WASHINGTON: The United States is in advanced negotiations to share nuclear fuel and technology with Vietnam, including a proviso that would allow Hanoi to enrich uranium on its own, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Congressional critics of the deal say the terms would undercut the more stringent demands placed on its partners in the Middle East, which had been required to renounce uranium enrichment in exchange for nuclear cooperation, the report said.

The newspaper cited US officials as saying that negotiators have given a full nuclear cooperation proposal to Vietnam, a former Cold War foe, and that they have started briefing the House and Senate foreign relations committees.

China, which shares a long border with Vietnam, has not been consulted, the officials said.

"It doesn`t involve China," a top US official was quoted as saying.

A deal would allow US firms like General Electric Co. and Bechtel Corp. to sell nuclear components and reactors to Vietnam, the report said.

"If we`re able to have US companies and technologies in play in Vietnam this gives the ability to exert some leverage," the US official was quoted as saying. "If we shut ourselves out, others may have different standards."

The Journal said the negotiations, which are led by the State Department, have accelerated in recent months.

The United States and Vietnam signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bush administration in 2001 to pursue cooperation with the United States on securing fissile materials and developing civilian nuclear power.

The Journal said Vuong Huu Tan, director of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute, said the two sides reached an initial agreement on nuclear cooperation in March and hope to finalize it later this year.

He said Vietnam did not plan to enrich uranium.

BDST: 1210 HRS, August 05, 2010