Venezuela's president has announced the creation of an atomic energy commission and plans to lead the South American nation into the nuclear era.

Following a visit to Moscow, Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday his government would catch up with the continent's only other nations who possess nuclear power stations - Brazil and Argentina.

Dismissing US concerns over the project, Chavez said: "I say it before the world: Venezuela is going to start the process of developing nuclear energy.

"But we're not going to make an atomic bomb, so don't be bothering us afterward ... with something like what they have against Iran."

'Good resources'

Chavez confirmed he had discussed the issue with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

"Putin himself has said it: 'We're going to support Venezuela so that it has nuclear energy'," Chavez said.

Sergei Novikov, a spokesman for Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom, said Venezuela had mineral deposits but needed to decide whether it wanted Russian help to exploit them.

Sergei Novikov, a spokesman for the Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom, said: "We already have satellite information that indicates there are good mineral resources, different minerals that are very important for the country's development."

US misgivings

A framework agreement had been signed, he added, but pledges for co-operation were "all there is for the moment".

US state department spokesman Ian Kelly expressed misgivings about Venezuela's nuclear ambitions.

Responding to a reporter's question about whether the United States would be worried about nuclear transfers between Iran and Venezuela on Monday, Kelly said: "The short answer is, to that, yes, we do have concerns."

Caracas is a signatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which would restrict any nuclear programme to nonmilitary purposes.

The country also has a small, experimental reactor, built in 1960 at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Studies near Caracas.