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VIENNA - INDIA missed a chance to launch an inspection process required for its nuclear cooperation accord with the United States at a high-level meeting on Wednesday because of domestic opposition, diplomats said.
India's atomic energy director, Mr Anil Kakodkar, met United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei, but did not start a process to set up International Atomic Energy Agency inspections for its civilian reactors, diplomats said.
An IAEA safeguards agreement covering India's nuclear reactors is a requirement for implementing the US-India nuclear accord, which has split New Delhi's governing coalition.
'A new safeguards accord was not mentioned in the bilateral meeting. It seems the Indians must resolve their domestic situation first. They did not ask the agency to start drafting an agreement,' said a senior diplomat close to the IAEA.
Mr Kakodkar, who met Mr ElBaradei on the fringes of a 149-nation IAEA assembly, told the meeting India wanted international civil atomic cooperation but no interference in its fuel enrichment industry. He did not mention the US-India pact.
The deal has destabilised New Delhi's governing coalition.
Communist junior partners say it threatens India's sovereign nuclear energy programme, which has yielded both power and atomic bombs, and have threatened to walk out if it proceeds.
It is up to India to launch the process with the agency.
Mr ElBaradei will go to India on Oct 8 for a five-day visit, an agency official said. The trip was planned before an IAEA-India inspections pact became an issue but Mr ElBaradei will have talks with top Indian officials. -- REUTERS
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