International Atomic Energy Agency

This was announced in Noumea by the head of the agency Yukiya Amano and follows the formal signing of an agreement in Vienna last month.

Mr Amano said such technology was effective in a range of fields, such as health, agriculture or the environment.

The community's deputy director Cameron Diver says given the development challenges facing the region, partnerships need to be reviewed and new scientific techniques added.

Mr Diver says nuclear technology could be applied to improve soil quality, in the fight against cancer and to trace marine pollution.

Such sampling of soil, air or dust from equipment is usually done by the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) own experts. But IAEA chief Yukiya Amano confirmed that Iranians carried out that part of the probe at Parchin, where the agency suspects that explosive triggers for nuclear weapons might have been tested in the past.

Diplomats say Iran insisted on the compromise as a condition for any probe of Parchin.