02 October 2008

Congress Approves U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Accord

Agreement opens up enhanced trade between United States and India

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, left, meets with President Bush at the White House in September.

By Merle D. Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer

Washington — The U.S. Congress approved legislation that will bring India’s nuclear programs under international inspections and enhance trade between the United States and India.

The legislation, which the Senate passed October 1 by a vote of 86 to 13, now goes to President Bush.  The House of Representatives passed the bill 298 to 117 on September 28.

“The legislation will strengthen our global nuclear nonproliferation efforts, protect the environment, create jobs and assist India in meeting its growing energy needs in a responsible manner,” Bush said after Senate passage of the bill.  “I look forward to signing this bill into law and continuing to strengthen the U.S.-India strategic partnership.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the agreement reflects a common commitment to share the benefits of the international system and also the burdens and responsibilities of maintaining, strengthening and defending it.

Under the legislation, India will gain access to U.S. nuclear technology for the first time since it tested a nuclear weapon in 1974.  Since that first nuclear test, India has been prohibited from the worldwide nuclear trade, which left it without advanced uranium-enrichment and plutonium-reprocessing technology which is superior to its own processes.

“The proposed agreement provides a comprehensive framework for U.S. peaceful nuclear cooperation with India,” Bush said in a recent letter to Congress.  “It permits the transfer of information, non-nuclear material, nuclear material, equipment (including reactors) and components for nuclear research and nuclear power production.  It does not permit transfers of any restricted data.”

Both U.S. presidential candidates — Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama — gave the measure strong support and voted for its passage.  Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, also voted for the bill.

WHAT THE ACCORD WILL DO

The U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative will make ample energy resources a more likely possibility for the Indian people.  The nuclear accord also brings India into the nuclear nonproliferation mainstream; helps India meet its growing domestic energy needs while protecting the environment; and deepens the strategic partnership between many nations and India, said Ambassador Gregory Schulte, the U.S. permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“On balance, integrating India into a global nonproliferation regime is a positive step,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman said during House debate on the measure.

THREE DECADES OF POLICY CHANGED

The agreement reverses more than three decades of U.S. policy by permitting the shipping of nuclear fuel to India in return for international inspections of India’s civilian reactors.

Senator Richard Lugar, the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said this measure will protect U.S. national security interests and enhance global nonproliferation efforts.  And he said it will help to build “a strategic partnership with a nation that shares our democratic values and will exert increasing influence on the world stage.”

“With a well-educated middle class that is larger than the entire U.S. population, India can be an anchor of stability in Asia and an engine of global economic growth,” he said in a floor statement.

Lugar said India’s leaders are embracing a new chapter in U.S.-India relations and reversing decades of fundamental disagreement over the nonproliferation regime.

IAEA and NUCLEAR SUPPLIERS GROUP

The IAEA board of governors met August 1 in Vienna, Austria, to consider a draft safeguards agreement with India for that nation’s civilian nuclear energy development program.  The safeguards agreement won final IAEA approval and then a separate agreement was approved in September by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which controls the trade of nuclear materials.

Congress had required both groups to approve the agreement before considering final action.  The initiative, known as a 123 Agreement, could be acted on only by the Congress.  The United States and India completed negotiations on the agreement in 2007.

The nuclear accord requires India to open its civilian reactors to IAEA inspections and gives India access to the world market for nuclear fuel and technology.  The three-step approval process was necessary because India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which provides civil nuclear trade in exchange for a pledge from nations not to pursue nuclear weapons.

India imports 75 percent of its oil. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has argued that India needs a stronger investment in nuclear energy generation.

“India will be liberated from the constraints of technology denial of 34 years.  It will add an important strategic pillar to our bilateral partnership.  We will widen our clean energy options,” Singh said after the House of Representatives approved the measure.

India has four operating nuclear power reactors under IAEA safeguards.  Under the U.S.-India accord, India is committed to separate its military and civilian activities and submit its entire civil program to international inspection.

India will place under voluntarily safeguards a majority of its existing and planned nuclear power reactors — 14 of 22 — and all its future civil reactors.  Within a generation, it is estimated that nearly 90 percent of India’s reactors will be under IAEA safeguards.

The agreement between the United States and India will remain in force for 40 years and will continue in force for additional periods of 10 years unless either country gives notice to terminate it six months before the end of a period.  The agreement can be terminated before its expiration on a year’s written notice.

“The agreement will reinforce the growing bilateral relationship between two vibrant democracies.  The United States is committed to a strategic partnership with India; the agreement promises to be a major milestone in achieving and sustaining that goal,” Bush said.

A statement from Rice on the agreement and another from Bush are available on America.gov.