"I expect ... that the French government would pay full attention to making sure that any safeguard will be implemented in any sort of deal," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

But German Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Gernot Erler said "politically this is a problematic affair."

"Above all the risk of proliferation increases with every country using nuclear energy," he told the Handelsblatt daily.

A memorandum on building the new reactor was signed as French President Nicolas Sarkozy held talks with Libyan leader Kadhafi on Wednesday, a day after Tripoli freed six foreign medics. France played a key role, along with EU officials, in securing their release.

Sortir du Nucleaire (Get Out of Nuclear) grouping public interest organisations said the official reason for the reactor -- to desalinate sea water -- was a "deception" as the civilian and military uses of nuclear technology were "indissociable."

"Delivering civilian nuclear energy to Libya would amount to helping the country, sooner or later, to acquire nuclear weapons," it said.

Rich in oil and gas, Libya is "very amply self-sufficient in energy," the group argued. "If it wishes to diversify, it should logically give priority to solar energy: the country enjoys remarkable levels of sunshine all year long."

Greenpeace France said the deal "poses an enormous problem in terms of nuclear proliferation" and branded it as "in keeping with the French policy of irresponsible export of nuclear technology."

Greenpeace pointed out that previous French presidents had signed nuclear deals with the former shah of Iran, ex-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and with South Africa during the apartheid era.

The opposition Socialist Party asked: "Is it not a bit soon to be throwing ourselves into Kadhafi's arms and giving him our international endorsement?"

"Civilian nuclear (technology) can be used sooner or later to develop military applications," it said.

The Green Party accused Sarkozy of "boundless cynicism" rooted in the risk of striking a nuclear deal with an "undemocratic state."

The CEA's Simon Nisan, who is in charge of nuclear-powered desalination projects, said Wednesday's deal followed the signature in March 2006 of a agreement for bilateral cooperation in nuclear research and technology.

That accord focuses primarily on a nuclear research centre at Tajura, near Tripoli, whose reactor was supplied by the Soviet Union in 1979.

Nisan said International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) controls made it "almost impossible" to divert the technology to military use.

"The controls are so tight that you don't have the right to remove the fuel without the presence of IAEA inspectors," he said.

In addition, the material is low-enriched uranium, rather than the highly-enriched kind which is needed for nuclear bombs, he said.

In 2004, weapons-grade uranium stored at Tajura was removed under IAEA scrutiny and sent for recycling to Russia, which originally supplied the material, after Kadhafi pledged to give up weapons of mass destruction in 2003.

In Vienna, a diplomat close to the IAEA said Tripoli had had "very good cooperation" with the UN atomic watchdog since 2003.

In London, Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said he saw no proliferation risk, "given the fact that Libya is still cooperating with the IAEA (and) the manner (in which) it turned over and destroyed equipments."

"(Libya's) cooperation with the IAEA and British and American governments has been exemplary," Fitzpatrick said. "It is important for the rest of the world to see that when a country abandons its nuclear weapons programmes and weapons of mass destruction, there are tangible benefits. This cooperation (with France) is a direct result," he added.

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