NEW DELHI: Taking Japan’s sensitivities about nuclear non-proliferation into account, India and Japan signed a note in addition to the civil nuclear agreement reflecting both countries’ positions -- Japan’s reaffirmation of its national positions, and India reiterating the non-proliferation commitment made on September 5, 2008 on the eve of the NSG plenary.The India-Japan nuclear deal was released by the Japanese foreign ministry on Sunday, Indian officials said it would be up on the DAE website soon. “Given Japan is the only nation to have suffered a nuclear attack, it was felt their views should be recorded in a separate note,” officials said. The additional note, titled “Note on Views and Understanding” it records the September 2008 commitment by then foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee as the basis for the agreement.The note also talks about the terms of cessation of cooperation. The template is similar to the US deal -- a year’s notice has to be given for cessation of cooperation, Japan would have to give a formal reason for suspending the nuclear agreement, for instance national security, whether other countries have also done it; this would lead to consultations between the two countries before Japan pulls the plug. India has reserved the right to ask for compensation, but Japan has stressed that it would reserve the right to contest that demand. The processes involved are the same as in the US agreement.There is a contest about whether this additional note is legally binding on both sides. Japanese officials said the note reflected accurately the views of both countries. “It is clear from Article 14 that Japan has the right to terminate its cooperation and other engagements stipulated under the Treaty. It has also been clearly confirmed between the two goverments that Japan could do this in case India conducts a nuclear test. The above point is critically important in implementation of the Treaty. Therefore, both countries agreed to establish the separate Note and signed the document together with the Nuclear Treaty itself.”Indian officials insisted India has not taken any extra commitment to that already taken. “The termination clause is there in other NCAs (nuclear cooperation agreements) we have signed, including with the US (Article 14). However the circumstances triggering a possible termination are never sharply defined. Consideration also has to be given to mitigating factors,” sources here said.The note, sources here said, “is a record by the negotiators of respective views on certain issues. It states, on the one hand, what could be Japan's views in advance on what is a hypothetical situation; that is their national prerogative. At the same time it also records India’s position on the same issue, which is a reiteration of the September 2008 commitments. No change is envisaged from those commitments and no additional commitments have been made by India.”The Japan agreement also factors in advance consent for reprocessing. This was a separate agreement with the US in 2010, involving detailed and tough negotiations. Sources said it was imperative that reprocessing be built into the Japan agreement, bexcause it would directly impact the reactors India has commissioned from Areva and Westinghouse. Japanese components would be key to these reactors but they needed this consent to be built in.Like US, Japan will not do a national tracking of nuclear materials that flow through its components in any nuclear reactor in India. India will provide regular information to Japan, but through the IAEA. This was agreed with the US and Australia as well.Since the agreement was being negotiated in a post-Fukushima world, safety and security elements formed a big part of the deal. Elements of this had also been woven into the Canadian and Australian nuclear agreements.During the joint media interaction along with Modi after the deal was signed, Abe had referred to India's declaration of September 2008 with regard to voluntary moratorium on nuclear tests.“This agreement is a legal framework that India will act responsibly in peaceful uses of nuclear energy and also in Non-Proliferation regime even though India is not a participant or signatory of NPT,” he had said.