By IANS
New Delhi/Mumbai : India will hold the fourth round of talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna Wednesday that is expected to wrap up a New Delhi-specific safeguards pact, a key step towards operationalising its nuclear deal with the US.
In Mumbai, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar chose to play safe, saying that he would not like to predict when the agreed text of the safeguards agreement will be finalised and readied for approval by the 35-member IAEA board of governors.
“It is a detailed technical exercise and no template exists for it… I would not like to predict on it,” Kakodkar told reporters Tuesday.
“The talks will begin tomorrow. We can’t say for sure if it will be the final round. We are trying our best to wrap up the safeguards pact,” a source in the department of atomic energy said.
Given the uniqueness and intricacy of the India-specific safeguards pact that has to acknowledge New Delhi’s separation of its civilian and military nuclear facilities, the two sides will try to close the gap on lingering issues like uninterrupted fuel supply for the lifetime of 14 civilian nuclear reactors India proposes to place under international safeguards.
The India-specific safeguards pact is expected to incorporate fuel supply guarantee, New Delhi’s right to build a strategic fuel reserve for the lifetime of its safeguarded nuclear reactors and the right to reprocess spent fuel under a specially-built facility which will be placed under safeguards.
In particular, the technical teams of the two sides will try to resolve the issue of the quantum of fuel that India would need for the lifetime of the safeguarded nuclear reactors and corrective measures it can take in case of the interruption of supply.
The fourth round is expected to finalise the safeguards pact. Last week, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said India hoped to wrap up a safeguards pact with the IAEA at the fourth round.
With China Monday agreeing to promote civilian nuclear cooperation with India, indicating it will not stand in the way of India in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, India can expect a smooth sailing in the 45-member NSG after concluding the safeguards pact with the IAEA.
But before the NSG members subject India’s safeguards pact to scrutiny, the Indian government has to reckon with the compulsions of coalition politics as its Left allies have to first approve the draft IAEA pact before it is passed by the IAEA board.
The IAEA pact and a change in guidelines by the NSG allowing India to engage in civilian nuclear commerce are the two key steps required to operationalise the Indo-US civil nuclear deal which will enable India to import civil nuclear reactors and fuel from the NSG countries after a gap of three decades.
India is seeking a clean, unconditional exemption from the NSG.