India can buy nuclear fuel and technologies from the United States, now that the US Senate has approved the '123 deal'.

The vote, along with earlier waivers from the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the International Atomic Energy Agency, makes India the only country with nuclear weapons that can legally engage in nuclear commerce without first having signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice was to have sealed the deal on a visit to New Delhi last weekend. As Nature went to press, President George W. Bush was expected to sign the deal on 8 October.