MOSCOW, January 19 (RIA Novosti) - The State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, passed in its third and final reading Friday a presidential bill to reform the country's nuclear power sector and facilitate its development.

The bill was supported by 351 deputies, with 226 votes required for passage. Fifty-seven MPs voted against, with three abstentions.

The document stipulates establishing a state-controlled holding company, Atomenergoprom, using the sector's civilian assets, and to subsequently allow other Russian corporate entities to possess non-weapons-grade nuclear materials, nuclear installations and nuclear storage facilities.

Exclusive federal ownership of nuclear materials, nuclear installations and nuclear storage facilities is currently a major impediment to the development of the nuclear power sector.

"The state will retain the entire system of control over nuclear materials in the country," Russia's civilian nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko told journalists.

The head of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power said the reform is also aimed at generating cheaper electricity and reducing natural gas consumption in the country.

The document specifies that any equity carve-out or trust-management deals involving the holding, its subsidiaries and associated companies is valid pending the Russian president's approval.

Atomenergoprom, which will be wholly controlled by the government, is expected to be a large full-cycle corporation engaged in activities ranging from uranium extraction, fuel fabrication and electric power generation, to the construction of nuclear power plants, both domestically and abroad.

The new corporation will also include nuclear engineering units, as well as design and research institutes.

Kiriyenko earlier said there was no need at the current stage to include spent nuclear fuel processing and disposal facilities into the new corporation.

The new holding company is set to be established in two stages.

In the initial stage, Russia's nuclear fuel producer and supplier, TVEL, will become a subsidiary of Atomenergoprom, with 100% of its shares to be assigned to the charter capital of the new corporation, while nuclear enriching entities will join the parent company of the new nuclear holding, as requested by the defense ministry.