Russia will set aside 40 metric tons of low-enriched uranium by the end of this year to provide guaranteed services of the nuclear fuel cycle, Russia's civilian nuclear power chief said on Monday.

Russia and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) signed on Monday an agreement on creating a guaranteed stock of 120 metric tons of low-enriched uranium in Angarsk in Siberia.

Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia's state-run civilian nuclear power corporation Rosatom, said that other countries were displaying interest in the pool of low-enriched uranium.

Russia proposed plans in early 2007 for a nuclear center in Angarsk, 5,100 km (3,170 miles) east of Moscow, to enable countries, including Iran, to develop civilian nuclear power without having to enrich their own uranium.

Kiriyenko said 120 metric tons of low-enriched uranium would suffice for two complete loads of a nuclear power reactor with a capacity of 1,000 MW.