"There was a change in posture on both sides," Odair Dias Goncalvez, of Brazil's National Nuclear Energy Commission, said of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"Now, the IAEA agrees that it is not necessary to have unlimited access to the installations to have reliable assurances," he said.

On Wednesday, IAEA experts conducted a daylong inspection of the uranium enrichment plant, in Resende, in southeastern Brazil 180 kilometersmiles) west of Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil, with one of the world's largest uranium reserves, had denied IAEA inspectors access to the facility in February and March, citing protection of uranium extraction trade secrets.

Uranium enrichment produces fuel for civilian reactors, as well as atomic bombs.

The IAEA team agreed to Brazil's restriction of the visit, in which the experts were given limited access to the 400 centrifuges that produce enriched uranium, according to Goncalvez.

Brazil plans to increase the percentage of electricity produced by nuclear plants from 4.5 to 5.7 percent by 2010. By 2014, Brazil plans to export uranium.

Brazil has signed and ratified the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the cornerstone of global efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and cannot operate the plant until it gets a green light from the IAEA, the UN body that monitors treaty compliance.

The US government has said it was confident Brazil was not developing nuclear weapons.

The three AIEA experts, from South Africa, France and the United States, could not see the centrifuges themselves, which were screened by panels, but could see connecting pipes and valves. The view allowed the inspectors to see under the floor, to confirm that there were no hidden pipes.

The inspectors are to return to the IAEA headquarters in Vienna and have 30 days to make their report.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.