The Indo-Japanese Agreement on cooperation in the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy, signed during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi to Japan in November is hailed as a breakthrough in securing Japan’s assistance to India’s nuclear programme.

   For, even though India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Japan has agreed to make it possible for India to secure Japanese-made large forged components for its nuclear reactors from the United States and France. Though the Agreement is considered to mark ‘a new level of mutual confidence and strategic partnership in the cause of clean energy and peaceful and secure world’, observers are disappointed that there is no reference to fuel supplies for nuclear energy. It was perhaps not on the agenda of the talks. But it indicates an important basic issue related to the science and technology of nuclear power generation.

   It....