One question on which there is tremendous pressure in the NSG is to terminate all cooperation in case India were to test a nuclear device. Some NSG countries have argued that US should not resist this provision as it intends to follow the same course in the bilateral agreement with India.

To this, the State Department has very clearly stated that US has the “right to cease all nuclear cooperation immediately” in case India were to carry out a nuclear test but adds that it has the “right to terminate the agreement on one year’s notice” only after which the commitments under Article 5.6 (relating to fuel supply assurances)

would no longer apply.

In other words, during the one-year consultation period, the US will have to follow its commitments on ensuring uninterrupted fuel supply to Indian reactors.

Further, the letter qualifies: “Ceasing nuclear cooperation with India would be a serious step. The United States would not take such a step without careful consideration of the circumstances necessitating such action and the effects and the impacts it would entail.”

From the NSG standpoint, India is open to individual countries choosing to stop nuclear cooperation in case India were to detonate a device. However, New Delhi is against any multilateral assertion on it by the NSG. More so, it is open to have a consultation exercise on the lines of what is put down in the Indo-US 123 agreement.

The letter does state that fuel supply assurances are not meant to “insulate” India from the consequences of exploding a nuclear device but also argues that there is “neither a minimum nor a maximum quantity of nuclear material in India’s reserve”.

... contd.