AUSTRALIA and India have already begun a ''dialogue'' that is likely to canvass the sale of uranium to the nuclear power if Labor dumps its opposition to the trade at the party's national conference in December.

A confidential briefing note to the Resources Minister, Martin Ferguson, in February says the dialogue ''may prove a useful avenue to communicate any policy shifts on the issue'' of uranium exports, which are banned to India under government and ALP policy.

''The dialogue could be elevated in the future as conditions allow agreement on exporting uranium to India,'' the note from his department says.

Mr Ferguson is expected to lead a push to ''modernise'' Labor's uranium policy at the conference, having declared this year that India has a ''very, very good history of nuclear non-proliferation'', despite its refusal to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. He cautioned against reading ''too much'' into the briefing note, saying last night that his department was ''simply noting all potential eventualities, as departments do''.

The revelation of a formal dialogue has alarmed the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which obtained the briefing note using freedom-of-information laws.

''Opening up uranium sales to India would fuel the nuclear arms race under way between India and Pakistan, which has potentially catastrophic consequences,'' its Australian director, Tim Wright, said yesterday.

''The threat of a regional nuclear war between India and Pakistan is real. Selling uranium to India runs counter to Australia's own security interests, and makes a mockery of its stated commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons.''