Towards Common Interests and Responsibilities: The U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Deal and the International Nonproliferation Regime

Abstract

In 2006, the U.S. Congress passed legislation enabling a U.S.-India civil nuclear deal that would permit the United States to export nuclear materials and equipment to India notwithstanding India's refusal to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Following the passage of the Act, President Bush and Prime Minister Singh completed a bilateral "123 Agreement"' to exempt India from restrictions on trade in civil nuclear materials and place fourteen of India's twenty-two nuclear reactors, and all civil reactors built thereafter, under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. Despite recent assurances from U.S. diplomats that "we are 90 percent of the way there," the U.S.-India civil nuclear deal has since faltered, with dissension from within India now threatening to shut down the deal indefinitely.