British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has backed calls for access to a uranium bank for states that renounce nuclear weapons but want to develop atomic energy.

Brown, in the United States for meetings of the UN General Assembly and the G20, called for a "new era of collaboration" to tackle a range of issues from the economy to climate change.

Writing in the New York Times, Brown said a new nuclear non-proliferation agreement was needed urgently.

"To this end, Britain proposes a new and comprehensive grand bargain on nuclear proliferation: access to civil atomic energy via an international uranium bank for states that renounce current or future nuclear arms, together with a reduction of nuclear weapons by nuclear weapons states," he said.

The call echoes proposals from the head of nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for a fuel bank.

The idea has made little headway, but has been supported by US President Barack Obama and gained additional impetus from Western concerns that Iran's expanding uranium enrichment programme could be used to make atomic bombs.

Brown will tell the UN Security Council on Thursday that Britain is not ready to give up its status as a nuclear power but is prepared to reduce the nuclear submarine fleet to 3 from 4 when they are replaced over the next 15 years.

Turning to the economy, Brown said the world's leading nations must deliver on expansionary measures designed to drag the global economy out of the deepest recession in decades.

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