G8 blocks ‘full’ nuclear trade with India

Less than a year after the Nuclear Suppliers Group waived its export
rules to allow the sale of nuclear equipment, fuel and technology to
India, the United States has persuaded the G8 to ban the transfer of
enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) items to countries which have not
signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, including India. The
move, which effectively negates the promise of "full" civil nuclear
cooperation lying at the heart of the 2005 India-U.S. nuclear
agreement, took the Indian establishment by surprise with officials
unaware that the G8 was even adopting such a measure at L'Aquila,
Italy. That this was done at a summit in which Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh was an invited guest is likely to add insult to injury when the
full implications of the latest decision fully sink in. The ban,
buried deep within a separate G8 statement on non-proliferation,
commits the eight countries to implement on a "national basis" the
"useful and constructive proposals" on ways of strengthening controls
on ENR items and technology "contained in the NSG's 'clean text'
developed at the 20 November 2008 Consultative Group meeting."
Minimum criteria
Though the "clean text" is not a public document, a senior diplomat
from a G8 country confirmed to The Hindu that the eight countries had
agreed to certain minimum criteria — including adherence to the main
instruments of nonproliferation — as a condition for the sale of
equipment and technology destined for safeguarded ENR activities in a
recipient country. In the run-up to the final NSG plenary on India
last September, Washington sought to get New Delhi to agree that the
nuclear cartel's rule waiver would not cover ENR transfers. But with
the Indian side sticking to its guns, the NSG finally agreed to a
clean exemption allowing nuclear exports of all kinds, including
sensitive fuel-cycle-related items and technologies, provided they
were under safeguards. Under pressure from the Bush administration,
the NSG subsequently debated new ENR rules last November but failed to
evolve a consensus because of opposition from countries like Brazil,
Canada and Spain to restrictions that would go beyond what the NPT
itself provided for. With consensus proving elusive during the recent
June meeting of the 45-nation club, the Obama administration decided
to decouple the question of ENR sales to India from the NSG process —
something the latest G8 agreement on interim implementation of a
national-level ban effectively does. India's ability to purchase
nuclear fuel and reactors from the G8 or NSG countries will be
unaffected by the latest ban. Unless, of course, the new decision
becomes the trigger for attempts to further dilute or qualify the core
bargain contained in the 'India exception' last year.

The Hindu, July 11