US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI1261

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 001261 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PASS TO NRC 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/17/2015 
TAGS: CVIS, ENRG, ETTC, IN, KNNP, KSCA, PREL, TRGY, TSPL, NSSP 
SUBJECT: NRC COMMISSIONER MERRIFIELD MEETS INDIAN FOREIGN 
SECRETARY SHYAM SARAN 
 
 
SIPDIS 
 
Classified By: DCM ROBERT BLAKE, REASON 1.4 (B, D) 
 
1.  (C) Summary:  NRC Commissioner Jeffrey S. Merrifield and 
Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran discussed India's energy 
future at a meeting in the Secretary's office in New Delhi on 
February 11, 2005.  Saran told Merrifield that energy is a 
key strategic interest of India and nuclear power would be an 
important part of the energy mix that would fuel India's 
development.  India would like more collaborations in the 
nuclear field, but a one-size-fits-all policy does not appear 
to accommodate realities on the ground.  Merrifield 
underscored the importance of the World Association of 
Nuclear Operators (WANO) peer review process to improve the 
safety and operation of nuclear power plants.  Merrifield 
promised he would articulate in Washington the quality and 
progress of nuclear power generation efforts in India and the 
role nuclear power is expected to play in the energy future 
of India.  End summary. 
 
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Saran: Energy at the Top of Indian Agenda 
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2.  (C) Saran told Merrifield that he was in Washington in 
November and had very useful discussions with now Secretary 
of State Condoleeza Rice.  He discussed with Rice the need to 
look at India's energy situation and the necessity to take a 
comprehensive look at the U.S.-India nuclear relationship. 
India has had a similar dialogue with the European Union, the 
relation of India with the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), and 
a call to greater openness to look at India's aspirations in 
the nuclear energy field. 
 
3.  (C) Saran told Merrifield that the U.S and India need to 
move the nuclear agenda forward.  There is a long history of 
US-India cooperation on nuclear matters and now India has 
developed significant capabilities.  Saran said India is 
looking forward to economic growth of 8-10% per annum, which 
will place significant demands on the energy sector. 
 
4.  (C) Saran said that given the fact that energy security 
is at the top of the agenda of the current government, India 
hopes to continue dialogue on energy related matters. 
Ambassador Mulford has met with Petroleum Minister Mani 
Shankar Aiyar, there is a new Secretary of Energy who is 
familiar with India, a sustainable development summit just 
took place in India, and the Prime Minister has said that he 
hoped to raise India's energy agenda to the Joint Summit. 
The PM has invited India, China and South Africa to join 
hands in looking at future energy needs. 
 
5.  (C) Saran said China is now a major energy consumer and 
China and India, in a short period, will be putting 
significant pressure on world energy markets.  Thus, it is 
doubtful that the country will be able to sustain growth 
relying only on fossil fuels.  Nuclear power is a definite 
option for India but there are issues related to fuel 
supplies.  In this regard, India's task of sustaining 
economic growth will be simpler if it has cooperation from 
the U.S. 
 
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Saran: One-Size-Fits-All Policies are a Big Challenge 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
6.  (C) Saran remarked that, in his view, there is 
insufficient appreciation in the U.S. on how far India has 
come.  India would like to encourage more interaction but has 
come against some barriers.  One of the challenges is dealing 
with a one-size-fits-all U.S. policy that does not appear to 
accommodate realities on the ground. 
 
7.  (C) India has no record, Saran said, of being involved in 
any untoward behavior.  This is not because of U.S. 
pressures, but because such behavior is not in India's 
national interest.  India is developing new export controls 
and looking at export control methodologies as India could 
profit from U.S. experience in these matters.  India wants 
very badly to overcome obstacles that stand in the way of 
implementing the NSSP.  India would very much like 
Commissioner Merrifield to tell U.S. policymakers about what 
he saw in India and would value Commissioner Merrifield's 
advice on how to move forward. 
 
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Commissioner Merrifield: India is a Senior Partner in Nuclear 
Power Generation 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
8.  (C) Merrifield told Saran that for this visit, NRC 
personnel split into two teams.  One team carried out 
detailed technical discussions in Mumbai, while the 
Commissioner and Deputy Director Doane traveled on to 
Rajasthan to visit the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station 
facilities. 
 
9.  (C) Merrifield told Saran that the visit was very good 
and very positive and that he was delighted about 
participation of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India 
Limited (NPCIL) in the WANO where Americans and others come 
together to benchmark safety practices and operations of 
nuclear power plants among peers. 
 
10.  (C) Merrifield said that since becoming a Commissioner, 
he has learned that the worldwide nuclear industry is a very 
small fraternity.  In his view, direct interactions through 
WANO, for example, have resulted in significant improvements 
in the safety and operations of the nuclear power sector. 
Thus, putting nuclear power generation in the hands of an 
enterprise like NPCIL, which interacts with the nuclear power 
industry elsewhere, bodes well for the future of nuclear 
power in India. 
 
11.  (C) In addition, the manner in which India is achieving 
milestones in bringing nuclear power plants on-line, on time, 
and within budget, provides great credibility to the Indian 
program.  Thus, NRC looks forward to enhanced, new levels of 
interactions. 
 
12.  (C) The Commissioner told Saran that NRC and AERB want 
to identify AERB personnel who can come to NRC and work 
shoulder-to-shoulder on technical issues related to nuclear 
power plant safety.  NRC will also encourage the visit of 
AERB scientists to national labs.  NRC is aware of India's 
nuclear reactor design capabilities and India's wish to 
participate in design of a new generation of reactors.  He 
understands India's desire to engage in benchmarking NRC 
codes against AERB codes, a process from which NRC and AERB 
could benefit. 
 
13.  (C) With regard to NSSP, NRC participates as a 
regulatory agency.  NRC is clearly pleased with the progress 
of an NRC-AERB dialogue and the mutual benefit that it brings 
to both agencies.  Merrifield told Saran that even within 
NSSP and within NSG guidelines, nuclear safety knows no 
boundaries.  Progress in the NRC-AERB relationship should 
remain focused on enhancing civilian nuclear reactor safety. 
 
14.  (C) Now, as it relates to nuclear energy, India is a 
senior partner at the table, Merrifield said.  Unfortunately, 
many of those who make rules for U.S.-India interactions have 
little understanding of nuclear safety and what it takes to 
operate a nuclear power station in an efficient, 
cost-effective and yet safe, manner that protects the public 
as well as the environment from undesirable effects. 
Merrifield told Saran that a backward looking legislative 
framework needs to be brought up to date as this framework 
prescribed a nuclear relationship between the U.S. and India 
at the time when India did not have any significant nuclear 
capability. 
 
15.  (C) Merrifield said that, speaking for his own agency, 
he views NSSP as an interactive process.  Thus, in order to 
move the NSSP inter-agency process forward it would be ideal 
to have some bilateral progress.  Merrifield told Saran that 
he would be meeting with DOE officials and that he would make 
sure that the new DOE Secretary is aware of India's energy 
concerns.  NRC, as a regulator, oversees various nuclear 
activities, including safeguarding of nuclear materials, so 
there are further items of mutual interest that NRC could 
share. 
 
16.  (C) This being said, NRC is a unique agency where the 
Presidential appointees have an extraordinary level of 
independence.  As NRC must recoup 90 percent of its operating 
costs from the industry it regulates, it is always 
challenging for NRC to find funds to carry out bilateral 
cooperation.  Notwithstanding this challenge, the NRC is 
committed to collaboration with India, Merrifield told Saran. 
 
17.  (C) Saran commented that he is very encouraged that 
India also will "put its money where its mouth is", that 
India is encouraged by the Commissioner's words, but still 
there are mental and psychological barriers to be broken. 
 
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Meeting Participants 
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18.  (C) NRC Commissioner Jeffrey S. Merrifield 
NRC Deputy Director Margaret Doane 
DCM Robert Blake 
SciCouns Marco Di Capua 
PolCouns Geoffrey Pyatt 
Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran 
Dr. S. Jaishankar, Joint Secretary, US and Canada, MEA 
Santosh Jha, Deputy Secretary, US and Canada, MEA 
 
19.  (C) NRC Commissioner Merrifield cleared this cable. 
 
MULFORD