The accord, which was inked during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to Tokyo, will allow for the transfer of Japanese technology to Russia and the sale of more nuclear fuel to energy-poor Japan.

It will also open the door for joint uranium mining in Russia and third countries such as Mongolia, Sergei Kiriyenko, head of state nuclear agency Rosatom, said on the sidelines of Putin's visit.

Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso said after meeting Putin that Japan "has high-level technologies in building nuclear power plants and Russia has rich resources and enrichment capacity."

Putin said "we are talking about a nuclear fuel cycle, exploration, mining and enrichment of the uranium."

Kiriyenko told reporters: "Today's agreement allows for the start of a large amount of commercial deals. The total amount of contracts comes to several billion dollars."

He said the pact was "the fruit of more than two years of work."

Japan has stressed that no technology transfers must undercut international non-proliferation efforts, and that no nuclear technology must end up in the hands of countries such as Iran.

Through the accord, in line with UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rules, Japan hopes that the transparency of Russia's use of nuclear energy will improve, Japanese officials have said.

Japanese and Russian anti-nuclear activists in a statement warned of the threat of radioactive pollution and of the danger of weapon proliferation if spent fuel falls into the wrong hands.

"Japan cannot be confident that Japanese nuclear material will not be diverted to Iran, or to other countries suspected of developing nuclear weapons," they said in their joint statement.

Japan's Toshiba Corp and Russia's Atomenergoprom last year signed a preliminary agreement on possible cooperation in building nuclear power plants, manufacturing equipment and the nuclear fuel business.

Toshiba and Rosatom, meanwhile, are looking at building a storage facility for Russian low-enriched uranium in Japan, said Kiriyenko, adding that a 10-year contract would be worth "several billion dollars."

Under the pact, Japan and Russia could also explore for and mine uranium together, he said, adding that Japanese companies including Mitsui had been invited to mine uranium in Russia's northern region of Yakutia.

Joint ventures in third countries were also on the table, he said, including in Mongolia, which Putin was set to visit on his way back to Moscow.

Under the agreement Russia plans to offer a stable supply of nuclear energy resources to Japan, which draws about 30 percent of its total electrical power needs from its 53 nuclear plants.

Putin told Japanese media earlier that Russia was planning to increase its share of Japan's nuclear fuel market from 15 percent to 25 percent.

Russia has sealed similar deals with countries including Britain, China, India, France, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Japan has concluded similar accords with six countries, including the United States and China.

The nuclear deal has to be approved by both countries' parliaments.

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