Nuclear Stability, Deterrence and Separation of India’s Civil and Weapon Facilities

The 18 July Bush-Manmohan Agreement is currently being implemented, in bits and pieces. At the time of the signing of the agreement it was stated by different officials that both governments would proceed to unilaterally implement the provisions that pertained to them and there would be no expectations of reciprocity. Following US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns’ visit to India in October 2005 there is a clearer understanding of Washington’s expectations of New Delhi, before President Bush approaches Congress to amend certain portions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act 1978 (NNA) that strengthened the US Atomic Energy Act 1954. Clearly India needs to achieve a substantial or meaningful fissile material to reserve ratio to ensure that it can go through with a workable plan on separating its civilian and weapons facilities while safeguarding the independence of its deterrent.