London: A respected Australian scientist has been barred from overseeing Britain's nuclear weapons program because Australia isn't a nuclear power, the UK's Sunday Times has reported.

The Pentagon refused to share nuclear information with Hugh Durrant-Whyte, a robotics expert from Sydney University, the newspaper said.

Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte Credit:Michele Mossop

Mr Durrant-Whyte, who has both UK and Australian nationality, was appointed the UK's Ministry of Defence chief scientific adviser in April, on a salary of £140,000 ($244,000) a year.

The MoD was forced to transfer about a third of his job to the Foreign Office, to satisfy the US, which, like the UK, is a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.