Wednesday, July 20 2005 17:47 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Reacting cautiously to the Indo-US civilian nuclear energy agreement, experts have said it would help facilitate India's indigenous programme in this field and ease the discomfort felt by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, prohibited from selling sensitive material to countries which have not signed NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty).

"Any offer that is coming in through this declaration for additional nuclear power reactors will only add to the ongoing expansion of the indigenous nuclear civilian programme S Banerjee, Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, said.

"Our programme will continue and these collaborations with the US will only further strengthen the area of safety in the field of nuclear reactors," he told sources.

Terming the agreement as a step in the positive direction, former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission (AECM R Srinivasan said the "Indo-US pact is a good thing if it takes a concrete shape. I welcome it only when it has some practical application."

He said the change in the US policy would ease the discomfort felt by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

The NSG guidelines prohibit its 40 member nations from selling fuel or nuclear material to countries like India, which have refused to sign NPT.

"Whether the US stand to cooperate with France and other allies will be able to help all the 40 members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group is something to be waited and watched for," Srinivasan said.

He said India would also like to get natural uranium fuel for its pressurised heavy water reactors which should be made easily available by the NSG.

Banerjee said the declaration sent positive signs for global collaborations in civilian nuclear power generation.

Former AEC chairman P K Iyengar said there was nothing 'concrete' in the Bush-Singh joint statement that calls for immediate celebration.

"All that President (George W) Bush has said is that he will try to get the domestic laws changed to allow sale of fuel and materials for India's civil nuclear programme and that he will talk to his friends and allies in the NSG about relaxing the guidelines," Iyengar said.

"This is all good but one has to wait and see if and when these promises are implemented." he added.

He said that India agreeing to separate its military and civilian nuclear facilities might pose problems for institutions like the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).

"How do we define BARC - is it civilian or military facility?" he asked.

However, S C Jain, chairman of Nuclear Power Corporation said the new climate created by the latest Indo-US agreement would not only help his company build more nuclear plants but also export them to Asia-Pacific countries.

Analysts point out that the US decision to remove certain but not all Indian organisations from the Entity List of Department of Commerce is short of Indian expectations.

Organisations in the Entity List, created after India's second nuclear tests in 1998, are banned from importing nuclear equipment or technology from the US.

Some analysts see the latest pact with the US as a big come down for India from its previous stand as it has agreed to put all its civilian nuclear facilities for international inspection, including surprise inspections.