Saturday, 21 July, 2007

by Michelle Grattan
The Age

AUSTRALIA would not be storing waste from other countries under proposed nuclear negotiations with the US.

"We've made that clear — we are not taking other people's waste," Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday.

Australia is preparing to negotiate a new nuclear co-operation agreement with the Americans, and is also considering whether to join a club of countries led by the US to control the distribution, reprocessing and storage of nuclear fuel.

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said the US Energy department had approached Australia and asked whether it would be prepared to negotiate an updated agreement on co-operation in areas such as nuclear safeguards technology.

Mr Downer said suggestions that the new nuclear negotiations were part of a secret plan to bring waste to Australia was "one of the more wacky theories I've heard".

"Nobody has ever mentioned nuclear waste, excepting in the letter I wrote to the Prime Minister (about the negotiations), saying that we have no intention of becoming a repository for nuclear waste."

Earlier, it had been thought there could be an announcement of the Australia-US agreement to coincide with President George Bush's visit to Australia for the September meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in September, but this is now seen as too early.

The Wilderness Society raised the spectre of Australia becoming a waste dumping ground. Alec Marr, from the society, said Mr Howard "hasn't been honest about Australia being lined up to become the world's nuclear waste dump".

The Opposition insisted "these secret plans" could force Australia to establish uranium enrichment plants and accept the world's nuclear waste.