A FEDERAL parliamentary committee has questioned whether Russia would stick to its promise not to use uranium imported from Australia in the production of nuclear weapons.

Recent developments in Georgia also raised concerns about whether a deal that would see Australia sell uranium to Russia for civilian purposes should go ahead, Treaties Committee chairman Kelvin Thomson said.

A deal, struck by the former Howard Government last year, allows Russia to buy Australian uranium for civilian purposes under strict safeguards.

Mr Thompson said he had concerns about whether Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would honour the terms of the agreement.

"I don't know if you've looked on the TV into Vladimir Putin's eyes - he is one tough son of a gun and I don't think that he cares about what we think," the Labor MP said during the hearing in Canberra today.

"I think that we could supply uranium to him and if he changed his mind about the uses to which he was going to put it, I don't think we'd have any effective comeback at all."

The committee was told today that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had not carried out any inspections in Russia since 2001, also raising concerns over the deal.

But Australian Safeguards and Non-proliferation Office director general John Carlson said it was unlikely Australian uranium would be used by Russia in the production of nuclear weapons.

"Australian uranium won't be used for weapons because Russia has such an enormous surplus there's no reason why it would even think of doing so," Mr Carlson said.