Much debate has been triggered by the Indo-US nuclear agreement, mainly in the US Congress. The questions raised are whether US is compromising its non-proliferation policy? Is this agreement damaging the Non Proliferation Treaty? Is India gaining too much with little or no advantage to the US? Will the deal be fully implemented?

Non-proliferation has been the hallmark of US foreign policy. During the Cold War, the US was aware that Pakistan was developing nuclear weapons, but decided not to act despite having the Pressler Amendment in place since 1985. It was only in 1990, after the Cold War ended that the US acted on the Pressler Amendment to pursue its non-proliferation goals. The US supplied new nuclear reactors to North Korea under an 'agreed framework' after talks between North and South Korea stalled, and it was discovered that North Korea had a functioning reprocessing plant. Russia had complained about the benefits conferred by the US on a non-compliant North Korea. The US also helped Japan to establish plutonium reprocessing and uranium enrichment facilities which can be used to manufacture nuclear weapons. Was this not a violation of US nuclear policy? Undoubtedly, the US has discovered circumstances where its non-proliferation policy took a back seat to pursue its own strategic needs. The Indo-US agreement is therefore not unique.

The US long term strategic goal has informed this nuclear agreement. India has 31 per cent of the world's known deposits of thorium and 0.8 per cent of uranium deposits. It is emerging as a leader in the development of reactor and associated fuel technologies. With a well crafted nuclear programme, India could use its meager uranium resources to harness the energy contained in non-fissile thorium, which India possesses in abundance. As a first step, indigenous uranium can be used in Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) to produce energy but also fissile plutonium. By reprocessing the spent nuclear fuel and using the recovered plutonium in Fast Breeder Reactors in the second stage, the non-fissile depleted uranium and thorium can breed additional fissile nuclear fuel, viz. plutonium and uranium-233. In the third stage, thorium and uranium-233 based nuclear reactors could meet India's long-term energy requirements. This implies that India could use its vast thorium reserves to produce nuclear energy and build nuclear weapons and, at the same time, continue to import uranium for peaceful purposes.

But with this nuclear agreement India will be adhering by IAEA safeguards and additional protocols. This will regulate the Indian nuclear programme and provide greater transparency by opening it to international inspection. India's nuclear fissile material will be accounted for and with strict domestic export laws in place; it would meet the prohibitions of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and satisfy the requirements of US non-proliferation policy.

With an economic growth rate of over 7 per cent, India is emerging as a major power possessing conventional and nuclear military power. To sustain its growing economy India needs energy. It could seek other energy options, which include Iran, other West Asian countries, or look to France, Germany and Russia for nuclear reactors. With this agreement in place, India's choices would get restricted to the US. This would tilt its trade in favour of the US and its companies will get preferential treatment in building civil power infrastructure or supplying India with nuclear reactors. This again will serve the interests of the US economy!

In return, the US would also expect and perhaps insist on getting Indian support on the Iran issue in the IAEA and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), if the case is referred to it. Besides, China and the US are not currently involved in any strategic competition but this cannot be predicted in future. Good relations with India will be useful to the US, if the need arises. Also, US policy makers cannot ignore the dangers of terrorism and proliferation emanating from Pakistan. India is bound by geography to Pakistan, but has never joined the US military in operations outside a United Nations mandate and command. With the US military thinning its presence the world over, it needs partners in peacekeeping and stability operations. This is the long-term benefit, which the US will derive from a larger defence agreement with India, of which civil nuclear energy cooperation is a part. With so many benefits for the US, this agreement on civil nuclear energy has every chance of being implemented.