Scientists warn Govt against N-deal

Senior scientists strongly opposed Government seeking the IAEA Board approval on the Indo-US accord.

As the Congress-led coalition grapples with the nuclear deal issue, senior scientists strongly opposed Government seeking the IAEA Board approval on the Indo-US accord before debating it within the UPA-Left Committee.

8220;We are strongly 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 more fully within the country, or at least within the UPA-Left Committee,8221; they said.

In a joint statement, P K Iyengar, former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission, A Gopalakrishnan, former head of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and A N Prasad, former Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, said that the agreement should also be discussed with a group of experts who were not party to the IAEA negotiations.

They said there was a 8220;great deal of disquiet8221; among the scientific community at large at 8220;this critical juncture8221; when the government was about to rush the safeguards agreement to the IAEA 8220;without giving its details to the UPA-Left Committee created specifically for a joint evaluation of the deal8221;.

8220;There are several other key safeguards-related issues of crucial importance, for which no one, including the UPA-Left Committee which the government created, has been provided answers,8221; the scientists said.

They said none of the issues raised by them could be addressed adequately and in an acceptable manner 8220;unless the entire safeguards agreements and its associated papers are made available to the UPA-Left Committee for their evaluation8221;.

They were also of the view that the documents should be made available to a set of independent national experts who have so far not been part of the government8217;s negotiations with the IAEA.

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The scientists apprehended that once the deal was in place, India8217;s commercial nuclear interactions with the US as well as with any other country would be firmly controlled from Washington via the stipulations of the Hyde Act, 2006, enforced through the stranglehold which the US retains on the Nuclear Suppliers Group NSG.

8220;Any argument to the effect that the deal will be governed only by the bilateral 123 agreement is untenable, because this agreement in turn is anchored in US domestic laws, which include the Hyde Act,8221; they said.

Noting that power would come at a much higher cost, they wondered whether India needed 8220;this mythical extra energy security8221; through this deal with the additional burden of subjugating the freedom to pursue a foreign policy and indigenous nuclear R and D programme on its own.