Defending the UPA government's stance on nuclear deal, Union External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said that by operationalising the deal the government did not intend to stockpile weapons, but make available more energy and create scope of nuclear research.

"We have enough arsenal in our possession and a strong force to defend our country. So we don't need to sign the nuclear deal for stocking weapons. It has much larger implication," Mukherjee said at a function organised by the Ramkrishna Mission Seva Pratisthan in Kolkata.

The deal would break the 34-year-old nuclear isolation ushering in the resumption of research and development which scientists and technologists had been denied off since the first nuclear test in Pokhran in 1974.

"Nuclear energy is the energy of the next generation and we want our people to enjoy it," Mukherjee said.