Speaking at a conference here, Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that nuclear power presents a clean and strong source of energy, but underlined that there were also many challenges in building a nuclear plant.

"Extensive and rigourous planning is essential with 'cradle-to-grave' considerations ranging from up-front financing and licensing all the way through decommissioning and the future disposition of spent fuel and waste," ElBaradei, who is on a four-day visit to Turkey, said.

"One important issue is public education," he added. "People need to understand radiation properly, need to understand radiation does not necessarily mean cancer."

The Turkish government plans to build three nuclear power plants with a total capacity of about 5,000 mega watts to become operational in 2012.

The plans are a bid to prevent a possible energy shortage and reduce dependence on foreign energy supplies.

But the plan and the possible site of the reactor -- Sinop, a coastal city on the Black Sea, 435 kilometers (270 miles) northeast of Ankara -- have triggered protests from locals and environmentalists.

ElBaradei said the IAEA was ready to help Turkey find the solutions it needed and that his agency was working with Turkish officials to improve public understanding of nuclear power.

As ElBaradei wrapped up his speech, activists from the environmental pressure gorup Greenpeace held a demonstration outside the conference venue to denounce his support for nuclear power.

"ElBaradei won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on nuclear disarmament, but this is inconsistent with promoting nuclear power, which is the essential seed for nuclear weapons," a spokesman for the group said.

The activists, one of whom was posing as ElBaradei with a sign that read "ElBaradei, the nuclear slaesman", dispersed peacefully.

Turkey had earlier sought to build a nuclear power plant, but shelved the project in July 2000 amid financial difficulties and protests from environmentalists in Turkey and neighboring Greece and Cyprus.

Opponents argued that the proposed site -- Akkuyu, on the Mediterranean coast -- was only 25 kilometres (15 miles) from a seismic faultline.

ElBaradei, who is set to meet Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul later Friday, will wrap up his visit Sunday after a two-day trip to Istanbul.

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