Saturday, April 22 2006 16:21 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Negotiations with the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA on India-specific safeguards under the Indo-US nuclear deal have been 'very positive,' National Security Adviser M K Narayanan has said.

"All that India is insisting on is assured nuclear fuel supplies for its civilian reactors," Narayanan told sources in an interview here.

Asked about the talks Atomic Energy Cmmission Chairman Anil Kakodkar had with the IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei in Vienna recently on the safeguards issue, he said "They are very initial discussions and all that I can say is the initial talks have been very positive".

However, the discussions could not be made public till such time the negotiations had reached a certain stage, the NSA said.

Under the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement reached between President George W Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, India has agreed to open 14 of its 22 nuclear reactors to international safeguards. It will not subject its military nuclear programme and fast breeder reactors to international safeguards.

"One of the things we are insisting on is assured fuel supply for the lifetime of a reactor and the safeguard would be (on) what would happen in case that is not forthcoming. This is in a nutshell (what the safeguards talks are all about).I suppose it is much more complex than that.

"We will keep them (14 nuclear facilities) under safeguards we want an assurance of fuel supplies for the lifetime of the reactors," the NSA said.

"India and the US have arrived at an agreement on March two, which, I think, is all emcompassing. It satisfies both sides, the US side and Indian side," Narayanan said.

Asked about the basic conditions that New Delhi was laying down with the IAEA, he said, "We have made our position fairly clear that all that we are asking is to concretise what we have said whatever we have put under civilian nuclear separation plan and those items which come under the international safeguards."

On the issue of 'credible minimum deterrent,' Narayanan said nobody has the right to ask such a question as the country's strategic programme was totally insulated from any outside involvement.

"I don't think anybody has a right to ask us what is our minimum credible deterrence," the NSA said.

"Even in this country, I think it is known to only a handful of people and we certainly have no intention of sharing this with anyone else," Narayanan said when asked about remarks by US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Richard Boucher here on April 7 that India should 'define' its credible minimum nuclear deterrent.