IAEA clears India inspection plan, boosts
US-India deal
Fri Aug 1, 2008 8:52pm IST
By Mark Heinrich
VIENNA, Aug 1 (Reuters) – The governors of the U.N.
nuclear watchdog approved an inspections plan for
India on Friday, an important step towards completing
a nuclear cooperation deal between New Delhi and the
United States .
The plan, approved by consensus by the International
Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors, will permit
regular IAEA surveillance of India’s declared civilian
nuclear energy plants — 14 of 22 existing or planned
reactors.
This clears a hurdle to an accord that would allow
sales of atomic materials and technology for civilian
use to India . The deal has been criticised because
New Delhi has not signed the global Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT).
Washington will now need the approval of a 45-nation
nuclear supply cartel to grant India an unprecedented
waiver allowing trade with a non-NPT state and
ratification by the U.S. Congress for the deal to go
into force.
The first Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) meeting on
India is expected to be held on Aug. 21-22, diplomats
said. Twenty-six of the 35 nations on the IAEA
governing body are also NSG members.
The IAEA’s director said the inspections scheme met
non-proliferation safeguards standards and talks had
begun on a system of more intrusive, short-notice
checks — intended to boost confidence in India ’s
intentions.
Industrialised powers say the deal ushers India
towards the non-proliferation mainstream and would
fight global warming by fostering use of low-polluting
nuclear energy in developing economies, cutting high
oil and gas costs too.
Simon Smith, British ambassador to the IAEA, said the
deal would “make a significant contribution to energy
and climate security”.
“This is an important day for India and for our civil
nuclear initiative for the resumption of India ’s
cooperation with our friends abroad,” Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh said during a visit to Sri
Lanka .
MISGIVINGS
However, some smaller Western and developing nations
and disarmament groups fear the accord could weaken
allegiance to the 40-year-old NPT which is already
challenged by a drive for nuclear power, led by Iran,
in the Middle East.
“An arrow was launched through the heart of the NPT
today, with the approval of the India safeguards
agreement,” said one dismayed diplomat. “As a result
of heavy-hnded diplomacy, India can benefit from
nuclear help from abroad while keeping its weapons
programme unchecked. Hypocrisy wins.”
Mohamed ElBaradei, the IAEA’s director general,
touched on diplomatic concern that parts of the draft
blur divisions between civil and military atomic
sectors, with a possible loophole allowing India to
transfer bomb-grade fuel separated from civilian
stocks to its military programme.
“These are not comprehensive or full-scope safeguards
(unlike with NPT member states)…,” he said. “(But)
it satisfies India ’s needs while maintaining all the
agency’s legal requirements.”
Some diplomats were concerned the language might allow
India to halt inspections unilaterally if nuclear fuel
imports were cut off, for example in response to
another nuclear test, although India is observing a
voluntary moratorium.
Washington and New Delhi have lobbied other countries
hard to expedite the deal through remaining hurdles,
with time fast running out before the U.S.
presidential election in November.
India faces a tougher sell at the NSG, a cartel formed
in response to India ’s 1974 nuclear test to limit
trade in “trigger list” nuclear items — those with
civilian or military uses — to NPT member states with
good non-proliferation records.
India says it expects an unconditional exemption from
the NSG but diplomats say some members will want at
least a more binding commitment to no more nuclear
tests and significant progress towards implementing an
Additional Protocol. (Additional reporting by Karin
Strohecker in Vienna and Jonathan Allen in Mumbai;
Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
II.
Demand Concerning the Japanese Government’s Response
to Nuclear Cooperation Between the USA and India
(Provisional Translation by Philip White, Citizens’
Nuclear Information Center)
30 July 2008
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda
Concerning the Japanese Government’s Response to
Nuclear Cooperation between the USA and India
It has become clear that on August 1 this year an
emergency meeting of the Board of Governors of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be held
to discuss a draft agreement regarding inspection of
India’s nuclear facilities.
Acceptance by the emergency meeting of the Board of
Governors of the proposed inspection agreement is one
of the necessary conditions for the US-India Nuclear
Cooperation Agreement to come into effect. If it is
accepted, it will be another step for the American
government towards the export of nuclear fuel and
nuclear-related technology to India.
India possesses nuclear weapons, but rejects the NPT
regime. A UN Security Council Resolution strongly
demanded that India eliminate its nuclear weapons and
join the NPT and for a long time the international
community applied economic sanctions to India.
Under the US-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement,
nuclear reactors for civilian use will be subject to
IAEA inspections, but it is reported that
plutonium-producing reactors for military use and fast
breeder reactors will be outside the scope of
inspections. This is, in effect, equivalent to
recognizing India as a nuclear weapon state. Not only
is it feared that the NPT regime will be turned into
an empty shell, it is also conceivable that the
Agreement will become a major obstacle in future for
the world’s efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons.
Furthermore, as cities that were attacked by atomic
bombs, we are unable to tolerate nuclear cooperation
with a country that does not accept Comprehensive IAEA
Safeguards. Such cooperation would be a breach of the
current guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group
(NSG).
As a member of the IAEA Board of Governors and also of
the NSG, the Japanese Government wields great
influence. We strongly request the Japanese Government
to persistently demand that India join the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and, as long as
India does not do so, to take a leading role in
ensuring that nuclear cooperation does not proceed.
Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima
Tomihisa Taue, Mayor of Nagasaki
Inquiries:
Peace Promotion Division
The City of Hiroshima
Tel: 082-242‐7831
FAX: 082-242-7452
Mail: peace@city.hiroshima.jp
Japanese original
http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/www/contents/0000000000000/1217390913975/index.html
