"It's a very sensitive subject but I believe our government has a terrific amount of confidence in Brazil," said assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere Roger Noriega.

The Washington Post last week said Brazil had rejected a visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency to a uranium enrichment plant it is building near Rio de Janeiro, and that IAEA inspections in Brazil are stalled.

"It's a complicated technical issue," Noriega told reporters.

"We believe they (Brazil) are committed to meeting their international obligations and this is a matter that is best handled by the IAEA in a multilateral way. We do not want to make this a bilateral issue, because quite frankly the US has confidence that Brazil is a responsible actor."

A State Department official, who asked not to be named, last week called on Brazil to implement all IAEA safeguards at its nuclear plants and to adopt an additional protocol on non-proliferation.

Brazil, which has one of the world's largest uranium reserves, denied IAEA inspectors access to the plant between February and March, but is negotiating with the Vienna-based organization on other ways for checks to be carried out at the plant once it launches its experimental phase.

Nonproliferation specialists say that if the United States and the United Nations do not act to curtail Brazil's program, or at least insist on inspections, it could undermine White House calls for Iran and North Korea to halt their efforts to enrich uranium.

Brazil's project also poses a conundrum for US President George W. Bush, who has called for tighter restrictions on enrichment of uranium as part of a new strategy to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, last week's report in The Post said.

WAR.WIRE