Balancing Power And Responsibility - India's Nuclear Tightrope Walk

Ankush Saxena, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies

ABSTRACT

Since the very inception of nuclear weapons there has been a race of developing and obtaining the nuclear technology among various nations. The unprecedented growth of nuclear weapons has had a deep impact on international relation and in general the cooperation of nations. Post Hiroshima-Nagasaki the countries even though they have been investing heavily into developing the nuclear technology somewhere down the line everyone feels the need to regulate and streamline the same. Accordingly, various efforts and attempts have been made at the international and regional level by the UN and various other organisations including IAEA, DAE and AERB. Reginal mechanisms have also grown for regulating the nuclear weapon and in insuring the sustainable and responsible use of the same. This paper is an attempt to investigate the international regulations of nuclear weapon, the making, storage, and use of the same.

This paper also talks and evaluates India's stance and position in the nuclear sector including the APSARA, and the CIRUS reactor. Drawing upon international legal frameworks such as Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Comprehensive Nuclear Tests Ban Treaty (CTBT) along with other regulations such as the Limited Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (LTBT), Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT). It would also talk about the institutional control and regulation through International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) etc.

Keywords: Nuclear, Nuclear test, India, Atomic Energy, U.S., U.S.S.R.