India’s Nuclear Situation: Where to?

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Notes

1. Prime Minister Desai, on taking over the leadership of the Janata government made this categorical statement on March 24, 1977 at a Press Conference held in New Delhi. See The Statesman, March 25, 1977. Shri Desai has on July 26, 1978 drawn a distinction between ‘blast” and “explosion”. See The Statesman, July 27, 1978.

2. The “trigger list” had earlier been defined by members constituting the twenty-three member ad hoc Zangger Committee of the IAEA in 1970. The London Club was an aftermath of the Pokharan explosion.

See World Armaments and Disarmament. SIPRI Yearbook 1977 pp. 20.

3. “Note for transmission of nuclear suppliers’ guidelines to IAEA”, US State Department, January 11, 1978.

4. The INFCEP was convened by a conference held in Washington on October 18, 1977. President Carter addressed the session and proposed the idea of an international fuel bank. Forty-two nations participated and over thirty of them belonged to the developing countries.

5. See Dr. Sethna’s lecture on “Nuclear Power—Fast Breeder Reactors” given at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 31 October, 1977 under the auspices of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers.

6. Atomic Energy and Space Research: A Profile for the 1970–80, Atomic Energy Commission, Government of India, (1970).

7. US Non-Proliferation Act, Ninety fifth Congress of the United States of America. Second Session, 19 January, 1978.

8. Quoted in Atomic Energy: 25 Years of Independence by Dr. H.N. Sethna, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 1972, p 1.

9. Ваrriе Morrison and Donald Page, “India’s Option: The Nuclear route to achieve goal as world power”, International Perspectives (Department of External Affairs), Ottawa, Canada, July/August 1974 pp. 25.

10. Ashok Kapur, India’s Nuclear Option: Atomic Diplomacy and Decision Making, Preager, New York (1976), pp. 105–113.

11. H.N. Sethna, n. 8, p 40.

12. Ibid., p 41.

13. The Hindu, 23 March 1978.

14. The Hindustan Times, 15 March 1978,

15. The Hindustan, Times 15 March 1978.

16. This is a pilot reprocessing plant which has not been operating since 1972 and is undergoing decontamination repairs and expansion. Of the stockpile of plutonium obtained from this plant 21.8 kg was used for fuelling the PURNIMA test reactor at Trombay, and a small amount (upto 8 kg) for the Pokharan explosion.

17. Annual Report of the Department of Atomic Energy, 1977–78, p. 12.

18. NRC Legal Opinions Regarding Nuclear Exports United States Government Printing Office, Washington (1976), p. 209.

19. Statement by Dr. H.N. Sethna during evidence before the Estimates Committee of Parliament on 28 December 1976 See Estimates Committee (1977–78) Sixteenth Report, Sixth Lok Sabba, pp 225.

20. Ibid., p. 225

21. Agreement Between the Government of Canada and the Government of India relating to the Rajasthan Atomic Power station and the Douglas Point Nuclear Generating Station dated 16 December 1963. See J.P. Jain, Nuclear India, Vol II, p. 132.

22. SIPRI Yearbook 1972, p. 299.

23. Dr. Sethna, n. 8, p. 42.

24. A.G. Noorani “India’s Nuclear Dilemma”, Indian Express, April 28, 1978.

25. Ibid.

26. International Atomic Energy Agency, Gov/1857, 8 September 1977, Vienna, Austria.

27. Repairs are expected to take at least two years. Since equipment for heavy water plants are now under the new “Trigger List” of the London Club, safeguards could be imposed on this plant, Hindustan Times, 16 February 1978.

28. Hindustan Times, March 15, 1978.

29. Annual Report of DAE 1977–78, p. 4.

30. Estimates Committee Report, 1977–78, p. 222.

31. PM’s Statement in Lok Sabha on April 20, 1978. Times of India, April 21, 1978.

32. Sethna, H.L. Roy Memorial Lecture, October 1977.

33. Sethna, H.N. and Srinivasan M.R. “India’s Nuclear Power Programme and Constraints Encountered in its Implementation”, IAEA-CN-36/385 (VII), Paper presented at the International Conference on Nuclear Power and its Fuel Cycle, Salzburg, Austria, May 2–13, 1977, p. 4.

34. The J-rods are aluminium tubes about one inch in diameter and eleven feet long which were loaded with thorium oxide pellets, each measuring one inch in diameter and one inch high. The Fabrication of the First prototype CIR-J-rod was completed on September 30, 1959. See Annual Report of the DAE, 1970–71, p. 11,

35. Annual Report of the DAE 1970–71, p. 34.

36. N. Srinivasan et al., Report on Pilot Plant for the Separation of U233 at Trombay, BARC, Bombay (1972), p. 3.

37. Annual Report of the DAE, 1971–72, p. 108.

38. Hugh C. McIntyre, “Natural Uranium Heavy Water Reactors” Scientific American, Vol 233, No. 4, October 1975.