The agreement was signed between Russian atomic energy firm Rosatom head Sergei Kiriyenko and chairman of the French Atomic Energy Commission Bernard Bigot.

The agreement, which replaces the earlier 1993 and 2000 deals, aims to expand bilateral cooperation to include canvassing public opinion, setting up warning systems and emergency management.

"The agreement has paved the way for us for a partnership with France in the atomic sphere," Kiriyenko said.

He added that the two sides had worked out a schedule which includes the creation of a coordination committee to see the completion of the joint program by early fall.

Cooperation will mostly focus on the prospective technologies of recycling spent nuclear fuel and on the use of radioactive isotopes in medicine.

Russia and France will also conduct joint experiments in the field of atomic energy.

Most importantly, the two sides will cooperate on nuclear rector technologies using high-speed reactors and MOX fuel. This will involve regular mutual visits by Russian and French experts to both sides' research centers.

France, which is currently working on a third-generation reactor, has been a major exporter of nuclear reactors and fuel products in the past decade, often to the detriment of Russia's nuclear export ambitions.