NEW DELHI, Feb 27: India’s nuclear energy talks with the United States will not compromise New Delhi’s nuclear doctrine, which mandates an ability to inflict unacceptable damage on an adversary indulging in a nuclear first strike, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said on Monday .
Dr Singh was making a suo moto statement in parliament to allay opposition fears that a nuclear separation plan to sift the civilian from the military facilities as part of the agreement with the United States would harm India’s strategic capability.
He said the contours of the separation plan “have taken into account our current and future strategic needs and programmes after careful deliberation of all relevant factors, consistent with our nuclear doctrine. We are among very few countries to adhere to the doctrine of ‘No first use’.”
“Our doctrine envisions a credible minimum nuclear deterrent to inflict unacceptable damage on an adversary indulging in a nuclear first strike. The facilities for this, and the required level of comfort in terms of our strategic resilience have thus been our criterion in drawing up a separation plan,” Dr Singh said.
“Ours is a sacred trust to protect succeeding generations from a nuclear threat and we shall uphold this trust” and as such “in preparing a separation plan, there has been no erosion of the integrity of our Nuclear Doctrine, either in terms of current or future capabilities.”
“Nuclear technology provides a plentiful and non-polluting source of power to meet our energy needs. However, to increase the share of nuclear power in our energy mix, we need to break out of the confines imposed by inadequate reserves of natural uranium, and by international embargos that have constrained our nuclear programme for over three decades,” he said.
India is engaged in mastering a three-stage nuclear programme using its vast thorium resources, and mastering more complex processes of the full nuclear fuel cycle. “Consequently, our civilian and strategic programmes are deeply intertwined across the expanse of the nuclear fuel cycle,” he said.
In his July 18 agreement with US President George W. Bush last year, there was a positive mention of possible fuel supply to the first two nuclear power reactors at Tarapur.
“US support was also indicated for India’s inclusion as a full partner in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Research Project and the Generation IV International Forum,” he said.
