India and the International Atomic Energy Agency have failed to finalise an agreed text for India-specific safeguards during the talks last week, particularly on the issue of New Delhi's right to hold its strategic reserve to meet lifetime supply for its civilian nuclear plants.
The four-day talks that concluded on Saturday were originally considered to be a final round but the draft text could not be completed, IAEA sources said, adding that there was also no meeting point on the issue of corrective measures to be undertaken in the event of stoppage of fuel to power plants.
Therefore, there will be yet another round of talks in Vienna, probably next week to finalise the agreed text. Otherwise, India will not be able to meet the deadline, they said.
India has to finalise the text and only after that will the US be able to negotiate with the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group to allow New Delhi to integrate with international nuclear commerce. This negotiation has to be completed before March to take forward the Indo-US atomic deal.
The talks, a follow up to the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, are one of the pre-requisites for operationalisation of the deal, first mooted in July 2005.
Once the text on safeguards agreement is finalised, it has to be approved by the UPA-Left committee.
It is expected that the text, drafted by the IAEA, will be brought back before the 15-member political committee for deliberations after the next round of talks, the sources said.
The Indian team, headed by Ravi B Grover, director, Strategic Planning of DAE, declined to go on record on the issue.