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Thursday February 23, 4:31 PM India, US in talks over nuclear deal Photo: AFP Click to enlarge NEW DELHI (AFP) - US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns has been in talks with Indian authorities to settle sharp differences over a nuclear deal ahead of a visit by US President George W. Bush, officials said. Burns and Indian foreign secretary Shyam Saran were meeting in New Delhi to discuss the separation of India's nuclear facilities -- the contentious issue which holds the key to the historic deal, Indian officials said. Under the proposed agreement, New Delhi will get access to long-denied advanced nuclear technology if it puts some of its reactors on a list of civilian facilities to be placed under international supervision. But the proposed plan has run into trouble over Washington's insistence that its "fast breeder" reactor programme, which can be used to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons, should also be on the list. Indian scientists vehemently oppose the idea, saying it will compromise the country's strategic interests. The scientific adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh weighed in on Wednesday by saying outright India would not put the facility on the civilian list. "Who said we are going to put the fast breeder reactors in the civilian side? We cannot and will not do so," C.N.R. Rao, Singh's scientific adviser, told the Press Trust of India. "We will accept only whatever is good for India ... The deal cannot be forced on us. The country's interest will be protected," Rao said. India's junior foreign minister Anand Sharma also told parliament Thursday that India would separate its facilities "voluntarily", and that the exercise would be based on the country's "national interests". Indian media reports Thursday quoted unnamed government officials as saying that India was likely to tell Burns it would not place more than 32 facilities under safeguards compared to the 60 facilities Washington wants on the list. New Delhi would also agree to international safeguards for its fast-breeder reactors but not before 2010, the reports said. Burns, who arrived in New Delhi Wednesday, was also to meet junior foreign minister Sharma after his talks with Saran. Ahead of his visit starting March 1, Bush said in Washington that the nuclear deal would take time and require patience to implement. Bush and Singh signed the deal in July, but it still needs the approval of the US Congress and the 44-member Nuclear Suppliers Group. "I'll continue to encourage India to produce a credible, transparent and defensible plan to separate its civilian and military nuclear programs," the president said in an address to the US-based Asia Society. "This is just the beginning of a very long process," of encouraging countries with big economies to move away from fossil fuels like oil, Bush told reporters. "We are starting with India. "One of the primary reasons why is that India is in need of a diversification away from fossil fuels. India is consuming a lot of fossil fuel. That is driving up the price," he said. "And so, therefore, to the extent to which we can get these fast-growing, developing nations to use something other than fossil fuels, it's in the world's interest, and it's in Pakistan's interest as well," Bush said.