Witnesses testify the eco impact of Indo-US N deal

Washington, July 19: The vice president for international law and policy at the General Electric Company Michael Gadbaw, today told a Senate panel that the opening of the civilian nuclear relationship will deepen the support for American jobs.

Mr Gadbaw along with other witnesses was underlining the benefits of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal for the US economy.

Underscoring the benefits to both the United States and India, before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Mr Gadbaw said, ''for every order we receive for a one-and-a-half gigawatt power plant, we anticipate US exports in the neighbourhood of 1 billion dollars, which would equate to supporting around 10,000 US jobs.'' The Washington Post newspaper had yesterday reported that General Electric is one of only four companies worldwide that build the most sensitive components of civilian nuclear power plants like those planned for India. The others include France's state-controlled Areva, the Toshiba Corporation, and Russia's Atomprom.

The newspaper also said other US companies hope to win related contracts to build containment structures for the Indian plants, sell turbines or provide services for the handling of waste.

Under the civilian nuclear accord, India would be allowed access to sensitive US nuclear technology in return for opening up its nonmilitary nuclear facilities to international safeguards.

Emphasising that the deal would help India overcome its growing energy needs, deputy assistant secretary for international energy cooperation at the Energy Department, David Pumphrey, said, ''They rank about fifth in the world in terms of energy consumption.

Last year, I believe they were sixth, so they are moving upwards in terms of other major countries. They passed Germany this year in terms of their energy consumption.'' But some lawmakers are concerned that the agreement with India, which has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, could derail efforts to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

Senator Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican said, ''I think all of us are concerned about the growth of nuclear communities and what it means and how waste or the byproducts are controlled or managed.'' However, administration officials dismissed such concerns, saying the agreement would strengthen nonproliferation efforts by putting a majority of India's nuclear plants under international inspections.

''We support this deal because we believe it will actually help counter global proliferation,'' noted Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Paul Simons. ''It will have a net positive impact in terms of our global nonproliferation strategy.'' For the deal to become effective, US Congress must amend the US Atomic Energy Act, which currently bans nuclear sales to countries that have not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The Bush administration legislation proposed an India-specific waiver under this act to allow the technology flow to India.

The legislation as amended by two key panels of the Senate and the House have already adopted it. It is now pending for floor action before the US Congress.

UNI

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