1 2 38230; Get set, go!

In the geo-political scenario prevailing in the later part of the 20th century, India had very serious security concerns and was not willing to accede to the NPT, which failed to take into account those concerns. India believed that in signing the NPT we would condemn ourselves to be part of a global nuclear order in which India was relegated to the status of a non-nuclear weapon state. Signing the NPT, then, was not regarded to be in the national interest. This decision was taken by the Congress party, then in power. On the basis of the same logic, we have thus far also not signed the CTBT. We did not wish to compromise on our sovereign rights, consistent with our security concerns, to possess the capability of being a nuclear weapon state. In the course of the Cold War, we were leaders of the non-aligned group and protected our sovereignty by not aligning ourselves with any treaty organisation representing at the Cold War regime. That too was a sovereign decision taken by the Congress party. At the time of liberation of Bangladesh, everyone knows of the positioning of the 7th Fleet and how the then leaders of the Congress party took a firm position consistent with our national interest.

To argue today that the 123 Agreement will deny us the sovereign right to take independent decisions is, to say the least, facile. No Prime Minister of India, least of all Dr Manmohan Singh and indeed the Congress president Sonia Gandhi, will ever be seen to compromise our sovereign rights as a nation in taking independent decisions in the best interests of the people of India. No government in power will dare compromise on the sovereignty of India. As far as the BJP is concerned, it changes its position depending on where it sits in Parliament.

It is important to understand that the 123 Agreement deals with civil nuclear energy cooperation and allows us supplies of uranium as source material to be used in reactors, manufactured in India as well as those that will be allowed to be imported for generation of electricity to broaden the basket of options to meet the exponential increase in the demand for power in India. Today, India generates about 1,30,000 MW of power including power generated in captive units and yet we are woefully short of supply. With the exponential growth of demand in the years to come, we need to increase our options to generate clean energy. Power generated from our nuclear facilities represents less than 3 per cent of the total power generated, just about 2,700 MW. Assuming that by 2020, the demand for electricity is somewhere around 2,30,000 MW, we need to nearly double our electricity generation by that year. We have of-course huge coal reserves to fuel thermal plants and we are in the process of setting up new hydroelectric projects. We have made some progress in energy generated from wind power, which also represents a very small percentage of the total energy generated. The 123 Agreement allows us to bridge to some extend the demand 8212; supply gap by getting access to source material, which is uranium 235 to be used in our nuclear reactors. We expect that by 2020, we will be in a position to generate about 20,000 MW. Nuclear power is a clean form of energy. A large number of countries under the NPT regime having signed the CTBT are in a position to access source material to take advantage of nuclear energy used for civilian purposes. We have very small reserves of uranium in our country and without the import of uranium 235, we cannot go ahead with our civil nuclear energy programme. This provides the background for the 123 Agreement.

What the 123 Agreement does is to allow us an option to support our nuclear facilities meant for weaponisation and those meant for civil nuclear energy generation. Of the 22 such nuclear facilities, 14 of them under the separation plan placed before Parliament, will be under safeguards and 8 of them not subject to any safeguards. Safeguards amongst other things imply that any use of source material, namely, uranium 235 will be used only for the generation of energy and no part of that material will be diverted to our weapons programme. It is for the first time in the history of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime that such an exception has been made by putting in place an arrangement under which India will receive uranium 235 for use in our civil nuclear energy programme. Globally, there are three kinds of agreements:

8226; Those entered into between two recognised nuclear weapon states like the agreement between the United States and China;

8226; Those between a recognised nuclear weapon state and a non-nuclear weapon state, which is a party of the NPT; and

8226; The 123 Agreement with India between a nuclear weapon state and the United States, a recognised de facto nuclear weapon state, which has acquired the right to continue its weapons programme without hindrance, as well receive uranium 235 for civil nuclear energy purposes. This is the only Agreement of its kind, which has been successfully negotiated. This represents a unique diplomatic victory and also reflects the change in perception of the role India is likely to play as a global power in the 21st century.

For India, generation of electricity is the raw material for development. It is part of our infrastructure requirement. Without energy, we cannot even hope to continue to develop at a pace which will allow us to become a developed country in the near future. We all know that coal-based thermal plants pollute the atmosphere. We also are aware of the impact of global warming and climate change and in the absence of proven clean coal technologies, it would be environmentally disastrous for us, as a developing nation, to put all our eggs in one basket and use coal as the only major source of energy. That is why the scientific community is also working towards other options including solar and other alternative sources of energy, which are clean and eco-friendly. Clean coal technologies and availability of solar energy, photovoltaics, bio-fuels, wind and other alternative sources and nuclear technology, all together will seek to take care of the inevitability of increasing demand. It is therefore, pre-eminently in our national interest to enter into this unique 123 Agreement.

In the 123 Agreement, what is it that we have agreed to must be spelt out:

1. We have placed 14 of our nuclear facilities under India 8212; specific IAEA safeguards. In return for this, we have been assured under the 123 Agreement the following :

8226; The right to receive source material, namely, uranium 235 from the US and from the Nuclear Suppliers Group NSG when negotiations with them are completed. There are 45 countries in the world, which are members of the NSG.

8226; We have acquired the right to use such Uranium 235 in our nuclear reactors and facilities and reactors of higher capacity, which we may wish for commercial reasons to import. Reactors available in the global market are of much higher capacity, i.e. 1,000 MW.

8226; We have acquired the right to continuous fuel supplies to meet the needs of our present and future nuclear facilities and the ability to build up strategic reserves during the lifetime of the reactors.

8226; We have acquired the right to reprocess the spent fuel used in our reactors placed under safeguards. All of the above, however, is subject to the setting-up of a dedicated reprocessing facility with respect to the source material namely uranium 235 to ensure that none of it is diverted for purposes of weaponisation.

2. Under the 123 Agreement, either party can terminate the Agreement by giving one years notice. In such an eventuality, the parties agree to consider carefully the circumstances that may lead to termination or cessation of cooperation. They further agree to take into account whether the circumstances that may lead to termination or cessation resulted from a party8217;s serious concern about a changed security environment or as a response to similar actions by other states, which could impact national security. Further, the two parties recognise that exercising the right of return would have profound implications for their relations. If either party seeks to exercise its right pursuant to paragraph 4 of this Article, it shall, prior to the removal from the territory or from the control of the other party of any nuclear items mentioned in paragraph 4, undertake consultations with the other such. Such consultations shall give special consideration to the importance of uninterrupted operation of nuclear reactors of the party concerned with respect to the availability of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes as a means of achieving energy security. Both parties shall take into account the potential negative consequences of such termination on the on-going contracts and projects initiated under this Agreement of significance for the respective nuclear programmes of either party. In addition, if either party exercises its right of return pursuant to paragraph 4 of this Article, it shall, prior to the removal from the territory or from the control of the other party, compensate promptly that party for the fair market value thereof and for the costs incurred as a consequence of such removal. If the return of nuclear items is required, the parties shall agree on methods and arrangements for the return of the items, the relevant quantity of the items to be returned, and the amount of compensation that would have to be paid by the party exercising the right to the other party.

Any reasonable person looking at this arrangement can never come to the conclusion that under the 123 Agreement, we are denied to conduct a nuclear test. The 123 Agreement does not refer to a nuclear test. India as a sovereign state is free to conduct a test despite the 123 Agreement. Clearly, therefore, the 123 Agreement does not stand in the way of our conducting a nuclear test.

3. The 123 Agreement provides for a non-hindrance clause in respect of India8217;s nuclear weapons programme. The United States of America has committed itself not to stand in the way or in any manner interfere in our nuclear weapons programme.

4. Parties have committed themselves to cooperate in the field of biological research, medicine, agriculture and industry, environment and climate change, and fusion technology and participating in bilateral and multilateral programmes for purposes of research and development. This provides enormous opportunities for our scientific community to interact with states possessing technology at the high end and gain access and experience in respect of technologies that thus far have been denied to India.

Tomorrow: How the Agreement8217;s opponents have got it wrong