India makes veiled warning to nuclear material suppliers

The veiled threat came in a television interview broadcast Sunday, in which Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao was asked about new Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) guidelines on sensitive uranium enrichment and reprocessing technology.

The guidelines place restrictions on the sale of such technology to countries which, like nuclear-armed India, have not signed up to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

India sees the move as a challenge to the waiver from NSG rules — negotiated by the United States — that the country was granted in 2008.

Companies from France, Russia, the United States and Japan are competing for a slice of the US$175 billion India plans to spend on nuclear reactors, and Rao hinted that a willingness to provide technology transfers would be a factor in awarding contracts.

“There are leverages that we can exert from our side,” Rao said. “We have an expanding nuclear industry. This is a great attraction to the rest of the world.”

Asked if that meant India would ban reactor purchases from countries that follow the new transfer guidelines, Rao said: “We will defend our interests to the hilt.”

India's fast-growing economy is heavily dependent on coal. Less than three percent of the country's electricity comes from nuclear power, but it hopes to raise the figure to 25 percent by 2050.

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