The Hindu Business Line : IAEA safeguards to cover civilian nuclear facilities

New Delhi, July 10 The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government, on Thursday, made public the draft text of the Safeguards Agreement negotiated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

This came amidst mounting criticism from the Left and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who accused the Government of circulating the draft to the IAEA’s Board of Governors just after it had lost majority support in Parliament and, at the same time, not divulging the contents of the text on grounds of ‘confidentiality’.

The Agreement – the full draft of which was posted on the Ministry of External Affairs’ Web site – requires the Government to identify and separate the country’s military and civilian nuclear facilities, while placing the latter under the IAEA’s safeguards regime.

Once the Government “voluntarily” and “on the basis of its sole determination” notifies any nuclear facility and associated materials as civilian (i.e. intended for producing power), the IAEA would apply safeguards to ensure “that no such item is used for the manufacture of any nuclear weapon or to further any other military purpose and that such items are used exclusively for peaceful purposes and not for the manufacture of any nuclear explosive device”.

The Agreement also has specific provisions to enable the country to obtain “reliable, uninterrupted and continuous access” to the international nuclear fuel market, currently restricted to just the 45-odd countries that are part of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). There is provision for India to take “corrective measures” and build a “strategic reserve” of nuclear fuel to ensure uninterrupted operation and guard against any disruption of supply over the lifetime of its civilian reactors.

These provisions, on the face of it, address a major concern voiced by opponents of the Indo-US nuclear deal (for which the IAEA safeguards agreement is a necessary precursor): In the event of India conducting a nuclear test or pursuing a foreign policy not in consonance to that of the major powers, fuel supplies would be terminated and lead to stranded reactor capacities.

Significantly though, the provisions are contained only in the preamble of the Agreement and not in the operative part. Also, there is no definition given of “strategic reserve” or what precisely would “corrective measures” entail.

Moreover, even the preamble does not explicitly “recognise” these issues and instead limits itself to “noting” them for the purposes of the Agreement. This, some experts believe, renders the provisions vague and not really legally binding.