India retains 'sovereign right' to explode N-device

The US has said India retains the "sovereign right" to explode a nuclear device but hoped that such a situation will not arise.

"India retains its sovereign rights, but the US retains its legal rights as well," US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns told a group of journalists here yesterday when asked whether New Delhi has the right to test.

Noting that the agreement has taken into account the "worst case" scenario, he said "but we hope very much that it (right of return of nuclear fuel and technology) won't be necessary because we hope that conditions that prompt" it "will not materialise".

Burns suggested that New Delhi may not explode an atomic device as "advanced nuclear powers" like the US and UK "largely do not test nuclear weapons" in the modern world.

He said the US preserved the "legal right" to recall fuel and technology but that would be the "choice" of the President of the day and "not automatic".

"If you look ahead and you try to envision what would constitute a discontinuity of supply, how would that happen. There are four or five or six ways that could happen and only one of them has to do with a nuclear test," Burns said.

"If somehow supplies for environmental reasons, for political reasons is discontinued to India, then of course India has the benefit of working with the US and other countries in construction of a strategic fuel supply reserve that could help it, if there is discontinuity," he said.

"I think there are probably more likely scenarios than the one you are asking about "" nuclear testing," Burns said, a day after the text of the 123 agreement was made public.

Noting that it was for the Indian government to decide on nuclear test, Burns said "but obviously in the modern world, the 21st century, advanced nuclear powers largely do not test nuclear weapons. The United States does not test its weapons, Britain is not testing its weapons."

Observing that India lives up to its commitments, the senior US administration official was reluctant to discuss if he visualised any problems in the future.

"It is hard to deal in hypotheticals because they are very far from the reality of the situations. The reality is that India is not in a situation where it is currently testing," he said.

But if there is a nuclear test, then American law says the President of the US would have to decide whether or not to ask for fuel and technology back, Burns said.

"We have preserved that legal right in our law. But it is a choice; it is not automatic," said Burns, who was the main negotiator of the agreement from the US side.

He hoped the situation demanding recall of fuel and technology will not arise.

Asked if the Right of Return is exercised what is it that America could ask for, he said "it is very hard to say without knowing the specifics of what happened, why it happened and how. But the legal right to do something has been protected."