India's Nuclear Agreement

[Rohit]

I agree.

It would be very interesting, if India also manages to project Taiwan or some other country as a counterweight.

But unfortunately, these countries are too small and relatively easy to handle militarily.

However, India should go ahead with this option, that would send a strong signal to China.

Before china tries to project its image as superpower, it has to make sure it looks much more powerful than India. Otherwise, it can never equal the hyper power status of US.

 

[Spring Onion]

US prepares to clear last n-deal hurdle - Congressional nod

Arun Kumar, Indo-Asian News Service
Washington, September 07, 2008
First Published: 09:07 IST(7/9/2008)
Last Updated: 09:19 IST(7/9/2008)

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With the nuclear suppliers Group (NSG) giving India a waiver, the US is preparing for one more push to clear the last hurdle for their historic civil nuclear deal - final approval by the Congress.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said she would speak in coming days with the leaders of the relevant congressional committees to push for the deal's approval by the legislature before it adjourns for the year September 26 to campaign for November elections.

"The Congressional calendar is short. The main thing is that the international work is now done," Rice said. "I certainly hope we can get it through," she told reporters travelling with her on a tour of North African countries on Saturday.

"It's a really very big step forward for the non-proliferation framework," she said, adding "It'd be a huge step for the US-India relationship," Rice was quoted as saying. "It's no secret that India has been outside the non-proliferation regime for the entire history of its programme."

The top US diplomat said she had made "a lot of calls" to foreign officials to help win NSG approval. President George Bush, who looks at the India deal as a "historic achievement" of his foreign policy, too is reported to have spoken to leaders of some hold out NSG members.

"We understand that time is very short," Rice was quoted as saying. "We will just have to see whether it is possible for Congress."

"In any case we will have left a very good package and I hope it would be taken up (by the next US administration)," she said.

Both the presidential candidates, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, are supportive of the deal. Though Obama had moved a "killer amendment" when Hyde Act was taken up, he is now on record as saying if elected he would not seek any changes in the India deal.

Under the enabling US law, the Hyde Act, Congress must be in session a full 30 days to consider the nuclear deal. But the White House would have to work with lawmakers to waive this provision and expedite a vote.

Of the two legislative chambers, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joe Biden, who is now Obama's running mate, has vowed to push the nuclear deal in the Congress "like the devil" if New Delhi gets its end done."

Biden, who as then ranking member of the Republican controlled panel, played a key role in getting the Hyde Act passed in a lame duck session in December 2006, is again expected to get into the act to see the deal through in the narrow time window available despite his own preoccupations as a vice presidential candidate.

US prepares to clear last n-deal hurdle - Congressional nod- Hindustan Times

 

[Rohit]

Nuclear deal is a recognition of India's impeccable non-proliferation record.

 

[nitesh]

Pariah to power, India joins the big league- Hindustan Times

That the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) waiver means access to technology and reactors is known. Less understood is how breaking into the nuclear club has enhanced India’s great power aspirations.

"This is like a liberation. Globally, the deal frees India to operate and act more on her own," says Arundhati Ghose, the Indian diplomat who led the battle against the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

The speed of India’s nuclear transformation is stunning. India was in the nuclear doghouse after Pokhran II. Today it’s one of six nations that can buy nuclear merchandise and retain a nuclear arsenal.

As Bruce Riedel, Barack Obama’s advisor on South Asia, summarised, "India has moved from nuclear pariah to a member of the club in just 10 years."

One senior Indian diplomat says just the build-up to deal has led to a sea change in Arab and Asian views on India. "No other country in the world could have qualified for such exceptional treatment," says Ashley Wills of Washington lobby firm WilmerHale.

There are many reasons: India’s democracy, its non-proliferation record, its indigenous nuclear programme. But also, says Wills, "because it is widely felt India is on the way to being a great power."

Behind the gains in status is the more hard-nosed issue of technology — the ultimate index of global power. “India has now been admitted into a hexagon of 21st century power,” says C Uday Bhaskar, former director, Institute for Defence and Strategic Analysis.

India’s ability to build tech bridges to the rest of the world is now infinite. It can now "establish technology-embedded partnerships with key players in the international system… and, pave the way to gain a seat at the decision-making tables of key global economic and security institutions,” says Anupam Srivatasava, a nuclear expert at the University of Georgia.

Ashok Mago, one of the Indian-Americans who pushed through the Hyde Act agrees. “India will be able to create partnerships with the US and other NSG nations and expand its sphere of influence."

Almost all find the BJP’s opposition curious. Riedel notes it was Jaswant Singh who had first predicted that India would make the transition from ‘nuclear pariah to nuclear power’ in a decade.

 

[nitesh]

he he he the money started talking now

N-Deal: India Inc sees $40 bn foreign investment


NEW DELHI: As many as 400 Indian and foreign firms are seen as the beneficiaries of the far-reaching verdict in Vienna on Saturday where the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) decided to resume civilian nuclear commerce with India.

India's apex industry bodies, which have hailed the decision, also feel that the country can now attract over $40 billion in foreign investment over the next 10-15 years as the result of private sector entry into India's nuclear power generation.

"The go-ahead to the nuclear deal will signal the building of scores of nuclear plants in India on assured fuel supply," said Amit Mitra, the secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).

"This will trigger the participation of 200 firms with capabilities to operate, and maintain nuclear plants, but put on the Entities List by the US in 2005 for perceived possession of technologies for nuclear plants or dual-use technology."

That list has since been pruned to about four, giving the 200-odd companies full play in nuclear power production.

"We expect another 200 medium and small firms to get into the act as ancillary producers to the big companies, thereby giving a new direction to efficient and cheaper power production in the country," Mitra added.

The NSG's decision to grant India a clean waiver from its existing rules, which forbid nuclear commerce with any country, which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), came at its meeting in Vienna on Saturday afternoon.

The historic moment, which will end more than three decades of nuclear isolation for India, came after three days of intense diplomacy by the US and India in the nuclear cartel that controls the global flow of nuclear fuel and technologies.

"Today's development is a major confidence-building move for the international community to engage with India especially in high technology trade," said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

"It will provide opportunity for Indian manufacturers to supply spares and components to the global manufacturers of nuclear power plants besides providing business opportunities for Indian power plant construction companies."

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) that had conducted a survey among 300 chief executives recently also says that 400 firms, domestic and international, may get a chance to build nuclear power plants.

An overwhelming 85 percent of the 300 chief executives polled held the view that modifications to India's Atomic Energy Act of 1962 could help the country to generate some 20,000 MWe (unit of nuclear power) by 2020.

The modification, which the chamber suggested should be immediate by way of a presidential notification, is necessary to facilitate the entry of the private sector in nuclear power generation. The act and the decades of India's nuclear isolation had resulted in capping the country's nuclear power generation capacities to an extent of just 3,900 MWe in over 60 years of independence.

As a result, out of a total installed generation capacity of about 145,000 MW of electricity, 70 is accounted for through thermal fuel and 20 percent by hydro, with nuclear energy contributing to just two percent. The remaining capacities come by tapping the various sources of non-conventional energy such as solar, wind, biomass and tidal waves.

Following the NSG waiver, the India-US nuclear deal will head for the US Congress, which meets Sep 8 to discuss and approve the 123 India-US bilateral pact to seal the negotiations that were started more than three years ago.

The two countries are expected to formally sign the bilateral agreement when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh goes to Washington towards the end of September, eventually restoring nuclear trade with the US after a gap of 34 years. The US and the rest of the world imposed economic sanctions when India first conducted its nuclear test in 1974.


N-Deal: India Inc sees $40 bn foreign investment- Corporate Trends-News By Company-News-The Economic Times

 

[nitesh]

Check this quite good one giving a view on the economic activity that is going to come

The Hindu Business Line : India hopes to leverage edge in reactors, thorium technology

India hopes to leverage edge in reactors, thorium technology
Anil Sasi

New Delhi, Sept. 6 India’s entry into the global civilian nuclear fraternity is unlikely to be just a one-way street in terms of technology flows and business opportunities. India, which has established global leadership in research involving Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR), Fast Breeder Reactors and thorium cycle, hopes to leverage its edge in these niche areas on a commercial basis globally.

The statement of the External Affairs Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, on Friday clearly stated India’s intentions to leverage the opportunity, with the country “interested in participating as a supplier nation, particularly for thorium-based fuel and in establishment of international fuel banks, which also benefit India.”

Besides, India is exploring the possibility of exporting indigenous 220-MWe reactor to developing nations eyeing nuclear power generation but constrained by small-sized electricity grids, as well as capitalising on growing opportunities for heavy water exports out of India.

Also, the interest shown by the French and US firms for industrial cooperation in the manufacture of Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) equipment as well as deployment of thorium technology is likely to be taken forward.

According to Government officials, discussions have already been initiated with French firms for industrial cooperation in the manufacture of PWR equipment in India.

This is envisaged as an important element in enhancing the competitiveness of French reactors worldwide. Besides, companies such as US-based Thorium Power are eyeing India’s R&D edge in the area of thorium research.

“We have been involved in India for many years and are looking at partnering strategies in both the government and private sectors, which will enable us to pursue a number of licensing opportunities… Should the India-US deal be completed, it will also enable us to generate licence-driven revenue within India as well as from international nuclear vendors,” Thorium Power’s President and CEO, Mr Seth Grae, told Business Line in a recent interview.

The Indo-US deal could clear the decks for India to enter the global nuclear trade, following which the export of indigenous reactors and services could be viewed as a viable commercial proposition, an official said. Several Asean countries have been eyeing the nuclear option, with Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand among those that have announced plans to tap nuclear energy.

Globally, the major developers of nuclear reactors in the EU and North America have moved on to larger reactor sizes of 700 MWe or 1,000 MWe and above.

India stands out in having an active nuclear power programme using 220 MWe reactors, with 12 such reactors currently in operation and another three under construction.

India is also likely to play a role in international fuel bank initiatives, starting with Russia’s offer to India to invest in its upcoming international uranium enrichment centre at Angarsk, Siberia, in lieu of paying for nuclear fuel to be supplied to the Koodankulam nuclear station, which is being built with Russian assistance.

Russia has committed to refuel the Koodankulam station throughout its service. The project’s first unit, being built in collaboration with Russian firm Atomstroyexport, is likely to be commissioned in the second half of 2008, the second one in 2009.

The Angarsk International Uranium Enrichment Centre is being set up by Russia for supply of uranium to countries with nuclear energy programmes under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. Russia is establishing the project in collaboration with countries such as Kazakhstan under the supervision of the nuclear watchdog at the Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Plant in Eastern Siberia.

 

[Spring Onion]

NSG waiver: India issues demarche to China

Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, September 07, 2008
First Published: 19:13 IST(7/9/2008)
Last Updated: 20:20 IST(7/9/2008)

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In the midst of the tense negotiations at Vienna where China created problems in the waiver in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), India had conveyed its unhappiness to Beijing through a demarche.

Informed sources said that India made known its disappointment to China which had joined hold-out countries -- Austria, New Zealand, Ireland and Switzerland -- who wanted their concerns to be reflected in the waiver.

India got the waiver after a consensus among NSG members at the end of five rounds of negotiations and a statement by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee re-affirming India's strong commitment to non-proliferation goals.

Mukherjee had also assured the global community that India remained committed to a voluntary, unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing.
The tough negotiations at Vienna went down to the wire after China, which had sounded positive in the run-up to the NSG meeting, took a different line creating problems for a consensus on the waiver.

The Chinese team finally veered around after US President George W Bush spoke to his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao.

This issue is expected to come up during talks Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi will have on Monday with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Yang will also call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

India, which was surprised by China's stand on the Indo-US nuclear deal at the NSG meeting and will convey its disappointment to the visiting Chinese Foreign Minister.

National Security Adviser (NSA) MK Narayanan had said India was surprised by China's stand on the Indo-US nuclear deal at the NSG meeting.

NSG waiver: India issues demarche to China- Hindustan Times

 

[Spring Onion]

Pranab dodges question on China's role in NSG

Indo-Asian News Service
Kolkata, September 07, 2008
First Published: 19:15 IST(7/9/2008)
Last Updated: 19:20 IST(7/9/2008)

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External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday skirted a query on China's role during the Nuclear Supplies Group (NSG) meeting in Vienna where the 45-nation organisation agreed by consensus to alter its guidelines for India, ending the country's 34-year-old nuclear isolation.

"I would not like to comment on what role was played by which country. This is their internal matter. Every country has its right to express its own sovereign will," Mukherjee said when asked why China's name did not figure in the list of permanent members of the United Nations Security Council India thanked after the momentous development. There were reports that China had attempted to block a consensus on the India waiver.

Mukherjee welcomed Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who would be on a three-day visit to India from Sunday evening.

"So far as Yang's visit to India is concerned, he is our distinguished guest. I welcome him. I understand he would be in Kolkata this evening. Tomorrow (Monday) I will have formal discussions with him," he said.

Yang was scheduled to inaugurate China's consulate general building in Kolkata Sunday evening, after meeting West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

Pranab dodges question on China's role in NSG- Hindustan Times

 

[Goodperson]

India got NSG waiver despite Chinese Objections this speaks a lot, China be prepared to loose new projects in India.

 

[Spring Onion]

India got NSG waiver despite Chinese Objections this speaks a lot, China be prepared to loose new projects in India.

China was not the only one opposing it so what about Austria, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and others who strongly opposed the deal at NSG.

Should we hope that India will be having guts to ask all of these be prepared to loose new projects in India????

 

[Goodperson]

China was not the only one opposing it so what about Austria, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and others who strongly opposed the deal at NSG.

Should we hope that India will be having guts to ask all of these be prepared to loose new projects in India????

Nope that privilege is reserved for China.

 

[Spring Onion]

Nope that privilege is reserved for China.

lolz so you think the Chines projects in India only benfits China ???

 

[Goodperson]

lolz so you think the Chines projects in India only benfits China ???

China also gets benefited when it makes investments as no charity is involved here, anyhow does not matter much as Chinese turned around after US President George W Bush spoke to his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao at Vienna.

India is happy with outcome, Most of the deals wrt Nuclear power plants will go to the one who matter so obviously its not Chinese. There is already talk of over $40 billion so big deal.

 

[gpit]

India got NSG waiver despite Chinese Objections this speaks a lot, China be prepared to loose new projects in India.

If you understand the essence of business, it is all about profit. If India opts for less profit or even for losing money, so be it.

In addition, Chinese enterprises don't have that favorable treatment in terms of visa, business conflict resolution, etc. (I recall China's Zhejiang silk import/export company lost millions of dollars in India when goods were sent but money can't be collected.) Many of them rather go to Africa, even though market in India does appear bigger...

 

[Goodperson]

If you understand the essence of business, it is all about profit. If India opts for less profit or even for losing money, so be it.

In addition, Chinese enterprises don't have that favorable treatment in terms of visa, business conflict resolution, etc. (I recall China's Zhejiang silk import/export company lost millions of dollars in India when goods were sent but money can't be collected.) Many of them rather go to Africa, even though market in India does appear bigger...

India Nuclear deal is basically deal with US for Uranium and transfer of Reprocessing technology I don't think the deal was made keeping Chinese in mind.

Change the angle of view, there will be lots of spin-offs where one can contribute and make huge $$$s.
If Chinese did not want the market by opposing the deal so be it India does respect that so where does me understanding the essence of business arise.