THE Australian Government has welcomed the Indian parliament's approval for civil nuclear power and will "constructively" consider the new Indo-US nuclear agreement next week.

While still opposed to selling uranium to India, ministers have described the historic approval of a nuclear power agreement as a "positive step forward", saying it will take into consideration the significance of the agreement for India and the US.

The Government's decision early this year to refuse to sell uranium to India caused a diplomatic rift just as Kevin Rudd identified India as the other emerging power, along with China, of the 21st century.

The new nuclear power agreement between India and the US will be considered in Vienna next week, after a parliamentary victory for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.

After years of negotiation, the Indian Government is urgently appealing to Australia and other nations to approve the US deal for nuclear power on the sub-continent.

The agreement was reached despite India's refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It goes before the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group in the next week. The agreement allows nuclear-armed India to be treated as a special case on the condition it separates its civil and military programs and allows some UN inspections.

The Rudd Government reversed a Howard government plan to sell uranium to India for power generation because of a long-standing policy not to deal with nations that have not signed the non-proliferation treaty.

Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said the Indian vote was a positive step. "While Australia will not export uranium to countries which are not signatories to the NNPT and don't have a bilateral safeguards agreement with Australia - including India - it is a positive step forward to achieve improved non-proliferation safeguards for the civilian use of nuclear power in India," he said.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Andrew Robb said the vote in the Indian parliament supporting an international agreement on the use of uranium for clean energy production meant the Rudd Government must reverse the decision to abandon uranium sales.

"India's energy security and needs are the major issue in the relationship between our two countries," he said.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the Australian Government's position on uranium sales to India was "long-standing and well known".

"We don't export uranium to a country which is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," he said. "Both myself and the Prime Minister have said that if and when the agreement between India and the US is before the IAEA or the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Australia will consider the safeguards agreement constructively.

"In its consideration, the Government will take into account the significance of the initiative for both India and the US, as well as non-proliferation considerations."

The IAEA is expected to approve a safeguards agreement with India, and that will be followed by a meeting of the NSG called by current chairman German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The suppliers group members, including Australia, will be asked to approve a "clean exemption" allowing India to trade in nuclear material even though it is not an NPT signatory.