"The graphite material containing natural uranium and the technology for processing it comply with International Atomic Energy Agency standards and with Kyrgyz legislation," the commission said in a report cited by the AKIpress news agency.

Under the one million dollar plan, German-based RWE NUKEM GmbH would send around 1,700 tonnes of uranium-bearing graphite for processing at Kyrgyzstan's Kara-Balta Ore Processing plant.

The deal was signed in 2002 but ran into licencing difficulties following objections from non-governmental organisations and from Prime Minister Nikolai Tanayev, whose views may not necessarily prevail, observers say.

Kara-Balta's management have defended the deal, saying it will help them to renew their dangerously decaying facility.

The graphite from Germany will contain no more than five percent uranium, Kara-Balta has said.

This mountainous Central Asian country is renowned for its natural landscape but is also dotted with numerous Soviet-era nuclear waste dumps, some of which threaten not only Kyrgyzstan but its downstream neighbour Uzbekistan.

WAR.WIRE