When India conducted Pokhran II under the NDA regime, the US reacted by constituting the Nuclear Supply Group (NSG) which presently has 45 countries as its members. For countries to engage in nuclear transactions globally, it needed a NSG waiver. Because India did not have a NSG waiver, our nuclear program in this country began to hurt. Uranium supplies, spares etc dried up and consequently nuclear power generation capacity are operating at less than 50%. This means that the thousands of crores invested by the country is not providing full value in returns. The US is the most influential member of the NSG. Without US support, no waiver is possible. So the necessity of first striking a deal with the US, which even the Chinese have entered into.
Once we secure NSG waiver, it does not bind us to nuclear trade with only the US. We are at liberty to trade with anyone we like. It also does not imply that trade would be a one-way street, India reduced to being a net importer. India's fast breeder reactors are cutting edge, generations ahead of even the US. We have the largest reserves of thorium in the world. Thorium cannot be directly used as a nuclear fuel. It needs to be processed into uranium. And this uranium is one of the highest quality in the world. However the glitch is that it will take at least another 10 years for our fast breeders to come on stream. So we need a short-strategy to plug our energy needs and this is where the deal finds a fit.
