A year ago, the Bush Administration negotiated an agreement with India that would allow expanded trade in nuclear fuel and technology. On September 6, the international Nuclear Suppliers Group caved under U.S. pressure and approved this dangerous deal. Just this Saturday, the House of Representatives approved it. It's up to us to stop it! The Bush administration is trying to push approval of this complex and important matter through Congress in the few days left before its session ends. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party Congressional leadership seems inclined to rubber stamp the deal, despite the lack of time for study or debate in the closing days of a session dominated by a financial crisis of historic proportions. Call your Senators today!Tell them to stop the U.S.-India Nuclear Deal and to work instead for the global elimination of nulcear weapons and for safe, renewable energy alternatives.
Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
Background:
This deal would allow India to expand its nuclear arsenal more easily by using scarce domestic uranium for weapons production while buying fuel for its power reactors on the international market. It will also undermine an already shaky Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) regime by giving a country that developed nuclear weapons outside the Treaty the benefits of international nuclear trade. In general, the deal reinforces the legitimacy of nuclear weapons and weakens global rule of law, as the United States, the world's leading military power and a country that ignores its own NPT obligations to negotiate for the elimination of its nuclear arsenal, also claims the right to choose which countries are sufficiently "responsible" to have both nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
In addition, the U.S.? India nuclear deal is an effort by elites in both countries to bolster nuclear energy programs that long have been unable to fulfill the promises made by their advocates of cheap, reliable nuclear-generated electricity. The risks posed by nuclear accidents and long-term storage of highly radioactive spent fuel remain unsolved. Expanded energy production and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions can be accomplished more flexibly and in a way that serves a broader spectrum of India's population via the development of a variety of decentralized renewable energy technologies. Trade and investment in such technologies also would benefit the United States, helping to accelerate the development and use of renewable energy here as well. For more information on the U.S.-India nuclear deal and the broader context energy and security context, see Rushing into the Wrong Future: The U.S.-India Nuclear Deal, Energy and Security, by Andrew Lichterman of the Western States Legal Foundation, Oakland, California, and M.V. Ramana of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Environment and Development, Bangalore, India.
For more detail on the nuclear weapons proliferation impacts of the agreement, see the Arms Control Association resources at www.armscontrol.org/node/3350
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