Apparently justifying the India-United States nuclear agreement, the government told Lok Sabha on Wednesday that the country's atomic programme can develop much faster if international cooperation in the field is allowed.

Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan said India needed to have international cooperation to acquire uranium technology and fuel which is insufficient in the country.

Noting that all countries in the world had uranium-based nuclear programmes, he said that India is deficient in the fuel and whatever reserves existed would be exhausted after some time.

"If the government is allowed to go for international cooperation, there will be enough uranium available that will make our nuclear programme much faster," Chavan said.

He allayed the impression that the government was not exploiting thorium, which is available in sufficient quantity, to develop the nuclear programme.

"India's thorium utilisation technology is more advanced than anywhere in the world," the minister said, pointing out that the country did not need international cooperation to develop this technology.

"We will not delay by even one day ...to have some kind of energy independence," Chavan said.