Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar on Thursday said that the United States' disclosures on the nuclear deal do not take away anything India wanted and there was adequate protection for its strategic programme in the civil nuclear agreement with Washington.
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He said India knew about the letter written by the US State Department in January to Tom Lantos, the then Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, but was caught unawares by its release.
"But now they have released the document.... A quick reading tells me that it actually doesn't take away anything from whatever we have been saying here in India before," he said.
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Asked about the right to conduct nuclear tests, he said "in terms of consequences, of course, when we decide to do that, we need to factor in possible consequences."
The top nuclear scientist indicated that there was adequate protection for India's strategic programme in the civil nuclear deal with the US.
"I also knew that this (US State Department letter to the Congress) has been asked to be kept classified. But I did not know that this will be released at this juncture," Kakodkar said.
"The most important thing is that whatever programme we have started... we should be able to continue operation of these reactors and adequate protection for that purpose has been built into the 123 Agreement," he said.