P K Sundaram - A Fresh Indo-US Deal, To Subvert The Nuclear Liability Act

The United States and India have formed a Joint Working Group tasked to find ways for the US corporates to avoid nuclear liability in case of an accident. It is deeply disturbing to see the two countries, that are never tired of boasting their democratic credentials, blatantly undermining the constitutionally mandated suppliers liability provision for the nuclear companies.This is the third such attempt to get away with the liability clause. The first such attempt was made during legislating the Nuclear Liability Act in 2010. The government’s attempts to omit the supplier’s liability were exposed and resisted by sustained public pressure in and outside the parliament. Again in November 2011, while formulating the Rules to supplement this Act of the parliament, the government limited supplier’s liability to a “product liability period” of mere 5 years ! India’s eminent jurist Soli Sorabjee has called this move ultra vires and constitutionally invalid.

Not only the US, even Russia has refused to abide by any liability mechanism. In fact, the contention on nuclear liability was a key reason why the agreement for Koodankulam 3 & 4 reactors could not be inked during the Indian PM’s recent Russia visit. While the US keeps reminding of engineering the 2008 NSG exemption for India and, Russia has even tacitly offered to ease the impasse over the supplies of Enrichment and Reprocessing (ENR) technologies for India. France is also reported to have expressed strong reservations over the suppliers’ liability provisions.

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http://www.dianuke.org/now-a-fresh-indo-us-deal-to-subvert-the-nuclear-liability-act/