Don146;t push deal: scientists

As the Government continued to battle with Left parties to save the Indo-US nuclear deal, some prominent nuclear scientists...

As the Government continued to battle with Left parties to save the Indo-US nuclear deal, some prominent nuclear scientists came out openly against the deal and asked the Government not to go ahead with it.

In a press release, three scientists, who have in the past occupied top-most posts in India8217;s nuclear establishment, raised serious questions over the need to have such an agreement with the US. 8220;There is a great deal of disquiet in the scientific community of the country. We are of the opinion that the Government should not proceed to seek IAEA Board approval for the current draft safeguards agreement, until its implications are debated fully within the country, or at least within the UPA-Left Committee as well as with a group of experts who are not party to the IAEA negotiations,8221; said the press release.

The signatories to this release are Dr P K Iyengar, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Dr A Gopalakrishnan, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, and Dr A N Prasad, former director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. The scientists also questioned the argument that the deal would ensure energy security for the country and went to the extent of saying that the independence of India8217;s foreign policy would be jeopardised by the stipulations in the Hyde Act.

8220;Analysts have convincingly shown that this additional power will come at a much higher cost per unit of electricity compared to conventional coal or hydro power, which India can generate without foreign imports,8221; they said.

8220;Once the deal is in place, it is also clear that India8217;s commercial nuclear interactions with the US, as well as with any other country, will be firmly controlled from Washington, via the stipulations of the Hyde Act, 2006, enforced through the stranglehold which the US retains on the Nuclear Suppliers8217; Group.

8220;The real issue facing India, therefore, is whether or not we want this mythical extra 8216;energy security8217; through this deal, paying almost thrice the unit capital cost of conventional power plants, with the additional burden of subjugating the freedom to pursue a foreign policy and indigenous nuclear R038;D programme of our own,8221; they said.