Letter to Editor: Nuclear Math
Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2006

Neil King Jr.'s April 7 article ("U.S. lawmakers appear open to nuclear pact with India1") provokes several observations. First, America's source of concern should not be the India-U.S. nuclear accord, but rather the U.S. Congress's lack of common sense and elementary nuclear math. Capitol Hill is laboring under the incorrect premise that India-U.S. nuclear pact weakens the U.N. Non-Proliferation Treaty's effectiveness. The NPT treaty became truly effective only from 1992 onwards, when France and China signed the treaty. By 1992, India was already a de-facto nuclear power, since it was the only nation besides the five NPT nuclear powers to have conducted an official nuclear test in 1974. Hence, the U.S., by belatedly recognizing India's nuclear power status, is strengthening the NPT, not weakening it. Second, how can this accord abet India's capacity to expand their nuclear weapons arsenal? Without the pact, India will have 22 nuclear reactors that could provide plutonium for nuclear weapons. With the pact, India will have only eight nuclear reactors that could provide plutonium for nuclear weapons.

Arun Khanna
Visiting Professor of Finance
Butler University
Indianapolis, Indiana