The n-deal: US' Dhritarashtra's embrace?

The n-deal: US' Dhritarashtra's embrace?
Well this is good because
- India has come out of nuclear wilderness after 30+ years
- India breaks away from the past of being spoken of in the same breath as Pakistan. In fact it is now being associated as credible balance for China's growing might(economic and political) in the region
- India needs all the power is can get. I hear, France gets 75-80% of its power through nuclear energy. Japan about 30%.

Concerns
- US has not built a Nuclear power plant in decades as US does not consider that a safe mode of generating power. Also, waste disposal has its own sets of problems. Considering above, it's surprising that it should encourage India to go that route and offer help to set up Nuclear Power Plants / provide fuel.

This to me is a clear indication that this deal is not so much about Nuclear Power. Its about Balance of Power and India is US's best bet against China Threat.

- India not being able to test /create more nuclear weapons. I think we already have enough nuclear war heads as "credible deterrent". Work in recent decades is more around delivery of these war heads and I guess we have successfully shown that we can strike deep into enemy territory with what we have(Agni-II et al). We may not be able to reach Beijing but reaching Shanghai / Islamabad is enough to maintain peace with our neighbours.

- Installing Nuclear Power Plants. Its always very expensive to build a nuclear power plant as its capital intensive. On the other hand per-unit cost of electricity generation is relatively less. At the same time maintaining requisite level of safety, discharging waste and closing the power plant if need be are all fairly expensive. Us usual there are pros and cons. Personally I'm not convinced with idea of nuclear power given the risks involved.

All in all this is a historic milestone. It establishes India as a responsible Nuclear power state while providing us an alternate source of energy.