New Delhi
26 March 2006
Not content with the shutdown of the CIRUS research reactor, an
American nonproliferation expert and former official in the Clinton Administration has
urged Canada to "build a coalition" within the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) so that
India is compelled to "enlarge" her list of civilian nuclear facilities to include more
reactors based on Canadian technology.
"The US-India agreement does violence to long-standing Canadian nonproliferation
policy," Leonard S Spector reminds Ottawa in a recent article titled "How Bush's nuclear
deal burned Canada". He is deputy director of the Monterey Institute Center for
Nonproliferation Studies and a former senior arms control official at the United States
Department of Energy.
"On March 7, Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh disclosed which Indian facilities will go
on India's civilian and military lists, declaring that at least six reactors based on
Canadian technology will go on the list of installations reserved for the production of
nuclear weapons. The facilities are derived from two reactors in Rajasthan for which
Canada supplied "design information and detailed drawings" under a 1963 agreement.
India agreed to use the Rajasthan units "only for peaceful purposes."
"These reactors have been safely under IAEA monitoring, but India has replicated the
facilities: 10 CANDU reactors like those in Rajasthan are now operating in India and four
more are under construction. Now, however, India has declared that at least six CANDU-
clones will be used for purposes that are decidedly non-peaceful, potentially allowing
India to rapidly expand its existing nuclear arsenal, usually estimated at 60 to 80
weapons. Mr Singh's March 7 announcement is the first time India has openly asserted
that CANDU-style facilities will be part of its nuclear weapons production complex," he
writes.
Spector's observations come as Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran prepares to leave for
Washington to review the progress of the India-US nuclear deal. The US has failed to
sway the NSG to include India on the agenda of its Plenary in May. Washington deputed
US Assistant Secretaries of State Richard Boucher and Stephen Rademaker to the NSG
Consultative Group meeting in Vienna last week. They failed to convince the member-
states who would rather wait for the US Congress to make necessary amendments to the
US laws before taking any decision.
"Since the [nuclear suppliers] group operates by consensus, Canada has an effective
veto over allowing the US-India deal to go forward. Some half-dozen other members of
the [NSG] have already expressed serious concerns about lifting the nuclear embargo
against India. [T]he Canadian government should start now to build a coalition to insist
that as a condition for voting to lift the group's nuclear trade ban, India must enlarge the
list of civilian, IAEA-inspected facilities to include all of India's CANDU clones. With all
Canada-derived nuclear power facilities on the civilian list, the way would be cleared for
Canadian sales to India and elsewhere. The international nuclear power industry likes to
advertise that no nuclear power plant has ever been used for nuclear weapons. Canada,
one of the leaders in this field, needs to help ensure that this declaration remains valid,"
Spector observes.
Earlier this month, in its first official response to India's decision to permanently shut
down the CIRUS reactor, Canada chose not to be particularly euphoric. "This is a
complex matter that requires careful study. Canada will be analysing the separation plan
in consultation with our major partners," the Canadian Government had told this
newspaper. India recently declared that the CIRUS (Canadian-Indian-US) reactor will be
shut down by 2010.
Also, the new Canadian Prime Minister, Mr Stephen Harper, said in Islamabad recently
that his government will review the understanding on civilian nuclear cooperation
reached with India by the previous regime of the country. "This is a decision made by
the previous government, obviously my new government would want to review the
decisions that have been taken. We are against nuclear proliferation," he said on March
15 after his talks with Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
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