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VIENNA-India on Wednesday submitted a draft nuclear safeguards accord to International Atomic Energy Agency governors for approval, the IAEA said, a crucial step towards launching a U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation deal.Communist opposition in India had long prevented India's coalition government from advancing the deal through several hurdles to put it into force. But the logjam eased when communists left the government this week in protest.Proponents of the U.S.-India accord say it will move the Asian giant's trade and diplomatic relations closer to the West and more broadly promote an alternative to high-polluting and expensive oil and gas energy in developing nations.Critics say it will encourage nuclear proliferators by lifting a ban on sales of U.S. nuclear fuel and reactor technology imposed after India-one of just three nations outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)-developed atomic bombs in secret and conducted a nuclear test in 1974.IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said the safeguards text, which India hammered out with IAEA inspectors early this year, had been sent to the agency's 35-nation board after the New Delhi government gave the green light.The agreement allows for regular inspections of India's declared civilian nuclear reactors.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah...
