Center Praises Obama for Not Rushing U.S.-India Nuclear Agreement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 24, 2009
CONTACT: Leonor Tomero
Washington, D.C. – The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation praised the Obama administration today for outlining broad areas of cooperation with India and not rushing nuclear energy negotiations, which could further undermine nuclear weapons non-proliferation efforts.
The United States and India are still negotiating a subsequent arrangement that would lay out the details for whether and how the United States would give its consent to India for reprocessing U.S.-origin fuel. Reprocessing separates plutonium from nuclear waste. While India plans to use the plutonium to fuel power reactors, plutonium can also be used to make nuclear weapons. India used plutonium derived from U.S. and Canadian nuclear energy assistance intended for peaceful purposes to conduct its first nuclear weapons test in 1974.
Leonor Tomero, Director of Nuclear Non-Proliferation at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, noted: “Despite pressure to reach agreement on this controversial issue in time for an Obama-Singh announcement, the Obama administration did not rush to finalize a deal that would undermine nuclear nonproliferation efforts, and instead emphasized cooperation on renewable energy, education, and science.”
“Unlike the previous administration, which made concession after concession on the U.S.-India nuclear deal at the expense of nuclear non-proliferation, the Obama administration is negotiating carefully to ensure that the U.S.-India deal does not further erode non-proliferation efforts and lead to legitimizing reprocessing as a fuel management option,” she added.
The U.S.-India agreement for nuclear cooperation reached last year included a provision allowing India to reprocess as long as India reprocessed the waste in a new declared facility under safeguards. A subsequent arrangement is necessary to outline a detailed accord. U.S. State Department and Indian officials conducted a final round of talks over the weekend in an attempt to finalize the deal. Disagreements reportedly remain on the number of reprocessing facilities as well as inspection and safety provisions.
The Obama administration canceled Bush administration plans for near-term deployment of reprocessing facilities in the United States. As Tomero explained, “Rushing to give India consent to reprocessing U.S.-origin nuclear fuel would complicate U.S. efforts to convince other countries, such as South Korea, not to reprocess.”
South Korea is currently seeking reprocessing rights from the United States in the context of a new U.S.-South Korea nuclear cooperation agreement to succeed the current agreement which expires in 2014.
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