Ottawa, Jan 17: Canada is hoping that its support for allowing India to rejoin the world's nuclear trade will help open the door to a lucrative business in reactors and uranium.

Canada inadvertently helped India develop an atomic bomb by giving it reactor technology in the 1950s and helped India win an exemption from nuclear non-proliferation rules that had banned it for decades from trading in nuclear technology and uranium.

Canadian Trade Minister Stockwell Day is heading to India with three of Canada's largest nuclear-industry companies, hoping to smooth the way for business opportunities in meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Globeandmail. com reported.

Day is to be accompanied in India by top executives from Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., the crown corporation that designs nuclear reactors; nuclear engineering firm SNC-Lavalin Nuclear; and Cameco Corp., the Saskatoon-based uranium supplier.

"They're anticipating the building, over the next several years, of anywhere from 30 to 40 nuclear plants to produce clean energy. That's a huge opportunity for Canada," Day said from Prague, where he was meeting European trade officials before travelling to India.

"India recognizes that Canada was one of the significant voices in terms of seeing some of the past restrictions which have been placed on India lifted when it comes to civilian nuclear production. And we think we're going to be in a good position to make the pitch on the benefits of going with Canadian technology and supply."

India lobbied hard for Canada to support its re-entry into the civilian nuclear trade because Canada is a member of two key organizations, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which had to adopt rule changes. (ANI)