INDIA DISMISSES AUSTRALIA’S CONCERNS OVER URANIUM DEAL

NEW DELHI: New Delhi is not giving into concerns expressed by various Australian experts this week before a joint parliamentary panel that uranium supplied from Down Under could land in India’s nuclear weapon programme.

Former Australian diplomat and chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Ronald Walker, said the pact to sell uranium to India “drastically changes the long-standing policy” on safeguards and risked playing “fast and loose” with nuclear weapons, the Guardian reported.

Walker’s concerns were shared by John Carlson, former head of the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office. The provisions meant Australian material could be used to produce unsafeguarded plutonium that ends up in India’s nuclear weapon program, he said. “This is an unfounded fear”, said a source, adding the civil nuclear reactors are under IAEA safeguards — that ensures the fuel is used for producing electricity only. “India has a sterling track record of non-proliferation. Our aim of ensuring continuous fuel supply should be seen in the right spirit”, he added.

India and Australia are now finalising the administrative arrangements for a uranium pact. Australians demanded tracking of the fuel, while Indian sources said the Tony Abbott government is committed and fully understands India’s commitment to non-proliferation and that its weapon programme is separated from the civilian energy programme. There are concerns that “India does not acknowledge a right to withhold consent to enrichment.” According to Indian sources, the deal doesn’t provide for tracking of the fuel.

However under the Australian system, the government is not bound by the Indian parliamentary joint standing committee report.

AUSTRALIAN EXPERTS ARE CONCERNED THE PACT TO SELL URANIUM TO INDIA CHANGES THE LONG-STANDING POLICY ON SAFEGUARDS