IAEA board approves India safeguards agreement

With the words “It is so decided” and the bang of the chairman’s gavel, the India safeguards agreement was adopted by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday evening.

In an indication of how significant the decision is for the arcane and often opaque world of nuclear politics, virtually every one of the 35 countries which make up the IAEA’s apex body took the floor to make statements either endorsing India’s case or, in the case of the majority, expressing reservations and qualifications of one kind or another. Three countries — Austria, Ireland and Switzerland — could barely disguise their unhappiness.

But in the end, the hard sell indulged in by the U.S. and India —and the strong backing the agreement received from IAEA Director General Mohammed ElBaradei — ensured that the text sailed through without a vote.

The meeting began at 10.40 a.m. and ran until lunch, by when all board members who wished to make statements prior to the adoption had spoken.

When the meeting reconvened two hours later, the BoG’s Chilean chair, Milenko E. Skoknic, summed up the discussion and suggested that the Director General be authorised to “conclude and implement” the safeguards agreement with India. He then looked around the room quickly to make sure that no delegation was raising its flag to call for a vote and reached for his gavel.

If those few seconds before the gavel sounded provided the only moments of tension for the Indian delegation during the day, the statement made by several countries at the meeting made it clear the battle to end India’s nuclear isolation has only been postponed to the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

Ireland, Austria, Japan and even Brazil pointedly declared that their going along with the consensus at the IAEA did not mean they would sit quiet when the 45-nation nuclear cartel discusses India’s case next month.

New Zealand, which spoke as an observer, said it did not wish to say much about the safeguards agreement since it was not a member of the BoG. But it said it would make its stand on India clear at the NSG.

The approval of the agreement pushes the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal one step closer towards the finishing line and paves the way for as many as eight additional Indian nuclear power reactors to come under international safeguards in phases once lifetime fuel supply arrangements for them are concluded. In all, India has undertaken to place 14 reactors under safeguards, six of which are already subject to inspections.

In a statement to the press after the Board meeting, Dr. Baradei expressed the hope that the agreement “would also be certified by the Suppliers Group.”

Speaking to reporters outside the boardroom, Department of Atomic Energy chairman Anil Kakodkar said “the significant point is that the safeguards agreement has been adopted by consensus.”

He hoped the NSG would give a clean and unconditional waiver to waiver.