US-INDIA-NUCLEAR 2

It is understood that Obama Administration had written
a letter to the Manmohan Singh Government in February; around
the same time when the then Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv
Shankar Menon wrote to Under Secretary for Political Affairs
William Burns, invoking the provisions of the 123 agreement
with a formal request to negotiate the "arrangements and
procedures" under which American spent fuel would be
reprocessed in India.

Such a letter from Obama Administration is believed to
have taken the Indian officials by surprise, who then argued
the necessity of another document from India in which it would
give assurance to the US that technology transfer and
technical assistance to India by the US companies under the
123 agreement would meet its nuclear non-proliferation
standards.
"The first response from India was assurances! What
assurances? We gave them to you. Do not ask us for any more,"
a source familiar with the development told PTI.
It was only in July when Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton went to India that the issue came up in a big way at a
senior level.
As a result, the issue since then is being discussed
by the same team from both the sides, who are holding
negotiations on reprocessing the nuclear spent fuel by India
as per the provisions of the 123 agreement. MORE PTI LKJ
ANU


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