US oppses Russia to supply nuclear fuel to India

Washington, Mar 15 (UNI) The US is opposed to Russia supplying India with nuclear fuel for its Tarapur nuclear power station because New Delhi has not yet fulfilled its commitments made under the landmark civilian nuclear deal it had signed recently with the US, sources said.

State Department sources said yesterday that supply of nuclear fuel to India was alright as long as it had taken the steps called for in the US-India civilian nuclear cooperation initiative that envisages New Delhi to bring its nuclear facilities under conformity with NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) and international safeguards.

Five years ago, the United States strongly opposed a similar move by Russia.

Earlier in the day a Foreign Ministry official in New Delhi said Russia had informed the NSG of its decision to supply fuel for the Tarapur reactors.

Reacting to this deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters here that the United States was well aware of India's need for nuclear fuel but that it first had to fulfill its obligations under the agreement it signed.

''We recognise that they have need for fuel, and we think that deals to supply that fuel should move forward on the basis of the joint initiative, on the basis of steps that India will take but has not yet taken,'' Mr Ereli said.

The US-India nuclear deal, which reverses three decades of US policy, was finalised during President Bush's recent visit to India.

It will give India access to US civil nuclear technology. In return, India has agreed to open 14 of its nuclear facilities to inspection.

Eight others have been designated as military sites and will remain closed.

But the deal has yet to be ratified by the US Congress and the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), of which Russia is a member. The NSG controls trade in atomic fuel, which has long been denied to India after it conducted nuclear tests and refused to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Russia, which is a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) cannot supply fuel to countries like India which have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

But, media reports from India, quoting an Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman said, Moscow has agreed to send the fuel using a NSG ''Safety Exception Clause' which allows fuel transfers if there is reason to believe that starving a reactor of fuel could result in a nuclear hazard. The fuel from Moscow was needed to ensure two units at the Tarapur power station continued to operate safely, the reports said.

The Tarapur Power Reactor Fuel Reprocessing Plant is among the 14 nuclear facilities to be opened by India for international safeguards under the deal with the US According to Uranium Information Center, India has 14 reactors in commercial operation and nine under construction Nuclear power supplies about 3 per cent of India's electricity.

By 2050, nuclear power is expected to provide 25 per cent of the country's electricity.

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