‘Breakthrough’ in Indo-US n-ties; Westinghouse deal is on

India and the United States today announced a ''breakthrough'' in nuclear power agreements, furthering the deal made in 2008 during the Bush presidency that lifted nuclear sanctions on India.

The US government has apparently approved an agreement between nuclear supplier Westinghouse and the Nuclear Power Corp of India for preliminary site development in Gujarat; indicating that India is going full ahead on nuclear power despite recent developments that have obliged virtually all other democracies to phase out or shut down nuclear plants.

Although the development came in dialogues outside the conference room, it set the tone for the official discussions.

In a joint press conference at the conclusion of the Indo-US Strategic Dialogue today, India's affairs minister S M Krishna and US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who co-chaired the dialogue, welcomed the removal of a major hurdle in the ''implementation'' of the nuclear deal.

US companies have so far been unable to participate in India's nuclear boom due to US concerns over India's nuclear liability laws. These were later diluted by the Manmohan Singh government. Meanwhile, French and Russian nuclear suppliers have gained a march over US nuclear companies.

Krishna said at the press briefing, "This should put at rest some of the interpretations and some of the confusion and allow nuclear commerce to expand itself."