Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and his mainland counterpart, Li Zhaoxing, signed the nuclear safeguards deal Monday in the presence of visiting Premier Wen Jiabao and Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

"Given China's high projected growth in electricity demand over the coming years, there are clear environmental benefits in diversifying from fossil fuels to low greenhouse-emission technologies such as nuclear power," Downer said.

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China is expected to build 40 to 50 nuclear power plants over the next 20 years and needs steady supplies of uranium. Its own uranium stocks are dwindling, not very rich and difficult to extract.

Australia has about 40 percent of the world's known uranium reserves, but it will only export to countries that have signed the United Nations Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty and who also agree to a separate bilateral safeguards deal.

India also wants to buy uranium from Australia, but has not signed the NPT and Howard has said he was not planning to change his strict uranium trade policy just because New Delhi signed a nuclear technology deal with the United States.

The US-India deal agreed last month requires New Delhi to separate its military and civil nuclear facilities and open civilian plants to inspections in return for US nuclear fuel and technology, but still needs approval from the US Congress.

Australia only has three operating uranium mines, owned by BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and General Atomics of the United States, and Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane has said big uranium exports to China are unlikely to start until 2010.

Macfarlane said China's predicted uranium consumption is estimated at 20,000 tonnes a year, while Australia currently produces only about 10,000 tonnes a year from its existing three mines. He said extra capacity would be needed to supply China.

Australia has 19 bilateral nuclear safeguard agreements covering 36 countries, including the United States, France, Britain, Mexico, Japan, Finland and South Korea.

The NPT requires the five nuclear- weapon states - Russia, the United States, Britain, France, and China - not to transfer nuclear weapons, other nuclear explosive devices, or technology to non-nuclear-weapon states and non- NPT countries.

"I'm firm in the belief that with the considered effort of both countries, China-Australia relations and cooperation will yield rich fruits," Wen told a lunch at Parliament House.

About 25 human rights protesters gathered out the front of Parliament House in Canberra in opposition to Wen's visit, including a former Chinese diplomat granted residency in Australia after he first sought political asylum.

Minority Australian Greens party politician Christine Milne said Australia is putting money before human rights and global security by allowing China to import uranium. "Make no mistake - selling Australian uranium to China will make the world less safe," she said.

Australia and China are also negotiating a free trade deal and Wen said the two countries have agreed to accelerate talks. "That is in the next one or two years China and Australia should work together to strive for breakthroughs on major issues related to the FTA negotiation ... to lay the foundation for the arrival of an overall agreement," Wen said.

REUTERS