The U.N. nuclear watchdog has approved a Brazilian inspection plan that allows it to ensure nothing is diverted from a uranium enrichment plant in Brazil to an atom bomb program, the agency said Thursday.

The statement by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), confirmed Wednesday's announcement by Brasilia and marked the end of a year-long dispute between Brazil and the IAEA.

"We have been able to reach an agreement in principle with the Brazilian government ... to verify the enrichment facility in Brazil, the Resende facility," ElBaradei told reporters before an IAEA board of governors meeting.

He said the approach "will enable us to do credible inspections but at the same time take care of Brazil's need to protect commercial sensitivity inside the facility." IAEA inspections aim to verify no material is shifted to bomb-making projects.

ElBaradei did not say that Brazil had received a green light to begin enriching uranium, as the Brazilian government said, though he indicated it was on its way.

"I expect in the next couple of weeks (the agreement) will be finalized in a formal way," ElBaradei said. Brazilian Science and Technology Minister Eduardo Campos said the plant would be turned on before the end of the year, bringing Brazil close to its goal of fully mastering the technology to produce nuclear power for peaceful use.

Odair Dias Goncalves, president of Brazil's National Nuclear Energy Commission, said the IAEA would not gain full visual access to the Resende plant's centrifuges, a point Brazil has insisted on in order to protect its technological know-how."They agreed that it is not necessary to have unrestricted access," Goncalves said.

Washington had pressured Brazil to give IAEA inspectors full access to the Resende installation, worried that Brazil's reluctance might embolden countries like Iran to close off their atomic programs to international inspections.

(From Reuters, November 25, 2004)

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