• Right to reprocess spent fuel and access to reprocessing technology: As of now, the US negotiating team does not have the mandate to make an exception on this issue as it goes against US law.

Sources said this issue will have to be dealt with at a higher political level. In this context, the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W Bush on the margins of the G-8 Summit in June in Germany will be significant.

• Right of Return: In case India were to test, US can exercise this right to take back all items and the fuel it has exported. India feels this runs against fuel assurances. But given the practical difficulty in implementing this, New Delhi is confident that an agreed language can be worked upon.

The working deadline to clean up much of the language on the 123 agreement is May-end so that the agreement can be finalised by June — after the PM meets Bush — so that it can then be placed before the US Congress for an “up and down” vote.