India brings some real commercial insight to nuclear energy to the table. They are committed to thorium fuel - which can in theory make the manufacture of nuclear weapons extremely difficult, if used correctly.
Regrettably though the heavy water (CANDU) technology is well suited for making weapons grade plutonium as well.
India needs to be pressured to abandon its nuclear weapons, but so does the United States, Britain, Russia...
Interestingly the Russians, who have the most experience with dismantling nuclear weapons and getting rid of the fissionable cores permanently, made big bucks in the 1990's selling the uranium from those cores to the west.
India is hurting itself and its prestige by making this an issue. They need to begin to negotiate from a weapons reduction/disarmament profile.
Could you elaborate on what "internationalization of the nuclear fuel cycle" would look like?
As signatories of the NPT, aren't they obligated to "to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a Treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control"?
Who can put pressure on the nuclear powers to do this, and how? Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
