NEW DELHI, January 28 New Delhi has said no to Washington’s proposal that all its power-generating nuclear reactors be put on the civilian list. With negotiations on the landmark nuclear deal going right down to the wire, India is working on how many—and which—of the 16 indigenous reactors can be put on the civilian list without affecting the country’s strategic objectives.

India has 22 reactors in all, of which the six from abroad are under safeguards. The remaining are indigenous, of which 11 are operational, five under construction. India’s strategic programme runs from the fissile material produced by its indigenous reactors.

The Department of Atomic Energy has been asked to soon revert with the “final bottomline” of how many reactors it can put on the civilian list. The urgency is significant, given that New Delhi hopes to get back to Washington by early February with its final position.

In fact, Washington’s key interlocutor in the talks, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, said in Washington today that a deal is likely to be reached before President George Bush visits India. He said that despite the hurdles the agreement has faced, including opposition in the US Congress and the non-proliferation lobby, and difficulties in negotiating separation, the two countries were close to clinching a deal.

“I think we have made a lot of progress over the last six months. I was not discouraged by my talks in Delhi last week,” Burns told reporters. “That (a deal) might happen before the President’s visit.”

Burns added: “It is my assessment, and I have been the one negotiating this for six months, that we are very close to an agreement.” He said more progress was needed on a few issues, which were confidential.

  The problem 16  

• Madras 1 & 2 • Narora 1 & 2 • Kaiga 1 & 2 • Kakrapar 1 & 2 • Rawatbhata 3 & 4 • Tarapur 4 Under construction • Tarapur 3 • Kaiga 3 & 4 • Rawatbhata 5 & 6

That’s easier said than done. For, in India, all these reactors are dual-use in nature, for power production as well as for the strategic programme. Barring one of the 13 reactors, all have a modest capacity of 220 MW. India’s total capacity is 3200 MW, far less than any of the other nuclear weapon states.

India has been trying to explain to the US that it cannot shift its strategic requirement to two or three reactors because there are capacity constraints.

Placing bulk of these reactors on the civil list would translate into a negative impact on India’s strategic programme and it was agreed back on July 18 that this aspect will not be touched. But Burns, sources said, was also clear that Washington would like to see an ‘‘appreciable proportion’’ of India’s reactors on the civil list.

Between these two positions, both sides are now seeking final political directions. At the same time, India has indicated to the US that it cannot place a “large number” of reactors in the civilian list. In Washington, too, sources said, it is beginning to sink in that the Indian programme is far too small to talk in terms of huge numbers.

And while both sides work through this politically, contact on other fronts is continuing. US Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky will be here on Tuesday; it is also understood that US Assistant Secretary in Department of Energy David Garman is keen on making his visit soon for the dialogue with Saran.