The Indo-US Civil Nuclear Energy Agreement was signed on 8 October, 2008. The framework for this agreement was a joint statement by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then U.S. President George W. Bush, under which India agreed to separate its civil and military nuclear facilities and to place its civil nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards and the United States agreed to work toward full civil nuclear cooperation with India.

According to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), the agreement will help India meet its goal of adding 25,000 MW of nuclear power capacity through imports of nuclear reactors and fuel by 2020.