Us Holds Fire

WASHINGTON'S reaction to New Delhi buying two light water nuclear reactors from Moscow was surprisingly muted. A spokesman from the State Department's South Asia Bureau, when pressed for comments, was cryptic: "We believe Russia should limit sales of nuclear reactors to countries with full-scope safeguards as it agreed to do when it joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group." The spokesman would not say whether the issue cropped up during the recent Yeltsin-Clinton summit. "It might have, I have no idea specifically if it did," he said.

Asked why the US reaction was so low-key, given that both India and Russia have been threatened with sanctions in the past, he said: "Our discussions on this issue are only with the Russians." Paul Kreisberg, a nuclear expert with the Woodrow Wilson School, Washington, said: "If the reaction is muted, that's the right reaction. I'm absolutely delighted. My reaction is a shrug of the shoulders."

Kreisberg added: "It is debatable whether using nuclear power is the right way to go. In my view it is a lot cheaper, a lot more efficient, and a lot more environmentally safe to go for gas or oil or naphtha or coal. However, if that is the way India wants to go, I have no major problem as long as full-scope safeguards are in place."

바카라 웹사이트A diplomatic observer from the Russian Embassy in Washington expressed surprise over US objections to the sale. He said: "The two nuclear power reactors would be under strict control of the International Atomic Energy Agency. So why should the US have any concern?" Asked whether the US was pressuring Russia against the sale, the source declared firmly: "The issue of construction of nuclear power plants is a bilateral matter between New Delhi and Moscow. I do not believe that any third country could have a role to play in this."