[NukeNet] Australia Helps Russia Double It's Nuclear Power Size

[Bill Smirnow]

  Mothersalert: http://www.mothersalert.org
http://www.mothersalert.org/moreinfo.html



    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/08/world/08uranium.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
   Australia Agrees to Sell Uranium to Russia

  a..                E-Mail
  b.. Print
  c.. Reprints
  d.. Save
  e.. Share
    a.. Digg
    b.. Facebook
    c.. Newsvine
    d.. Permalink



By TIM JOHNSTON
Published: September 8, 2007
SYDNEY, Australia, Sept. 7 - Australia will sell uranium to Russia to fuel
President Vladimir V. Putin's ambitious plan to double the size of his
country's nuclear power industry, according to a deal signed here today.

Mr. Putin and Prime Minister John Howard of Australia, who signed the deal
on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit
meeting in Sydney, sought to play down fears that the uranium could be used
for military purposes or sold to other parties. Russia is helping Iran build
its first nuclear plant.

The leaders said concerns that the uranium would be used for military
purposes were misplaced.

"Any uranium that is sold to Russia will be sold subject to very strict
safeguards," Mr. Howard said.

He added, "Russia already has an enormous amount of military nuclear
material which it is selling - principally to the United States - for
reprocessing."

Mr. Putin said Russia had about 500 metric tons of military-grade uranium
and was selling about 30 tons a year to reprocessors in the United States.
He also said that Russia was embarking on a program to build 30 nuclear
power stations in the next 15 to 20 years.

Robert Ayson, an Asia-Pacific security specialist at the Australian National
University in the capital, Canberra, said he believed that Moscow had a
legitimate need for new supplies of uranium.

"Russia has about 5 percent of the world's uranium reserves, and because of
the expansion it is going to have a long-term need for uranium," he said.

Australia has about 40 percent of the world's known reserves of uranium, and
the Australian mining industry has been profiting from the global hunger for
carbon-neutral sources of energy. Nuclear exports were worth about $685
million last year to the Australian economy.

Australia recently agreed to sell uranium to China, sparking concerns about
how the material will be used and monitored after the sales.

Australia is also working on a uranium sales deal with India. The government
in New Delhi has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty but is
believed to be willing to allow the International Atomic Energy Authority to
monitor its civilian nuclear power program.

The United States has agreed in principle to sell nuclear material to India,
although the deal still requires ratification by Congress.

Mr. Ayson said he did not believe that selling uranium to Russia would
encourage weapons proliferation but that the uranium sales had provided a
focus for less specific worries.

"There is the concern that Putin is the sort of person who is pushing the
envelope a bit," he said today. "This is a historical thing: it is all the
Chernobyl stuff, all the comments about targeting missiles at Europe. It's
inchoate, it's not focused on a specific risk."

Mr. Putin is the first Russian leader to visit Australia, and although trade
between the two countries is expanding, a Russian sale of submarines to
Indonesia, a neighbor of Australia, has created tension.
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: article-sponsor.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 437 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mail.energyjustice.net/pipermail/nukenet_energyjustice.net/attachments/20070909/ce2a8800/attachment.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: once_88x31_Nowplaying.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 2357 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mail.energyjustice.net/pipermail/nukenet_energyjustice.net/attachments/20070909/ce2a8800/attachment-0001.gif