The Hindu : Front Page : No secret agenda to cap India's strategic programme: Mulford

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 30, 2006
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No secret agenda to cap India's strategic programme: Mulford

T.S. Subramanian and Kesava Menon

``U.S. administration committed to getting nuclear deal done''

David C. Mulford

Chennai: " This negotiation was always about a civilian nuclear programme and that is the agreement. It is not a negotiation over India's strategic programme. There was no secret agenda to find a way indirectly to cap India's strategic programme," United States Ambassador David C. Mulford said in an interview to The Hindu here on Thursday. Mr. Mulford declared that the U.S. administration was committed to getting the deal done whether or not the Senate passed the legislation immediately. He said it would be possible to address India's concerns arising out of the fact that both the Bill adopted by the House of Representatives and the draft Senate bill deviated significantly from the agreements reached in July 2005 and March 2006. "We have judged that it is not the best tactic to change the amendments on the floor of the Senate. That it is better to make that effort in the conference between the two Houses."

Alternatively, Mr. Mulford said, the issue could be tackled when the 123 agreement was submitted for approval. "That vote will be an up and down vote. There will not be any opportunity to make amendments there."

GNEP issue

India was denied full access to the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) because it refused to place one of its fast breeder reactors under safeguards, Mr. Mulford said: "In the negotiations, it was very clear that for India to have full access to the GNEP group, it would need to place one of its fast breeders under safeguards. India decided that it would not do that. So, India decided not to become a full-fledged member of that group."

GNEP is a research and technology development initiative, led by the U.S. It aims at expansion of the nuclear power programme in the world in a manner that will reprocess spent fuel using new proliferation-resistant technologies. It will address the question how to dispose of nuclear waste safely and build reactors that are cost-effective and can be scaled up according to different countries' requirements.

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