India freezes U.S. nuclear deal

SHANGHAI, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday called off a bilateral nuclear co-operation agreement reached with the United States.

"The prime minister explained to President Bush that certain difficulties have arisen with respect to operationalization of the India-U.S. civil nuclear co-operation agreement," the office of the Indian leader said.

The nuclear co-operation pact, which would allow India to import U.S. nuclear fuel and technology for the first time since the 1970s, was announced during U.S. President George Bush's visit to India last year.

The Times of London said Singh telephoned Bush Monday night to tell him the pact had run into tough opposition from the communists, who back Singh's ruling Congress Party coalition in Parliament.

Singh's allies threatened to withdraw their support, forcing early elections, if India opened negotiations for inspections of nuclear facilities by the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, the newspaper reported from New Delhi.

Although the United States planned to keep working on the pact, the Times said diplomats don't expect any movement before the end of the Bush administration.

Separately, a senior IAEA official speaking in Shanghai, predicted nuclear power growth in China and India will outpace the rest of the world, China Daily reported. “In China, in India, you have very definite plans for increasing the nuclear capacity six to 10 times for 20 years, this is really fast growth,” he said. “The growth of the world is not so fast.”