With the US now demanding fresh bilateral safeguards from India to complete the final negotiations, nuclear deal looks has hit a new roadblock. India and US are yet to complete the administrative arrangements that are needed to operationalise the deal. The delay of two years, India feels is built deliberately, and in reality will impact American companies, who are willing to invest in India’s nuclear energy sector. On the Indian side what it can do is to make it easier for the investor by relaxing some of the norms. Getting a low enough prices for the nuclear power will be a challenge when commercial deals are negotiated. Under the separation plan India has voluntarily put barriers between the civilian and strategic programmes with civilian sector under full International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. However US is asking for fresh bilateral verifications particularly on tracking of nuclear fuel. The Modi-Obama summit declared India has completed the procedures for joining the global non-proliferation regime. India now wants this process to be completed as soon as possible and is likely to highlight the US presidential commitment during the December talks of core group about facilitating its entry into the regime. The problem of nuclear proliferation is global, and any effective response must also be multilateral. Nine states (China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) are known or believed to have nuclear weapons, and more than thirty others (including Japan, Germany, and South Korea) have the technological ability to quickly acquire them. Amid volatile energy costs, the accompanying push to expand nuclear energy, growing concerns about the environmental impact of fossil fuels, and the continued diffusion of scientific and technical knowledge, access to dual-use technologies seems destined to grow. As far as India’s stand is concerned there are no pitfalls. New Delhi refrains from the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technologies to states that do not possess them and supports global efforts to limit the spread. In the coming weeks India is expected to push the deal harder to come to a conclusive end.
