'Nuke deal will help India in reducing poverty'

A FAIR DEAL: ElBaradei says the nuclear agreement with India is fair and reasonable.

      

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Vidya Shankar Aiyar: Two other issues: We are talking about corrective measures that India has agreed with the US that it can take if there’s an interruption in the supply of nuclear fuel to us once the deal comes into effect. Is that a problem for the IAEA to actually work into a safeguards agreement?

Mohammed ElBaradei: We’ll have to look into the details of whether it has to be in the safeguards agreement or bilateral agreements. As I read the 1-2-3 Agreement, there’s a lot of assurance of ‘supply built-in’ mechanism including India building a buffers stock of fuel. So there are possibilities of India building a buffer stock of fuel. Whether we can refer to it in the safeguards agreement is a question.

Vidya Shankar Aiyar: But is this unprecedented in the agreements that IAEA has on safeguards?

Mohammed ElBaradei: We usually have a safeguards agreement, we have supply-and-projects agreement, we have a tripartite agreement between the supplier, the IAEA and the recipient. So that could be another way to ensure India of an uninterrupted supply.

Vidya Shankar Aiyar: But critics have said that the best corrective measure India can take is to simply tell the IAEA that ‘your safeguards aren’t applicable anymore because our fuel supply has been interrupted.’ Would that be the right way to go forward?

Mohammed ElBaradei: I don’t think so. The right way to go forward is by building trust. The issue is not to start on the basis of distrust. The issue is to start trusting each other and build mechanism to have trust over time. That’s my personal feeling. Once the deal gets done, I don’t think any of these issues will be raised.

Vidya Shankar Aiyar: We know that nuclear energy is important in a mix of energies India must pursue. But considering India’s history in this business, the contribution of nuclear energy is just 2.6-2.7 per cent. Do you believe if this deal is through, that can really leapfrog forward, given India’s experience?

Mohammed ElBaradei: I think it needs to leapfrog if I compare with developed countries. I won’t compare it with countries where 70 to 60 per cent of energy requirement is provided for by nuclear energy. I can’t see why India with a nine per cent growth rate will do without nuclear energy being a significant part of it.

Vidya Shankar Aiyar: So can India pursue other, renewable sources of energy?