Mr. Govindan: You raise good points; some of them are within the purview of the 123 and subsequent agreements and others are different debates. We have to first understand where India is today. By signing the agreement would India be worse off, same as before, or better. Banning reprocessing of imported uranium does not put India any worse than where we are today. In fact more plants India separates from military use and makes them totally civilian use and puts them under IAEA agreement, more India can import for these plants thus freeing India’s present resources for military program and FBTR. India does not have to build any more plants; all it has to do is manage its present resources for military use without worrying about the plants already built ONLY for electricity using the same resources. US & Russia supplying to help start our breeders, economic viability of nuclear reactors for electricity, and safe use of nuclear plants, handling of nuclear waste are all different topic of debate and do not put India any worse off than where it is today. Once US Congress passes the 123 Agreement, its own Hyde Act gets superseded. Furthermore internal acts are not binding on a foreign country. India has to look at 123 Agreement and it has nothing against India’s interest. If anything IAEA agreement should be of some concern, mainly CLAUSE 10 and I have mentioned this fact in other forums on rediff.
