A new nuclear fuel supply plan has been approved by the 35-nation Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. It's designed to help more countries gain access to nuclear energy, without the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation.

Jointly proposed by some EU countries, Russia and the US, the scheme will see governments, which supply nuclear energy, signing an IAEA-approved agreement with customer countries.It's hoped the plan will prevent shipments being stopped for non-commercial reasons.

This is the third IAEA arrangement for setting up a multilateral program on nuclear fuel supplies.

Huang Wei, China's deputy envoy to the IAEA, said at the Board meeting in Vienna that China supports all efforts conducive to promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy and strengthening the non-proliferation regime.