Indian Nat. Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan, center, Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, left, and Dept. of Atomic Energy Chairman Anil Kakodkar, right, address a press conference, 27 July 2007

Both countries are calling the landmark civil nuclear cooperation agreement announced Friday "a historic milestone."

While the text of the agreement has not been made public, India says it retains the right to conduct nuclear weapons tests, and the United States will allow India to reprocess U.S.-provided nuclear material.
 
One of the deal's fiercest critics within the Indian government during the negotiations was Anil Kakodkar, chief of the Atomic Energy Department, but the final agreement gives Kakodkar reason for satisfaction.

India's Atomic Energy Commission chairman, Anil Kakodkar, says India has won the right to reprocess spent nuclear fuel, 28 July 2007

U.S. officials contend the deal is still consistent with a law called the Hyde Act, under which India would lose access to American nuclear fuel if it carried out further atomic weapons tests.

The agreement apparently makes no reference to what would happen if India indeed conducts such a test. That lack of clarity has satisfied Indian skeptics like Kakodkar, but has some influential U.S. congressmen expressing opposition to the agreement.

India's national security adviser, M.K. Narayanan, is optimistic, however, that the deal's provisions do not violate U.S. law.

India's national security advisor M.K. Narayanan at New Delhi news conference on US-India civil nuclear pact, 28 July 2007

India was ostracized by the world nuclear community for conducting weapons tests in 1974 and 1998. Implementation of the deal will require a waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the multi-national body controlling the legitimate trade in materials that can be used to make nuclear bombs.  The U.S., a member of the NSG, has said it supports such a waiver.

India also still needs to work out safeguard agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for a special new facility that will be built to reprocess fuel from the U.S.

A key element of the agreement is that no U.S. fuel will be used in Indian's military nuclear weapons programs.

The agreement also has to be passed by the legislatures in both countries.

Despite those hurdles, there is jubilation here about the agreement. Even opposition politicians are praising it. The Hindustan Times newspaper calls it "audacious."

The U.S.-India Business Council predicts the deal will generate $150 billion in new trade between the two countries, as India expands its nuclear energy infrastructure over the next several decades.