Slashdot Mirror
India Joins Nuclear Market
figona brings news that India will be allowed to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). A waiver was approved yesterday that provided an exception to the requirements that India sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. This means India will be able to buy nuclear fuel from the world market and purchase reactors from the US, France, and Russia; something it has been unable to do since it began nuclear testing in 1974 (which inspired the creation of the NSG). The waiver does not include terms to cut off access if India resumes nuclear testing, but the US Congress drafted a letter stating their willingness to do so. Opponents of the waiver have called it a "non-proliferation disaster."
How many minutes until Pakistan demands the same treatment?
Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
Any danger the arsenal represents probably wouldn't even double if it increased 100 fold. Nuclear fuel is something the world needs right now, if all the hype about global warming is as bad as they say it is. Not only that, but cheaper nuclear fuel -> cheaper power -> better economy -> less poverty.
The Unicode standard is over 20 years old. Why does Slashdot not support it?
India is already capable of building nuclear weapons, and are (theoretically) more than able to sell that tech to the highest bidders if they desired (I honestly don't see them doing so - just saying they can).
I'd be a hell of a lot more worried about Iran (which has arguably sponsored terrorism) than India (which has been nothing but friendly towards anyone who isn't Pakistan, and the latter for obvious reasons). While yes things may change, I just don't see India as being the type to sell nuclear anything, to anyone, in the foreseeable future.
Iran OTOH? Well, what are the non-proliferation folks doing about that? Not much, from the looks of it. If they want to concentrate their efforts in any particular direction, I'd have them staring a bit more to the west of India...
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
I'll bet it looks like the Johnson Smith catalog.
Fissionable Uranium - part no. #34-88091 - Whether its to power a city or to level a city, you'll be the envy of your friends with your very own pile of fissionable uranium. Comes in high-quality display case with certificate of authenticity. Color our choice please. No gift wrapping available for this item. Monogramming available for $10
$79,999,999.99
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
I read first "Indiana Jones Nukes Market" Must have been the economy news from last week and CNN story "U.S. seizes two mortgage giants" which popped up just before.
Indians don't go around chanting "Death to America" for starters, nor do they have a crazy self-indulging senseless control freak for the head of their government. India has a tendency to honour international agreements, while the DPRK tends to flout them over and over again.
Besides, anyone has a right to sell something (or not) to someone for whatever reason they have. If I decide I don't want the USA to have any of my little pink bunnies, while letting the UK have them, what's wrong with that? My decision.
The Unicode standard is over 20 years old. Why does Slashdot not support it?
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is built on three pillars; non-proliferation, disarmament and peaceful use of nuclear technology. Only the third has had any real success; proliferation continues, with Israel, Pakistan, India, North Korea having gained nukes and South Africa, Libya and Iran having got most of the way. Existing nuclear powers have yet to disarm in any significant way, with the Brits making the most progress (fewest nukes out of any of the official powers) and we've still voted to renew our "deterrent".
The only thing remaining in the NPT for non-nuclear nations is some help on power generation. I can't see it lasting long; we may see countries withdrawing en masse in the future.
All intents and purposes. Not intensive purposes.
On the one hand, there's no way that they'll let Iran or North Korea even so much as attempt to build a reactor, but as soon as India wants on the scene
And how many Japanese citizens has India captured and held against their will in the last few decades? How many times have they threatened to wipe a neighbor off the map?
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Err, what?
India has had nuclear weaponry since the 1960's (or '70s?). Iran probably doesn't have a nuclear weapon, and North Korea may or may not have one.
Besides, when given a choice between a relatively peaceful nation that already has nuclear weapons (and the means to deliver them), and arguably hostile regimes who are trying to lay hands on one?
In short - you must be joking, man.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
People in the US especially seem to think of India in terms of snake charmers and cheap IT, forgetting that we are the second largest nation on earth, with genuine security concerns.
With China sitting to our east and making noises (usually, very loud noises) and a particularly unstable Pakistan to the west who got most of their nuclear tech from China, we really don't have a choice.
Besides which, far too many other pieces of tech cannot be sold to India because they may kinda sorta have some possible application in one corner of the fine art of nuclear weapons manufacture. This can finally stop now.
Finally, the whole deal means that we can now start having safety equipment for our nuclear program, which we haven't been able to obtain for years now.
Anyway, you probably don't know the amount of flak the government has taken over this deal... There's talk from lots of sides about "selling our sovereignty", because there will now be periodic inspections of all nuclear facilities by the IAEA.
Anyway, Arbitrarily restricting possession of nuclear weapons to those nations that tested before 1967 is not exactly a solid foundation for the NPT. It should have been quite blindingly obvious right back then that several nations, even reasonably stable ones, would have severe reservations about such an imbalanced treaty.
Anyone know why India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty? I'm not sure if this makes a significant difference or not but it's strange that India wouldn't join it and give some measure of assurance to other countries who could be supplying the technology. There must be a good reason why though.
EvilCON - Made Famous by
You're an idiot. I'm sure you'd say it's hypocritical to only let the psycho kid have safety scissors too? Iran, North Korea, are balls to the walls nuts. We try hard not to let them have nukes because THEY WOULD USE THEM. Last I checked, India is doing better as far as democracy then some of the other "BIG" countries that have recently invaded a smaller one.
Nukes pointed at country X....check.
Country X has nukes pointer at them...check.
Constantly fighting over country Y....check.
Funny...the US seems to fit that bill for being "hostile" pretty well too. Let's not forget that India is a large, stable, secular democracy with a decent non-proliferation record in spite of not having signed the NPT, has a strong economic interest in remaining peaceful and friendly with China and the U.S., and is consenting to international oversight of nuclear facilities as part of this deal.
Since India has the toys and is much more stable than Pakistan,NK and Iran, it's better that they place nice than if they don't. This is the safest, most practical and pragmatic way of ensuring that.
An old-timer with old-timey ideas.
Hi friend
we are having nuclears for the cheapest prices
please telling us number of many you like
warm regards,
Praktah Andgambl
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
Iran is not a democracy since its federal government can disqualify any candidate for any reason and often does.
It is a fascist theocracy that is actively exporting its ideology. It is the worst kind of government to have a nuclear weapon.
Good heavens Miss Sakamoto - you're beautiful!
Read this latest, from the American Institute of Physics: http://ptonline.aip.org/journals/doc/PHTOAD-ft/vol_61/iss_9/47_1.shtml Scroll down to the bottom and look at the bullet points: # In 1982 China's premier Deng Xiaoping began the transfer of nuclear weapons technology to Pakistan and, in time, to other third world countries. Those transfers included blueprints for the ultrasimple CHIC-4 design using highly enriched uranium, first tested by China in 1966. # A Pakistani derivative of CHIC-4 apparently was tested in China on 26 May 1990. --- Why was this published only now? The US has known about this information for quite some time, but sat on it, for security reasons. But now the US is finally telling China that enough is enough, and that it can't expect to wantonly proliferate nuclear weapons technology without facing consequences.
It's only hypocritical if you consider all governments to be equally responsible and trustworthy on the international stage.
Which is nonsense, not all countries are created equal. Iran's government was created by a violent theocratic revolution and continues to be that to this day. North Korea was created in a violent Stalinist revolution and continues to be that to this day.
Good heavens Miss Sakamoto - you're beautiful!
I've been almost everywhere in South and East Asia. Never been Europe or the Americas though, maybe they shout "Death to America" over there...
I can see no reason why a news organisation would show people in the Middle East shouting death to America, but wouldn't show it if it happened in India. I'm pretty sure it would. It would certainly be a lot more interesting if it happened in India.
But Indians seem more concerned with their internal problems and the cause, rather than concerning themselves with whether it was something the Americans/Europeans did. Which is a complex which occurs a lot in China (generally the newspapers / commentators) and Korea (generally random protests).
And yes I've been to India, Korea and China. All for reasonable amounts of time (over a year each). I have also met a great deal of Iranians, none of whom wished death to America.
And I've never ever seen any Western recorded footage of people in Iran shouting "Death to America", perhaps you should look up the facts of that incident. It was a country wide chant, and it was recorded officially by various Arab channels. It's their government that's crazy, but the Iranians I've met seem much more friendly than most Americans I've met.
The Unicode standard is over 20 years old. Why does Slashdot not support it?
Secular? No country with a caste system is secular.
You still haven't broken the analogy. Back during the cold war we had a caste system as well, remember? It was based on the color of your skin.
By the same token, India is fighting their own caste system. Arguably it's a lot like our fight against discrimination; you run into problems that even with official government mandates that the people in the government positions to enforce that mandate are for the discrimination, so frequently ignore said mandates. Just like in our case, it's going to take generations, and it doesn't help that their caste system has been around longer than our country.
I don't read AC A human right
ALL Nuclear powers have first strike policies. ALL OF THEM. Basically, if they are being overrun by another country, they will use them. This include USA, Russia, China, England, France, Israel, and I am quite sure India and Pakistan. In fact, if not for the nukes, I suspect that one of china, India, and Pakistan would have invaded the other by now. As it was, China had no issues with attacking India before they had the bomb. They now do a lot of subtle manipulation esp. on the eastern state, and now on the northerns.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Er, the casteism isn't state policy in India. It's a social malaise. You could just as easily say that the US isn;t a secular country because of discrimination against non-Christian minorities (and you would be wrong).
l'Homme n'est Rien l'Oeuvre Tout: Gustave Flaubert to George Sand
India has one of the largest resources for thorium. Thorium can be used in an alternative nuclear cycle that is much less wastefull and produces far less highly radioactive waste (not actinides). These reactors would probably not need solid fuel assemblies, like they are used in the west. What is for sale in the west is a technology that produces much more waste, has a risk of being turned into bombs (you can't with thorium) and keeps you dependent on delivery of very expensive fuel assemblies (that is how the nuclear companies make their money).
That last part is probably the intention: keep India (and all other buyers) dependent on a supply that you can take away again. It would be much better if India would sell some thorium reactors to the west, that would save a lot of hazardous waste.
This space is intentionally staring blankly at you
afterwards, that matters.
in u.s. and france, democratic pluralist regimes were established, based on human rights concepts outlined and developed by 18th century enlightenment. (btw, you are still basing your entire society on these even today).
Read radical news here