed to help India secure fuel for its
reactors, even if it conducts another atomic test, the
Washington Times reported Thursday.
The Bush administration made the major concession in closed-door
talks with visiting Indian officials last week in an attempt to
save its civilian nuclear-energy deal with India , the newspaper
quoted diplomats and knowledgeable nonproliferation experts as
saying.
Sources familiar with the new proposal, negotiated under
pressure from India , which does not want its hands tied in its
nuclear rivalry with neighboring Pakistan, said the United States
offered to "consider the circumstances" before cutting off
cooperation after any nuclear test.
Moreover, Washington offered to help New Delhi secure
alternative sources of nuclear fuel in the event of a US
cutoff.
"The United States would join India in seeking a fuel-supply
agreement with the IAEA," said one source with knowledge of the
proposal, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the
UN nuclear watchdog based in Vienna, Austria.
"If there were interruption, US and India will convene a group
of friendly supplier countries, such as Britain and Russia, to
restore the supply," the unidentified source said.
"We would also support Indian efforts to create a strategic
reserve to supply Indian reactors over their lifetime with
fuel."
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control
Association in Washington, said last year's legislation stipulated
that "the United States should not provide India with a multi-year
fuel supply that could be used to carry it through the suspension
of international supplies due to resumption of nuclear
testing."
"In other words," he said, "the administration is saying that,
if the US felt compelled to cut off cooperation because India
violated the agreement, we'll help others circumvent our policies
to supply India with fuel."
An unidentified India n official close to the negotiations was
quoted as saying that Washington had also reversed its position by
agreeing to let India reprocess spent nuclear fuel.
"This is a very significant milestone, but it is not the end of
the road," the official said. "We are still keeping our fingers
crossed."
Christopher Griffin, a research fellow at the American
Enterprise Institute, said the Bush administration's concessions
are not a "real surprise, because its interest is not as much in
nonproliferation as in removing the barrier to strategic
cooperation with India on a broader agenda."
(Xinhua News Agency July 27, 2007)
