Nuclear

Under the November 2010 statement issued by India and the United States, India is committed to take only one step: harmonizing its export controls with those of all the four multilateral export controls regimes.

This Brief elaborates the principles that need to be followed to evolve a criteria-based approach to enable India to join the NSG as a full member and contribute materially and substantially to a future non-proliferation regime that will be acceptable to the international community as a whole.

The increasing debate after the Fukushima crisis has undermined the recent renaissance of nuclear power and is likely to usher in greater regulation and stringent safety measures, making alternative sources of energy cheaper and therefore more appealing.

To resolve the challenge posed by the NPT criteria, the best solution would be to amend the NPT and accommodate India as a nuclear weapon state.

The battle of numbers and figures between supporters and opponents of nuclear energy has not only been a major obstacle to a better debate about the pros and cons of nuclear energy, but it has also prevented the development of better contingency plans after Chernobyl.

After the threat level for the Fukushima plant was raised from 5 to 7, Japan’s claims about the situation getting stabilised are being received with a degree of scepticism.

Since there is no evidence to suggest that the expansion of Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile has degraded India’s retaliatory capability, India should retain its no-first-use doctrine.

Japan’s tryst with the atom, from Hiroshima to Fukushima, has been ruinous in both its avatars - its use in weapons and in energy.

Even as Japan has become increasingly reliant on nuclear energy, its nuclear safety record has not been very satisfactory.

The possibility of situation worsening can not be ruled out. However, it would be counter-productive to create panic by speculating only worst case scenario.