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Summary

On July 18, 2005, President Bush announced he would "work to achieve full civil nuclear energy cooperation with India" and would "also seek agreement from Congress to adjust U.S. laws and policies," in the context of a broader, global partnership with India to promote stability, democracy, prosperity and peace. India, which has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) and does not have International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards on all nuclear material in peaceful nuclear activities, exploded a "peaceful" nuclear device in 1974, convincing the world of the need for greater restrictions on nuclear trade. The United States created the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) as a direct response to India's test, halted nuclear exports to India a few years later, and worked to convince other states to do the same. India tested nuclear weapons again in 1998. Nonproliferation experts have argued that the potential costs of nuclear cooperation with India to U.S. and global nonproliferation policy may far exceed the benefits. At a time when the United States has called for all states to strengthen their domestic export control laws and for tighter multilateral controls, U.S. nuclear cooperation with India would require loosening its own nuclear export legislation, as well as creating a NSG exception. This is at odds with nearly three decades of U.S. nonproliferation policy and practice. Some believe the proposed agreement undercuts the basic bargain of the NPT, could undermine hard-won restrictions on nuclear supply, and could prompt some suppliers, like China, to justify supplying other states outside the NPT regime, like Pakistan. Others contend that allowing India access to the international uranium market will free up its domestic uranium sources to make more nuclear weapons. U.S. nuclear cooperation is governed by the Atomic Energy Act (AEA). The Administration proposed legislation in 2006 that, in addition to providing waivers of relevant provisions of the AEA (Sections 123 a. (2), 128, and 129), would have allowed an agreement to enter into force without a vote from Congress, as though it conformed to AEA requirements. In late July 2006, the House passed H.R. 5682, which provided the necessary waivers but retained the prerogative of Congress to vote on the actual cooperation agreement later. The Senate passed its version of H.R. 5682 on November 16, 2006, and on December 7, the House approved the conference report. The Senate approved the conference report by unanimous consent early on December 9, and President Bush signed the bill into law (P.L. 109-401) on December 18, 2006. The law requires that the following, among other things, must occur before nuclear cooperation can proceed: submission of a finalized text of a cooperation agreement to Congress, approval of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards agreement by the IAEA Board of Governors, consensus agreement within the NSG to make an exception for India, and passage of a joint resolution of approval of the agreement by the Congress. India and the United States reached agreement in July 2007 on the text of a nuclear cooperation agreement. New Delhi and IAEA have discussed the elements of a safeguards agreement, but a text has not yet been finalized. This report will be updated as necessary.

Related Legislation:
• H.R.5682
• S.123

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