Myanmar backs nuclear security safeguards

VIENNA, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- The International Atomic Energy Agency announced Myanmar signed on to additional safeguard agreements regarding nuclear security.

Myanmar's Foreign Affairs Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin signed the so-called Additional Protocol alongside IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano in Vienna. The agreement gives inspectors the right to conduct snap inspections outside declared nuclear sites.

Al-Jazeera co-produced a documentary with the Democratic Voice of Burma in 2010 that claimed Myanmar engineers received training in missile and nuclear technology in Moscow.

Al-Jazeera reported last month defectors from Myanmar's military fled three years ago with evidence of a "secret nuclear program" said to rival what's suspected from Iran.

The Additional Protocol doesn't enter into force until Myanmar legislators signed the agreement. Several Asian countries have signed on to the protocol but did not bring it into force.

"The Additional Protocol for Myanmar will enter into force on the date on which the IAEA receives from Myanmar written notification that Myanmar's statutory and/or constitutional requirements for entry into force have been met," the IAEA said in a statement Tuesday.