Indo-US nuclear agreement to be unveiled on Fri

The Indo-US agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation, to be unveiled on Friday, provides adequate fall-back arrangements for continued supply of fuel in case New Delhi conducts an atomic test.

While the US will have the right to snap its civilian nuclear cooperation with India if the latter conducts an atomic test, the 123 agreement commits Washington to ensure uninterrupted supplies to India's safeguarded civilian nuclear reactors through engagement with other Nuclear Supplier Group countries.

Under the agreement reached in Washington last month, India has the upfront consent for reprocessing the spent fuel and the US will help it in creating the strategic reserves of fuel for the lifetime of safeguarded reactors.

The text of the 40-page agreement, that will operationalise the civilian nuclear deal, will be released simultaneously in New Delhi and in Washington as per an understanding between the two countries, official sources said in New Delhi.

Providing an outline of the agreement, officials of the two countries have said that the pact is silent on nuclear testing by India. The US has, however, made it clear that it has reserved the right of recall of nuclear fuel and technology if India conducts an atomic test.

The right of recall is a discretionary power of the US President but if India conducts a test, consultations will be held between the two sides on the circumstances under which the detonation had to be carried out in order to avoid a knee-jerk reaction.

Washington, in all likelihood, would end the civilian nuclear cooperation with India but at the same time, it will engage other members of 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group to ensure uninterrupted supply of fuel to safeguarded Indian reactors.

The document will be put on the website of the Ministry of External Affairs for comments and a debate on the significant agreement.

Approved by the Union Cabinet last week, the accord will also be placed in Parliament when it meets for the monsoon session on August 10.

The agreement to operationalise the civilian nuclear deal was reached in Washington late last month after tough year-long negotiations. The talks were log jammed due to differences between the two sides on certain issues like fuel reprocessing right for India, perpetuity of supplies and New Delhi's right to conduct a nuclear test.