WASHINGTON, Nov 8: A record 400 billion dollar military spending bill approved by the lower house of US Congress allows the United States to renew research and development of low-yield nuclear weapons.

The 2004 defence authorization bill, passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of 362-40 on Friday, is expected to be approved by the Republican-led Senate next week, then go to President George W. Bush to be signed into law.

The bill lifts a decade-old ban prohibiting research and

development of nuclear warheads with explosive forces of less than five kilotons, which administration officials say will assist the United States in destroying buried bunkers and stockpiles of chemical or nuclear weapons.

They say the lighter weapons would cause less damage to surrounding areas and would not throw up massive amounts of nuclear debris.

The bill would provide US nuclear laboratories with six million dollars to explore new nuclear bomb designs and 15 million dollars to study modifying existing high-powered nuclear weapons so they can destroy buried bunkers.

It also would authorise spending 34 million to accelerate improvement of a nuclear test site in the western state of Nevada.

The spending bill also provides a pay raise for military personnel, improves disability benefits for veterans, and allows the military to conduct weapons tests closer to marine mammal habitats.—AFP