A Study Of American Nuclear Energy Policy Towards India After The Cold War

The cooperation between the United States and India in the field of nuclear energy has begun since 21 century.Under the Bush administration,the United States lifted sanctions and nuclear blockade on India.The reason for its sanctions and blockade dates back to 1968 when India refused to sign the NPT(Treaty on the non proliferation of nuclear weapons)and conducted nuclear tests.In the following decades,the development of India's nuclear energy field has a certain foundation with the help of Russia and other countries.As a developing country with a population of more than one billion,India has a huge market potential for energy demand and nuclear energy applications.Compared with China,India's nuclear energy development relies on Russia and other countries to a large extent.And it fails to achieve independent development like China.However,after signing the US-India civil nuclear energy agreement with the Bush administration,India has good prospects for the development of nuclear energy with the support of the United States.After taking over as president,Obama continued to increase cooperation with India in the nuclear energy field.But on the other hand,it shows that the United States has “double standard” in dealing with the issue of non-proliferation.The main reason for the resumption of nuclear energy cooperation between the United States and India is to serve the national interests of the US and promote the development of bilateral relationship,as well as enhance the discourse power of the US in South Asia to contain China.In order to cope with the rapid rise of China's nuclear energy field,using India to balance China is also the main reason.On the other hand,the market of India's nuclear energy application has great potential,which can provide considerable employment and economic benefits for the United States,meanwhile reducing environmental pollution.However,it plunges the United States into a “double standard” situation once again.On the one hand,it emphasizes nuclear nonproliferation,and on the other hand,nuclear cooperation with India is not conducive to public opinion.At the same time,in recent decades,India's nuclear energy development has progressed with the help of Russia,the United Kingdom,France,and so on.In particular,Russia has almost established its foothold in India.The United States is under great pressure to enter the competition at this time.In addition,Indian people worry about the safe operation of the nuclear power plant and protest many times,due to the nuclear leakage accident of the Fukushima nuclear power plant,the lack of nuclear power plant maintenance capabilities in India and the hacker attacks on Indian nuclear power plant,etc.Therefore,there are great challenges in the nuclear energy cooperation between the United States and India.China and Pakistan,as India's two main competitors,have an unusual relationship.China and Pakistan also have made great achievements in the nuclear energy cooperation.India,as a developing country,has lagged behind China in the development of nuclear energy field.Therefore,the Indian strong pursuit of nuclear energy has led to a lot of nuclear leakage.The level of management and competence of personnel is constantly questioned.Different from other countries,India has the civil nuclear liability compensation system,not relying on the government.It makes many large companies dare not get involved in India's nuclear energy field.As a result,India's nuclear energy development has been limited,and advanced technologies dare not enter the Indian market,making the development of India's nuclear energy hard all the way.