Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. pressed a group of nuclear powers, set up 34 years ago to stop states copying India's route to the atomic bomb, to pass a Washington-sponsored accord allowing nuclear trade with the south Asian nation.

``I believe that we're making steady progress,'' U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns told reporters today in Vienna. ``While a number of representatives here have raised important questions that need to be addressed, our conversations have been constructive.''

The 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group is meeting for a second time in a month in the Austrian capital. Its members are divided over whether to lift a ban on trade in nuclear fuels and technology, imposed after India tested its first nuclear weapon in 1974. They put off making a decision Aug. 22 and must vote unanimously to lift the ban.

A delay in passing the deal may quash the U.S.-sponsored agreement, which would break 34 years of nuclear trade restrictions on India, analysts say. Proponents say the deal would allow the world's second-most populous nation to satisfy rising energy demands through the purchase of atomic reactor technology.

``The revised U.S. proposal does not incorporate any meaningful adjustments or concessions and is essentially the same as the earlier draft proposal,'' Arms Control Association Director Daryl Kimball said. The Washington-based body posted a copy of the revised two-page proposal on its Web site late yesterday.

Nuclear Tests

Divisions at the Suppliers Group arose after the U.S. submitted a draft exemption that is weaker than a December 2006 law passed by the U.S. Congress permitting an agreement. The U.S. proposal now leaves open the option for India to conduct nuclear tests.

The Suppliers Group's ``divisions were quite deep,'' Andreas Persbo, of the London-based Verification Research, Training and Information Center, said today in an e-mail. ``The U.S. is now on a forceful diplomatic offensive to change the minds of the opponent states.''

India wants the option of testing more nuclear weapons. U.S. legislation would revoke the agreement if testing resumed, though the latest U.S. proposal to the Suppliers Group would not.

``India doesn't want anything but a clean and unconditional waiver,'' said London-based Eurasia Group analyst Seema Desai yesterday in a telephone interview. ``Testing is a big issue touching upon national sovereignty and pride.''

Modifications

Around 20 countries proposed 50 modifications to the deal at the Group's last meeting, according to the Arms Control Association. Austria, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland are among the countries objecting to an unconditional waiver, the Association said.

Some members of Congress are urging the Suppliers Group to scupper the deal.

``While privately assuring Congress that the U.S. will cut off nuclear trade if India tests a nuclear weapon, the administration is lobbying the Nuclear Suppliers Group to pass a rule-waiver for India that includes no such limitations,'' Representative Edward Markey, Democratic co-chairman of the House Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation, said late yesterday in an e-mail. ``The NSG should reject this ill-considered, unwise and unproductive plan.''

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, a California Democrat, this week released 26 pages of previously classified State Department answers to questions it had about the deal. The administration promised Congress it would cancel the agreement if India tested another nuclear weapon, according to the document.

U.S. companies may be frozen out of nuclear trade with India if the Suppliers Group passes an agreement with the south Asian country without the more stringent rules outlined under U.S. law.

Bush Lobbying

President George W. Bush has been lobbying leaders of Nuclear Supplier Group countries and this week urged Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende of the Netherlands to approve the proposal in a telephone call, according to National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

``Another delayed decision by the Nuclear Suppliers Group would be a signal that this deal isn't going to go through during the administrations of Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,'' Arms Control Association Research Director Wade Boese said yesterday in a telephone interview.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Tirone in Vienna at jtirone@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 4, 2008 06:44 EDT