Byron Dorgan: “the second amendment I have sent to the desk says that before this United States-India agreement can go into effect, the…”

“the second amendment I have sent to the desk says that before this United States-India agreement can go into effect, the President must submit to the Congress a written determination that India has committed to certain basic provisions consistent with U.S. nonproliferation goals and with the NPT, the nonproliferation treaty. It requires the President to determine that India has committed to, for example, putting all of its reactors that supply electricity to the civilian sector under the IAEA inspection regime. This would close a loophole that exists in the proposed agreement, and that loophole allows India to keep electricity-producing reactors out of the IAEA inspection regime. Eight of them will be out of the regime, and those eight are going to be behind a curtain, unable to be inspected, and able to produce the materials to produce additional nuclear weapons. Fourteen of the existing and planned nuclear reactors would be inspected, and eight of them would not. If those other eight reactors produce civilian electricity, my amendment would require that India allow inspection of them. The bill as now written would allow India to produce energy with nuclear reactors that are closed to IAEA safeguards. My amendment says that is a loophole which should not be allowed. If India can keep energy-producing reactors outside of these safeguards, why shouldn't other countries be allowed to do so? How will our country say to others: Well, we have special deals.…”