Russia and the U.S. Tuesday agreed to co-operate on converting highly-enriched research nuclear reactors into low-enriched ones, as part of a broader program to reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation worldwide.

The move comes less than a week after Russia opened the world's first nuclear fuel bank in co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, to encourage nations to buy fuel for civilian nuclear reactors from outside sources instead of producing it domestically.

Russia shut down its last military nuclear reactor this year as part of a program to make its nuclear industry more transparent. Tuesday, Russia 's nuclear corporation Rosatom agreed to start turning six of its highly-enriched nuclear reactors that are used for research purposes, into low-enriched research reactors, and said it will also convert fuel from third countries.

The agreement, signed by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman and head of Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko during a meeting in Moscow , aims at reducing the risk of enriched uranium falling into the hands of terrorists.

The U.S. is already in the process of converting uranium from third countries, said Poneman. Russia and the U.S. have to date received 2,700 kilograms of radioactive uranium from research reactors in 30 countries, enough to make 112 nuclear warheads, said Kiriyenko.

Russia is becoming a serious player not only in reducing proliferation risks but also mining uranium, building reactors and enriching fuel. Rosatom has clinched contracts to build reactors in countries such as India , Vietnam , Venezuela and China and is preparing a bid for a new project in the Czech Republic , its second in the European Union.

Of the 60 reactors under construction worldwide, Rosatom is building 15, five of which are outside Russia .

A Rosatom subsidiary, Tenex, opened an office in the U.S. last month as it seeks to increase sales of enriched uranium to U.S. utilities. The company already supplies close to half the nuclear fuel used by utilities in the U.S. About 10% of all electricity in the U.S. is generated from former Russian nuclear bomb material.

Tenex has said it would also like to begin talks on building an enrichment plant in the U.S. using Russian technology, if another planned nuclear co-operation deal between the two countries comes into force.

The 123 Agreement--signed by Moscow and Washington in 2008, but still to be ratified by the U.S. government--would give the U.S. access to Russia's vast uranium fields, while Russia would be able to offer its uranium-enrichment services to the lucrative U.S. market.

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