Satellite images from March 3 show that India is taking steps to enlarge a military nuclear site used for uranium enrichment, according to the Institute for Science and International Security (see GSN, Aug. 11, 2009).
There now appears to be preliminary excavation and construction of one or more new buildings at the Rare Materials Plant.
The think tank determined in 2006 that New Delhi was preparing to supplement the site with 3,000 gas centrifuges. If the work detected in March is paving the way for for an additional centrifuge facility, the South Asian nation's ability to enrich uranium at the site would be significantly increased (Paul Brannan, Institute for Science and International Security, June 2).
Meanwhile, Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna sought to assure Washington yesterday that New Delhi remained resolved to seeing a landmark 2008 bilateral nuclear trade deal put into effect, Reuters reported (see GSN, June 2).
Krishna said his government was moving forward on securing parliamentary passage of legislation that would limit the financial liability of foreign nuclear firms in the event of an atomic power plant accident in India. The bill is considered the last significant obstacle to implementing the deal that would give the Asian state access to U.S. nuclear material and technology.
"We are well within the agreed time lines. Of course the government is committed to put in place a nuclear liability regime. We will move forward," Krishna said in Washington.
He was set to hold high-level strategic talks today with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The liability bill is expected to figure prominently during talks this week between Indian and U.S. officials.
Political opponents have accused the ruling government in New Delhi of ceding too much ground to the United States at the risk of leaving potential Indian victims of a nuclear disaster unable to secure adequate financial compensation (Andrew Quinn, Reuters, June 2).
source: www.globalsecuritynewswire.org
