India will not accept bar on nuclear testing: Saran

Saran says India would push hard for removing the restrictions on re-processing of spent fuel and technologies.

India on Wednesday said that it will not accept a legal bar on nuclear testing in the bilateral civil nuclear cooperation agreement it is negotiating with the United States.

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"We are not prepared to give a legal undertaking on nuclear testing in the bilateral 123 agreement," Shyam Saran, the prime minister's special envoy on the India-US civil nuclear deal told a gathering of strategic experts, diplomats and media personnel in New Delhi.

The interaction was organised by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, India's premiere think tank on strategic issues.

There are very important issues that need to be addressed and these issues are difficult, he added.

"What we have agreed to is a unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing," he said, adding that the 123 agreement will be in consonance with the July 18, 2005 understanding and March 2, 2006 separation plan of its civil and military nuclear facilities presented by India.

Saran said India would push hard for removing the restrictions on re-processing of spent fuel and technologies related to heavy water production.