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George Bush defends India-U.S. nuclear deal

To discuss development of civilian nuclear industry during his visit

George Bush

WASHINGTON: Seeking to clear the air on the India-U.S. nuclear deal that has hit the roadblocks, U.S. President George W. Bush has defended the pact and said he would talk about the ``development'' of a civilian nuclear power industry during his visit to New Delhi next month.

``I am going to India on March 1, around that period of time. I believe that it's a good policy for the United States to encourage these emerging economies to use clean energy, nuclear power so as to help reduce demand for kind of non-renewables.

``And, so I'm going to talk to them about development of a civilian nuclear power industry,'' Mr. Bush said in Tampa, Florida, on Friday while replying to a question during a speech.

The civilian nuclear arrangement was supposed to have been the hallmark of the Bush trip. That was quickly downplayed as the pact ran into difficulties in both New Delhi and Washington, much of it having to do with the Indian separation plan for the civilian and military facilities.

The President said: ``They're telling me China has got about 34 plants on the market, which is good. But this expansion of nuclear power — which is in our interests, by the way; it's in our interests because of the quality of the air, it's in our interests because it reduces demand, global demand — is going to create another issue, and that is, what are we going to do with the spent fuel?''

``This country doesn't reprocess spent fuel; we should. Reprocessing spent fuel means that we're able to continue to reuse the base material that went through the burn the first time in a plant, and reduce the amount that we have to then eventually store.

``And we chose not to do that in the late '70s because of proliferation concerns. I'm convinced we can work internationally to address those issues,'' Mr. Bush said.

He said: ``We've got to get off of hydrocarbons. We just do. And I'm a believer in nuclear power." — PTI

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