US State Dept's Fact Sheet on India's Separation plan

Washington, Mar 11: The landmark US-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation deal has been hailed as necessary to promote a strategicpartnership with a dynamic, self-reliant India that is playing an increasingly significant regional and global security role.

The deal, clinched during US President George W Bush's visit to New Delhi, still requires US congressional approval, for which legislation seeking an India-specific waiver, has already been sent to Congress.

But to be considered for exemption, India's separation plan of its civilian and military reactors acquires importance. The US State Department has put out a Fact Sheet on the separation plan as agreed to by India.

Under India's civil military separation plan, which forms part of the US-India civil nuclear cooperation initiative, India has agreed to:

*Place a majority of its existing power reactors and those under construction (14 of 22) under IAEA safeguards, and to place other associated upstream and downstream facilities that support those reactors under safeguards;
* Place all future civilian thermal power and civilian breeder reactors under safeguards;
* Negotiate a safeguards agreement that would place all Indian civilian nuclear facilities under safeguards in perpetuity;
* Permanently shut down the CIRUS reactor in 2010, shift the fuel core of the Apsara reactor purchased from France outside the Bhabha Atomic Research Center and place it under safeguards in 2010; and
* Identify and declare nine other research facilities as civilian.

In addition, under the initiative, India has pledged to:
* Negotiate and sign an Additional Protocol with the IAEA;
* Implement through appropriate rules and regulations India's recent passage of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Act of May 2005, creating a robust national export control system;
* Refrain from transfers of enrichment and reprocessing technologies to states that do not already possess them and support efforts to limit their spread;
* Work with the US to conclude a multilateral Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty;
* Continue its unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing and adhere to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) guidelines.

The Fact Sheet said this agreement has several specific and important benefits. First, it deepens the US-Indo strategic relationship, whose broadening scope will help ensure stability, prosperity and peace in Asia and worldwide. Second, the initiative will open significant business opportunities for American firms, as they will increasingly help meet India's demand for civilian nuclear technology, fuel and support services. This will translate into new jobs, incomes and markets for the US.

Third, it will help meet India's surging energy requirements in an environment-friendly manner. The initiative enables India to rely increasingly on nuclear technology which is ''clean'' in comparison to other technologies, and will decrease India's dependence on foreign oil and gas imports, such as those from Iran.

Finally, this initiative brings India into the global nuclear nonproliferation mainstream. For the first time, India has committed to take the significant steps described above that will end its 30-year isolation from the global regime and will increase the transparency of its civilian nuclear program, improve the safety and the effectiveness of that program, and provide oversight--again for the first time--over a large majority of Indian civilian nuclear reactors and the associated upstream and downstream facilities that support these reactors.

For its part, the United States is committed to working with the US Congress to amend relevant domestic law to allow full peaceful nuclear cooperation with India, and to seeking agreement within the Nuclear Suppliers Group to accommodate this cooperation.

The US will also negotiate a bilateral agreement on peaceful nuclear cooperation with India and seek to assure the reliable supply of nuclear fuel to India through multiple avenues and instruments.

This initiative represents the culmination of many months of diplomacy on both sides and symbolises the broader meaning of the President's visit to India, which is the creation of a new strategic partnership.

It also confirms US' confidence in India as a global partner and reflects our appreciation for India's excellent nuclear nonproliferation record, its democratic traditions, and its commitment to tolerance and freedom.

UNI

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