India approves nuclear deal with US

India’s Cabinet has signed off on a deal spelling out the technical details of a much-touted nuclear cooperation pact with the United States, a news agency reported today.

The Press Trust of India reported that India’s government now plans to brief its left-wing political allies and the Hindu nationalist opposition – both of which have expressed fears the pact could undermine India’s nuclear weapons programme.

The deal, details of which were not released, would then be presented to Parliament, PTI reported.

The nuclear pact is seen as the foundation of closer India-US relations, and the deal allows for the United States to ship nuclear fuel and technology to India, which in exchange would open its civilian nuclear reactors to international inspectors. India’s military reactors would remain off-limits.

The two sides first struck the deal in July 2005, and the US Congress last year approved the overall pact, leaving New Delhi and Washington to hammer out an agreement detailing how the nuclear cooperation would actually work.

Those talks dragged on for months longer than anticipated, held up by American reluctance to allow India to reprocess spent atomic fuel – a key step in making atomic weapons – and Indian demands for a guaranteed fuel supply for reactors.

But US and Indian negotiators said Friday they had nearly completed the technical deal and were sending it back to their governments for final approval.

Both sides have since refused to release any details of the agreement.