Mumbai: Top nuclear scientists on Thursday welcomed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's detailed assurances on concerns raised by them about the India-United States nuclear deal.

They also welcomed his invitation to scientists for a further discussion on the issue in New Delhi on August 26.

M.R. Srinivasan, former Atomic Energy Commission chairman and current member of the body, told PTI from Udhagamandalam: ``We are looking forward to the meeting to discuss the issues in detail and mechanisms to protect India's interests.''

"No guarantee"

Unless India made the U.S. explicitly accept the position that the Prime Minister adopted and unless the bilateral agreement was clearly reflected in black and white, there would be no guarantee that what was deemed non-binding on India in today's legislation would not be converted in future to binding clauses by future administrations in the U.S., Mr. Srinivasan said.

On the perpetuity clause, he said: ``We will discuss with the Prime Minister in detail to make sure that research and development and fast breeder technologies are not placed under safeguards, and also on the future choice on voluntary safeguards.''

Former AEC chairman P.K. Iyengar said: ``The Prime Minister has made so many commitments to answer the scientists' as well as the Opposition's concerns and at the same time he has not left out his commitment related to the American decision.''

Re-discussion sought

On the separation plan for nuclear facilities, Mr. Iyengar said: ``There should be a re-discussion on the separation plan more logically, and so that it could be easily negotiated with the International Atomic Energy Agency.''

Mr. Iyengar said:

``The re-discussion on the separation plan will help India as well as the IAEA when we go for negotiations on India-specific safeguards.

``We can advise him on these issues and we can also explain that we can do the separation without affecting our freedom in research and development.''

Mr. Iyengar said India would have to wait and watch how the U.S. administration took the ``sense of the House'' that was observed on Thursday.

Placid Rodrigues, former Director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, told PTI from Delhi: ``I welcome the Prime Minister's categorical statement and assurances but we have to seriously discuss the separation plans in detail again.''

India should be in a better position to re-negotiate the deal as ``we are far ahead of the U.S. and Japan in fast breeder reactor and reprocessing technology.''

In fact, the U.S. may need India's help in human resource development on nuclear technology. ``Our bargaining power has to be fully understood by the Prime Minister and we will explain in detail to him in the August 26 meeting,'' Mr. Rodrigues said.

Safeguards

He said the Prime Minister was yet to satisfy the House on how he intended to convert the unsafeguarded experimental breeder programme to have some form of safeguards on all commercial fast breeder reactors after 2014.

The scientists said that since the Prime Minister had assured the House that India would be treated on a par with nuclear weapon nations as a de facto nuclear weapon state, it would follow that the nature of safeguards to be negotiated for Indian reactors would be voluntary rather than any that may be applicable to a non-nuclear weapon country.

Based on Dr. Singh's assurances, the safeguards would not be applicable to a non-nuclear weapon country since they applied only to fuel, nuclear material and derivatives, and ``imported reactors could be the only ones subjected to perpetuity safeguards," they said. — PTI

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