India is bound by the 123 agreement with the US on civil nuclear cooperation and status quo has not changed, senior Union Minister Kapil Sibal clarified on Thursday after controversial disclosure of Washington's position triggered a storm in political circles in New Delhi.

"Precisely, nothing has changed," Sibal told Karan Thapar's on a TV channel after being asked whether the status quo remained unchanged in the wake of US State Department's correspondence on the nuclear deal being made public.

In its correspondence, the State Department has made it clear that US will stop fuel supplies and other nuclear cooperation if India conducts a nuclear test.

"The leak (correspondence) is consistent with the 123 agreement itself," Sibal said adding the agreement provides for a modality to be adhered to by the two countries in the event of a change of environment and India were to conduct a nuclear test.

Seeking to allay apprehensions that the US position could entail a repeat of the Tarapur experience, Sibal said the 123 agreement provided for India building a strategic reserve and to have contracts with other countries for assured fuel supplies.

"If we have an assured fuel supply, whatever the US does will have no impact on India's civilian nuclear energy," the minister said.

However, the 26-page document released by a well-known opponent of the deal, Howard Berman, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, contains an assertion by the Bush Administration that its assurances of nuclear supplies to India are not meant to insulate it against the consequences of a nuclear test.

The US position, which appears at variance with New Delhi's interpretation of some key clauses of the Indo-US nuclear deal, was made public just ahead of the two-day meeting of the 45-nation NSG which commenced in Vienna on Thursday to consider a waiver to enable India do nuclear commerce.

The stoppage of nuclear cooperation in certain circumstances if India conducts an atomic test figures in the 123 agreement but impression so far has been that the US would ensure uninterrupted fuel supplies from other countries.

Berman made public the State Department's responses to 45 questions on the deal posed by his predecessor Tom Lantos way back in October last year. The response of January 16 has been kept under wraps for nine months.