Page 375 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition
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reactors to India unless and until India caps third party liabilities or
establishes a credible liability pool to protect US firms from being sued in
case of an accident or a terrorist act of sabotage against nuclear plants.
Although India’s Parliament passed the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages
bill on 25 August 2010, the legislation does not meet international standards
for nuclear liability as set forth in the Convention on Supplementary
Compensation for Nuclear Damage, because it allows the operator to sue the
supplier in case of an accident due to technical defects in the plant. After the
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, issues relating to the safety
of operating nuclear power plants, compensation in the event of a radiation
leak accident, disaster clean-up costs, operator responsibility and supplier
liability have once again come into the spotlight.
Strategic Ties
Since the end of the Cold War, the Pentagon, along with certain US
ambassadors such as Robert Blackwill, has requested increased strategic ties
with India and a de-hyphenisation of Pakistan with India, that is, having
separate policies toward India and Pakistan rather than just an “India-
Pakistan” policy. The United States also sees India as a viable counterweight
to the growing influence of China, and a potential client and job creator.
While India is self-sufficient in thorium, possessing 25% of the world’s
known and economically viable thorium, it possesses a meagre 1% of the
similarly calculated global uranium reserves. Indian support for cooperation
with the US centres around the issue of obtaining a steady supply of
sufficient energy for the economy to grow. Indian opposition to the pact
centres around the concessions that would need to be made, as well as the
likely de-prioritisation of research into a thorium fuel cycle if uranium
becomes highly available, given the well-understood utilisation of uranium in
a nuclear fuel cycle.
Passing of the Agreement
