Egypt has said it failed to disclose the full extent of its nuclear activities to the UN´s atomic watchdog.

Egyptian officials said the failure arose because of a misunderstanding over exactly what had to be disclosed.

They insisted that Egypt was fully co-operating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and its nuclear programme was peaceful.

Western diplomats recently said IAEA inspectors in Egypt had visited a laboratory used to reprocess plutonium.

A senior official from Egypt´s atomic energy programme said on Friday that the IAEA had asked it to "take some corrective steps in declaring research activities". (© BBC MMV 01/28/05)