The objective conclusion, as G. Balachandran explains, about the US legislation on nuclear cooperation is that there are areas for India to negotiate. But also that such negotiations are likely to produce results. Also important to understand is that the legislation, while an essential prerequisite for any change in the current Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) Guidelines governing civilian nuclear commerce, is only one of the many steps that need to be taken before India and the international community including the US can engage in such trade. The three major remaining actions that are still to be completed are, one, a Section 123 agreement for nuclear cooperation between India and the US, two, changes to NSG Guidelines and three, an India specific IAEA-India safeguards agreement.

Following are the key areas for India’s negotiators:

Sec. 123 Indo-US agreement for nuclear cooperation

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his statement to Parliament in August had categorically stated that, “The US has been intimated that reference to nuclear detonation in the India-US Bilateral Nuclear Cooperation Agreement as a condition for future cooperation is not acceptable to us.” Subsection 123 a.(4) of the US legislation is relevant here. It states “except in the case of those agreements for cooperation with nuclear-weapon states, a stipulation that the United States shall have the right to require the return of any nuclear materials and equipment transferred pursuant thereto and any special nuclear material produced through the use thereof if the cooperating party detonates a nuclear explosive device.”

... contd.