New Delhi
30 July 2007
India has for all practical purposes foregone her right to conduct a
nuclear test without attracting consequences in return for getting advance consent rights
for reprocessing spent fuel, US Ambassador to India David C Mulford said.
"The US law is very clear. India knows what that law is. Right of return (of fuel, reactor
and technology) is [clearly] preserved [in line] with Hyde Act," Mr Mulford on Monday told
Indian journalists via teleconference from Wisconsin, where he is holidaying.
The text of the 123 Agreement, now frozen, stipulates that the the US will be governed by
the Hyde Act and it will, accordingly, need to invoke its domestic laws, in case India
conducts a nuclear test.
There is a provision for conducting "consultations" but India will have to face the political
consequences mandated by the US laws for detonating a nuclear device, unlike the other
"countries with advanced nuclear technology" that have tested their nuclear warheads to
perfection.
Reiterating what US officials like Ashley Tellis have been telling their Indian interlocutors
for the better part of last year, Mr Mulford said that the US law has been accepted by
India "as something that was not going to change".
Washington, he explained, went by the assumption that India will not want to conduct
another nuclear test. India does not intend to test, he added for effect, and any change to
India's policy of moratorium on conducting future tests would attract political
consequences.
"We (US) have our laws and they (India) have to make that judgment on the basis of the
situation at that time," he clarified. "[The issue of testing is] not dealt with in the
agreement" because the talks in Washington earlier this month focussed on "efforts at
language and concepts" in order to arrive at a final, workable arrangement.
He said: "This is about compromises and concessions on both sides ... that is what
negotiation is about. A very very important concession made by the US for example one
of which is consent rights to reprocessing and India has made concecessions on its
side."
On the issue of "full" civilian nuclear cooperation, the envoy said that the US law was
clear in that the supply of enrichment and reprocessing technology was "an item dealt
with under the Hyde Act". He said: "There are a couple of exceptions there which are
made available and if India wishes to move in that direction it will be possible to seek
one of those amendments".
He said that the four fuel supply assurances given by US President George W Bush in
March last year had been laid out very clearly, "word for word", in the 123 text. "The US
has indicated its willingness to help India create a strategic fuel reserve," he said in
response to a question.
The envoy explained that the "US fuel might conceivably be recallable but fuel from
other sources will not be". Ths US, he asserted, has pledged to engage other countries
for continuation of fuel supplies "under certain circumstances". The arrangements were
pretty concrete, he hastened to add.
Ambassador Mulford was candid that the outcome of the negotiations was "never going
to be perfect for all shades of opinion in each country". He cautioned that India's
relationship with Iran will be "carefully reviewed and scrutinised by members of
Congress as they approach the final vote".
He suggested that the George W Bush Administration was confident of getting the 123
Agreement through the US Congress but certain considerations needed to be borne in
mind. One consideration was "passage of time" because 2008 would see the US getting
"fully into election year" and things could get "somewhat more complex as the year goes
on". He nevertheless observed that the Bush Administration hoped to recreate strong
bipartisan support.
He said that India will sign a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy
Agency "hopefully within a period of a month or two" so that the US could approach the
Nuclear Suppliers Group for a clean rule change that allows India to engage in civil
nuclear commerce. The NSG, he felt, was "generally favourable" and "we are confident
we can move this forward," when asked about China's attitude in the NSG.
He added that the proposal for engaging in this negotiation was made in March 2005
during the visit of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to India and it culminated in
July that year, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Washington. "This
judgment was coupled with the proposal that we should address what would appear to be
one of India's most serious challenges [of] energy security," he said.
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