NEW DELHI: The separation of India’s civilian and military nuclear plants, key to a July deal with the United States on nuclear technology sales, is at an “advanced stage,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said.

Mr Singh was quoted on Monday in the Indian press as saying that New Delhi has made rapid progress on identifying those plants to be considered civilian and hence subject to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The exercise of designating nuclear plants as military or civilian is at “a fairly advanced stage,” Mr Singh told reporters flying with him on Sunday as he headed to Malaysia to attend three days of meetings with Asian leaders.

US President George W. Bush agreed to give India, which is not a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), access to civilian nuclear energy technology under a deal he signed with Singh in July.—AFP