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“Premature to sign pact with Russia for more reactors”

NEW DELHI: India has denied that the lack of an agreement during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Moscow visit on four more Russian reactors in the Koodankulam plant in Tamil Nadu amounted to a setback.

Any pact with Russia on the issue would have been non-operational because India still had to seek clearances from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) before being allowed to join the global civil nuclear community, official sources said.

After both countries signed an initial Memorandum of Intent on the issue during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India in January this year, there were expectations of some forward movement during Dr. Singh’s return visit to Moscow.

But official sources indicated that India would not like to make piecemeal allocations even before it was allowed to join the world civil nuclear community. Besides Russia, companies from France, Japan and Canada, among others, are also looking at the opportunity for nuclear power plants. As a result, India would prefer a comprehensive plan for its future nuclear powered plants. That would take place only after the IAEA approved an India-specific safeguards agreement and the 45-member NSG unanimously agreed to end India’s isolation from civil nuclear commerce.

The sources pointed out that it would have been premature for India to have signed a pact for more nuclear reactors from Russia at a time when New Delhi had assured the world community of its willingness to conform to international laws in every respect. With a political debate raging in the country over the feasibility of the India-U.S. civil agreement, it would also be prudent to wait for clarity to emerge over the issue and then take the next step, they reasoned.

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