Nuclear deal to be ready for investments by year-end: US

By the end of 2006, all the legal requirements to operationalise the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement will be in place and business will be free to make its investment plans, US Ambassador to India, David Mulford said here.

At a briefing after the passage of the draft Bill, called the United States-India Peace Atomic Energy Cooperation Act, in the Senate and the 'United States and India Nuclear Cooperation Promotion Act of 2006' in the House of Representatives, Mulford said the Bills were passed to enable special treatment for a single country with nuclear capability to have a nuclear agreement with the US. And this was the only such case since World War II, he added.

He explained that two versions of the manner in which India and the US ought to carry peaceful nuclear commerce were on the table, having been discussed in both the Houses.

Now, at the end of the Congress session, there would be floor action in both the Houses, likely by July 10.

This would be followed by a conference between leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate to thrash out the Bill in its final form, which would be sent to the President of the United States for his signature.

This Bill would then be followed by another bilateral legislation "" the 123 agreement "" that would operationalise trading and investment arrangements as visualised in the July 18, 2005 agreement on civil nuclear cooperation signed by President George Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Simultaneously, the Nuclear Suppliers' Group and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would discuss the US legislation and if India is successful in convincing them that not only is it not going to conduct any more tests, but also that it would not pass on nuclear technology to non-nuclear countries, the necessary legislation would be passed by these two agencies as well, enabling India to get the special treatment.

Mulford said there could be some negotiation at the conference level that could influence the final outcome of the Bill and could possibly result in dropping some restrictions on end-users.

However, Mulford said quite clearly that even a subcritical nuclear explosion (that is, laboratory experiments) made in violation of the legislation by India would void the legislation.

The two versions of the Bill are similar although the one discussed and passed by Senate is lengthier. The ambassador attributed this to the fact that while the House of Representatives comprises persons elected by districts for a two-year term, the Senate gets members elected from the states for a six-year term. These were individuals with broader policy understanding, he said.

Interestingly, in the Senate version of the Bill, there is a reference to a large number of moves by India - including whether export or re-export of nuclear fuel will improve India's ability to produce nuclear weapons or fissile material - that are subject to Presidential determination.

The Senate version of the Bill also has extensive curbs on end-user activity and subjects this to presidential monitoring. This is likely to be seriously criticsed by the BJP as curbing India's sovereignty.

Mulford also said the mention of Iran in the draft Bill passed by a Congressional panel was 'not a rider' to the civil nuclear deal.

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THE SCHEDULE
July 10 - August 2006: Conference between leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate to thrash out a final version of the Bill; Conference report sent back to the two chambers to debate final version sent to the President for signing

Autumn-Winter 2006: Second vote to amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, Section 123, on bilateral nuclear commitments between India and the US; Congress carries out an up-or-down vote, which means it cannot amend the motion, only accept or reject it. This has a time limit; IAEA and NSG reports to be scrutinised by Congress

January 2007: Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation ready for investment by business.