U.S.-India Nuclear Agreement
President George Bush signed into law the U.S.-India Agreement for Cooperation Concerning Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy.
Trade of nuclear fuel technology will be governed by International Atomic Energy Safeguards, which will be applied to more than 65 percent of India's nuclear power reactors by 2014. The agreement will promote America’s growing partnership with India, the world’s largest democracy and a rising economic power. In turn, the nuclear accord will help India’s population of more than one billion to meet its rapidly increasing energy needs in an environmentally responsible way. India currently imports about seventy-five percent of its oil, and nuclear power only provides a fraction of India's energy needs. Even a modest increase in India's nuclear capacity could help reduce emissions due to burning fossil fuels. Currently, India’s civilian nuclear reactors operate below capacity because of a shortage of uranium. With the new agreement, India can access the international market for nuclear fuel, equipment, and technology, so that it can build more reactors and operate existing ones more effectively to meet its growing demand for energy. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has argued that nuclear cooperation with the United States will help bring about the economic growth necessary to lift its citizens out of poverty. Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said India now looks to the United States as its largest trading partner and largest source of investment. “Whether it is energy, anti-terrorist steps, trade or high technology,” said Mr. Mukherjee, “India’s quest to build a knowledge society leads us to work very closely with the [United States].”