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India can produce up to 50 nukes per year
NEW DELHI, June 19 (UPI) -- A former Indian intelligence official estimates that under the U.S.-India nuclear agreement, Delhi could manufacture up to 50 nuclear warheads a year.Former Research and Analyses Wing Additional Secretary J. K. Sinha said: "Under the deal, India shall retain six unsafeguarded reactors and shall have the capability of producing nearly 50 nuclear warheads per year." The Pakistani Newspaper reported on June 18 that Sinha wrote in the Indian Defense Review that a U.S. supply of nuclear fuel combined with material from India's Nuclear Suppliers Group would free India's existing capacity to produce up to 286 pounds annually of highly enriched uranium and plutonium for its nuclear weapons program. Sinha wrote that the agreement placed India's entire Fast Breeder Reactor program out of safeguards, noting: "The potential of the FBR technology is huge for India's nuclear weapons program and for power generation." The nuclear agreement, finalized during U.S. President George W. Bush's March trip to India but still awaiting passage through U.S. Congress, has been harshly condemned internationally because it is viewed as allowing India to evade a number of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty safeguards. Posted by: john 2006-06-19 |
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