VIENNA, AUSTRIA - THE United States said it would seek to push a nuclear trade deal with India past international and domestic hurdles with time running out before a deadline set by United States elections in November.

India and the United States must win clearances from United Nations atomic watchdog governors and a 45-nation group that controls sensitive nuclear trade, then ratification by the US Congress for the three-year-old nuclear deal to take force.

After prolonged delay caused by a governing coalition split over the deal, India took the first step towards implementing it on Wednesday by submitting a draft plan for inspections of its civilian nuclear reactors to the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation Board of Governors in Vienna.

'We welcome India's willingness to move forward with this historic initiative, which is part of the strategic partnership envisioned by President (George W.) Bush and Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh,' said Mr Gregory Schulte, US envoy to the IAEA.

'The initiative will help strengthen the global (nuclear) non-proliferation regime and help India meet its growing energy demands in an environmentally friendly way,' he told reporters on Thursday.

'There is much that needs to be done. The next step is IAEA board review ... We will work with India, our Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) partners and the US Congress to ensure the initiative is implemented as expeditiously as possible.'

Loophole?

IAEA diplomats said there was some concern about a clause in the inspections plan suggesting India could halt IAEA controls if nuclear fuel imports were interrupted, for example in protest at another nuclear test, and they would seek clarification.

But analysts said the agreement covering 14 of 22 reactors in India was likely to be approved by the board since agency inspectors certified it met basic safeguards standards.

'There is no doubt the board will approve the deal. There will be a range of national statements, some with tongue clicking, but no real debate,' said Mr Mark Fitzpatrick at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Diplomats said the 35-nation board could meet as early as July 28 or in August to address the matter.

But diplomats say more resistance may crop up within the NSG to granting India an exemption to the group's ban on trade with non-NPT states, which include Pakistan and Israel.

NSG members such as Ireland, Austria, Switzerland and Scandinavian countries are concerned the deal may set a perilous precedent by reversing decades of rules against nuclear cooperation with any country outside the NPT, diplomats say.

Some feel it could also weaken international efforts to rein in NPT member Iran's secretive uranium enrichment programme, under UN sanctions over suspicions it is aimed at building bombs, not generating electricity as Teheran says.

The NSG, which acts slowly and only by consensus, therefore might need until September or October to reach a decision.

Some US congressmen have said there will be no time left for the several weeks required to tackle the deal in the House and Senate before they adjourn for elections.

That would leave the pact in indefinite limbo, prey to electoral changes in the United States and India. -- REUTERS