Paul KerrIndia and Nuclear Facilities

The section of this document excerpted below contains the details about the facilities that are to be covered under the US-India nuclear cooperation agreement.

Asked at a RANSAC hill briefing last week why the list seemed incomplete, consultant to the State Department Ashley Tellis said that Washington will have the list within a matter of days.

I feel better now. Or something.

The relevant section of the agreement follows:

4. Taking the above into account, India, on the basis of reciprocal actions by the US, will adopt the following approach:

(i) Thermal Power Reactors: India will identify and offer for safeguards 14 thermal power reactors between 2006 and 2014. This will include the 4 presently safeguarded reactors (TAPS 1&2, RAPS 1&2) and in addition KK 1&2 that are under construction. 8 other PHWRs, each of a capacity of 220 MW, will also be offered. Phasing of specific thermal power reactors, being offered for safeguards would be indicated separately by India. Such an offer would, in effect, cover 14 out of the 22 thermal power reactors in operation or currently under construction to be placed under safeguards, and would raise the total installed Thermal Power capacity by MWs under safeguards from the present 19% to 65% by 2014.

(ii) Fast Breeder Reactors: India is not in a position to accept safeguards on the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) and the Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR), both located at Kalpakkam. The Fast Breeder Programme is at the R&D stage and its technology will take time to mature and reach an advanced stage of development.

(iii) Future Reactors: India has decided to place under safeguards all future civilian thermal power reactors and civilian breeder reactors, and the Government of India retains the sole right to determine such reactors as civilian.

(iv) Research Reactors: India will permanently shut down the CIRUS reactor, in 2010. It will also be prepared to shift the fuel core of the APSARA reactor that was purchased from France outside BARC [Bhabha Atomic Research Centre] and make the fuel core available to be placed under safeguards in 2010.

(v) Upstream facilities: The following upstream facilities would be identified and separated as civilian:

List of those specific facilities in the Nuclear Fuel Complex, which will be offered for safeguards by 2008 will be indicated separately.

The Heavy Water Production plants at Thal, Tuticorin and Hazira are proposed to be designated for civilian use between 2006-2009. We do not consider these plants as relevant for safeguards purposes.

(vi) Downstream facilities: The following downstream facilities would be identified and separated as civilian:

India is willing to accept safeguards in the `campaign’ mode after 2010 in respect of the Tarapur Power Reactor Fuel Reprocessing Plant.

The Tarapur and Rajasthan `Away From Reactors’ spent fuel storage pools would be made available for safeguards with appropriate phasing between 2006-2009.

vii) Research Facilities: India will declare the following facilities as
civilian:

(a) Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

(b) Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre

(c) Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics

(d) Institute for Plasma Research

(e) Institute of Mathematics Sciences

(f) Institute of Physics

(g) Tata Memorial Centre

(h) Board of Radiation and Isotope Technology

(i) Harish Chandra Research Institute

These facilities are safeguards-irrelevant. It is our expectation that they will play a prominent role in international cooperation.

Jeffrey adds: This is the part where I gripe that I posted a link to the same document the day before. I move to Cambridge and the synergy goes to all to pieces.

Paul Replies: This is the part where I point out that the breakdown in synergy is attributable to technical, not geographic, factors. Your link was broken last night.

Comments

  1. EearlK (History)

    OK you guys, quit with the dweeb pseudo wonk fight. You knew things would change.

    On the REAL front, this is all sooooo fake. For all the twisting and turning on the part of India, it’s one part (the smaller) crude game chess in power politics, and one part (mucho bigger) sell anything to anybody enabling. Let’s just put the GE and Halliburton reps on the plane now, jeeze.

    Proud to be 110% cynical about all of this, because maybe after they are all bankrupt from chasing the nuke genie, the threat might receed a few percent.

    peace out dudes…!

  2. Maqroll (History)

    Quit arguing, guys, the more links the merrier! But I think Jeffrey’s original link [http://svarchive.blogspot.com/2006/03/implementation-of-india-united-states.html] is better because it contains two comparative tables which were obviously part of the Indian Government’s document but are not reproduced on the Indian Embassy web link which Paul has provided.

  3. gator (History)

    I hate it when Mom and Dad fight.

  4. Paul

    How insulting does anyone think “dweeb” is to people who write for an arms control blog?

  5. scribina

    If anybody is still interested in the separation plan paper with the two tables, then there is a pdf file on the website of Nuclear power corporation india limited. (www.npcil.nic.in).