Monday, August 28 2006 11:05 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The top seven nuclear scientists have asked the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to be focused on the assurances given to both the Houses of Parliament, on the Indo-US deal on civilian nuclear cooperation.

"We asked the Prime Minister to be focused on the assurances given to both the Houses of Parliament on the Indo-US deal on civilian nuclear cooperation the scientists, who met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a specially arranged meeting at New Delhi said.

They described the meeting as 'very good.'

"National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and Atomic Energy, secretary, Anil Kakodkar were told to consult the scientists, especially on the issue of International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards and the India specific safeguards and additional protocols," they said.

The discussion was not only pertaining to the Indo-US deal but on various aspects of future of nuclear energy programme of India, including expediting the realisation of fast-breeder reactors on a fast track, said former Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission P K Iyengar who returned this afternoon from Delhi.

"On the safeguards issue, the scientists said, question of negotiating it comes only after the US amending its laws to enable full cooperation, following removal of all sanctions as the Prime Minister has repeatedly promised for moving forward on the deal," Iyengar said.

"We also explained that dealing with IAEA was not so easy as the Secretary General himself is not so powerful as the issues taken up by the Board have to go through the Board where Pakistan and China are also members," Iyengar said.

Asked whether there was any discussion on the separation plan, he said "We only said it has to be carefully thought about without affecting country's interests."

On the perpetuity clause in the deal, Iyengar said, "It only applied to nuclear power stations and care should be taken in not ending up putting everything under safeguards."

"About the fuel needs, Kakodkar was made to clarify on the stockpiling of yellow cake of uranium and not stockpiling fuel (as it might give some problem when stored for a long period)," Iyengar said.

Iyengar said, "We told the Prime Minister that we wrote the joint letter in good faith but at the same time we do not want to interfere in any strategic programme when NSA's Chief Narayanan asked them why they did not talk about strategic programme. "

Iyengar said, "The Prime Minister that there are still problems and we have to see whether they (the US senators) will modify the suggestions made in the two Houses of Indian Parliament."

"In fact, I said it would have been easier to have discussion with US nuclear scientists and US department of energy (DoE) should bring in their scientists to deal with the GNEP (Global Nuclear Energy Partnership) cooperation," Iyengar said.

The scientists explained to the Prime Minister that for both India and the US, this deal is a first of its kind with some special features and therefore, both the countries should work together on the deal carefully without compromising the country's interest.

Dr A N Prasad, former Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre told PTI from Bangalore that "We asked the Prime Minister to stick to the assurances given to the Parliament which is a comprehensive check-list of things and it would be interesting to watch how the US senators and House will workout, as many of them were not accommodated in the last month's voting."

"Under this circumstances, how the US will be looking at the assurances made in the Parliament will be interesting to watch," Prasad said.

Dr Placid Rodrigues, former director of Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research at Kalpakkam said "The scientists made clear to the Prime Minister that the deal is a good one and as long as broad boundaries of July 18,2005 and March 3,2006 statements are not altered."

"India should not accept any shift in goalpost by the US," Rodrigues told sources from Chennai.

Former Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission and current member of AEC M R Srinivasan told sources from Ooty the discussions on issues related to safeguards and additional protocols were appreciated by the Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, former AEC Chairman Homi Sethna expressed unhappiness over the US negotiators, he told Prime Minister that they (US) always keep changing stand.

Former Chairman of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board D A Gopalakrishnan told the Prime Minister that country should promote coal gasification also.