Shaking off US moves to leave the question of reprocessing open-ended in the bilateral civil nuclear cooperation agreement, New Delhi has made it clear to US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns that the right to reprocess spent fuel must be enshrined explicitly in the text of the agreement.

With Congress in his mind, Burns conveyed that he will consult and get back on the issue.

While both sides now look forward to the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W Bush on the margins of the G-8 in Germany, it is clear that the entire agreement now hinges on the reprocessing issue.

Burns, who met the PM today, also received an invitation for US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice from her counterpart Pranab Mukherjee. She is likely to visit India in the next couple of months.

It’s learnt that Washington was not in favour of a clear commitment on reprocessing in the agreement, but was willing to consider India’s reprocessing requirements at a time when the necessity arises. The thinking in the US camp was that India needs reprocessed fuel only around the time its fast-breeder reactors go critical.

Since this is still some years away, Burns took the view that this could be addressed later. The US side was willing to go to the extent that nothing in the 123 agreement would prevent this issue from being taken up in the future.

This, however, was rejected by India which recalled the Tarapur experience and made the point that the 123 agreement will be the template for all future cooperation and should contain all elements of what constitutes ‘full civilian nuclear cooperation’.

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