"Are we prepared to live in a world where dozens of countries have the capability and key ingredients to make nuclear weapons," Nunn, a champion of non-proliferation during his 24 years in the US Senate, said about strategic atomic fuel work.

"We are well past the time when we can take satisfaction with a step in the right direction. A gazelle running from a cheetah is taking steps in the right direction. It's no longer just a question of direction. It's a matter of speed," Nunn told a meeting in Vienna of the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency.

The IAEA was Tuesday in a special session of its 140 nations discussing how to avoid crises like the one over Iran by guaranteeing nuclear reactor fuel to countries that need it while keeping atom bomb know-how from spreading.

Enriched uranium is fuel for civilian nuclear power reactors, but it can also be used to make the explosive core of atom bombs.

The IAEA has proposed running a nuclear fuel bank so that countries would not need "to develop their own uranium enrichment technologies at a time when concerns about nuclear proliferation are growing," the IAEA said in a press release.

"I want to make sure that every country that is a bona fide user of nuclear energy and that is fulfilling its non-proliferation obligations is getting fuel," IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said.

Nunn, a co-founder along with media magnate Ted Turner of the Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative think tank, said the NTI would contribute 50 million dollars (40 million euros) to help create a nuclear fuel bank, provided that one or more IAEA states put in an additional 100 million dollars in funding.

Nunn told reporters a fuel bank with 150 million dollars of low-enriched uranium, which is not weapons-grade, would be "substantially below one percent of annual (world civilian uranium) use," a correct amount for what is supposed to a "last-resort mechanism" rather than a replacement for the market.

Nunn said he hoped "this would be an additional tool in the overall arsenal of those institutions and countries that are trying to find a way to basically deal with the Iranian challenge."

He added that this could also apply "to a lot of other countries that may be making decisions in the next couple of years on this subject."

ElBaradei said that with nuclear energy an attractive alternative to fossil fuels since it creates fewer greenhouse gases and with concern growing over terrorists or rogue states getting their hands on strategic atomic technology, there is a clear "need for the development of a new, multilateral framwork for the nuclear fuel cycle."

The United States charges that Iran is using what Tehran maintains is a peaceful nuclear program to hide the development of atomic weapons.

Washington wants Iran to stop enriching uranium and is seeking UN sanctions against Tehran if the Islamic Republic refuses to do this.

Iran however is pushing ahead with enrichment, saying it has a right to make nuclear fuel under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said here Monday that a fuel bank would not disrupt the world market for nuclear fuel but be a back-up mechanism to guarantee supply, and so convince countries they did not need to do the costly enrichment work themselves.

ElBaradei stressed that nations would still be free to decide whether they wanted to do fuel work.

Both the United States and Russia have said they are ready to make nuclear material available for a fuel bank.

But Iranian Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh said here Monday that Iran must resist any constraints on the right of nations "to exercise their inalienable rights to develop and pursue peaceful nuclear activities."

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