The United States and India said Sunday they have reached an agreement on reprocessing nuclear material, clearing a major hurdle in putting into operation a landmark atomic energy pact. The agreement, reached after nine months of painstaking negotiations, would allow India to reprocess spent nuclear fuel from the United States.
Washington earlier had reprocessing deals only with European Union members and Japan. "I think this reflects a much broader, deeper and expanded relationship between our two countries," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.
The Indian government said in a statement that the two nations "have taken an important step towards implementing civil nuclear co-operation." The United States and India signed their nuclear agreement in 2008, a signature part of the deepening relationship between the world's two largest democracies.
But US companies have yet to benefit from the agreement because of the lingering technicalities. In the meantime, Russian and French rivals have been making headway in India's growing market. "This is encouraging. We have now resolved one of a few remaining implementation hurdles and I'm optimistic at clearing the others," said Ted Jones, who works on the nuclear issue at the US-India Business Council.