Canberra: After receiving confidential information, Australia has insisted that it will keep America's nuclear propulsion technology strictly closed. Canberra's envoy to Washington vows to protect America's "Crown Jewels".

The US, Australia and the UK have made significant progress in a three-way AUKUS agreement to be signed in 2021, according to outgoing ambassador Arthur Sinodinos, who was speaking to a crowd at a US think tank on Thursday. The details of the agreement are expected to be revealed later this month.

The fact that the Americans are willing to share their crown jewels with us suggests that progress is needed on the efficient transfer of technology. He told the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, "None of us want this to be a trap.

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And, Sinodino continued, "I think that mentality has now pervaded the various levels of the [US] administration.

Sinodino said Australia has "reassured the Americans" and "demonstrated the types of information security measures that we put in place to make sure they understand their technology is secure in case of leakage to third parties". Despite the fact that the specifics of the submarine technology transfer have not been made public.

Some military hardware is subject to strict export restrictions imposed by the US, which previously made it difficult to transfer weapons overseas. Sinodino said "work is underway" but "it's not finished," and suggested Australia could be exempt from US laws.

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To further negotiate the AUKUS agreement, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with his British and Australian counterparts in December.

Austin said Washington was committed to delivering the new capabilities to Australia "as quickly as possible". Defense Minister Richard Marles in Canberra at the time referred to the three allies as having a "huge sense of shared mission", while also pointing out that the US rarely shared its nuclear technology, even with close allies.

Marles answered on Friday that the technology would be maintained under the "highest level" of security when asked about the safeguards Australia would take to protect sensitive information given the absence of a domestic nuclear propulsion industry.

In that context, having a nuclear manager is a really important part of that declaration, he told reporters. "We will announce in due course the optimal route for Australia to acquire a nuclear-powered submarine capability," he said.

This includes really significant hardening of security in the IT sense as well as in the physical sense of buildings, enclosures and such."

China and Russia have criticized the trilateral AUKUS treaty. Beijing officials criticized the deal last month for encouraging "nuclear proliferation" in the Indo-Pacific region.

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Similar concerns have been expressed by Russia, which has warned that the US, Britain and Australia will soon form a "military-political alliance" and work to launch a new war in Asia.