Australia won't become nuke waste dump: PM
Friday, 20 July, 2007
by Peter Williams, Denis Peters and Tim Dornin
The Herald Sun
Green groups say Australia would be obliged to accept the waste if it became a member of the proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP).
The Federal Government today said it was taking part in negotiations about the initiative at the invitation of the US but might not necessarily join.
The strategy of US President George W. Bush seeks to develop a global consensus on expanding the use of nuclear energy to meet electricity demand while promoting non-proliferation.
It involves the US and the other main nuclear-fuel cycle countries – Russia, France, China and Japan – and proposes leasing the fuel to other countries and taking back the spent fuel for reprocessing and disposal.
Whether Australia joined or not, Mr Howard said, it would not take the nuclear waste of other countries.
"We've made that clear, we're not taking other people's waste," Mr Howard said to ABC Radio.
The Liberal Party's federal council in June supported storing nuclear waste in Australia in a vote which is not binding on the Coalition Government.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said it made sense for Australia as the world's second-biggest exporter of uranium to be involved in the US-led negotiations.
"Why wouldn't we, in the interest of safety, in the interest of clean energy and the interest of our continuing uranium exports, want to talk to the world's largest economy and the world's most powerful country about nuclear safeguards and technical cooperation?" Mr Downer said.
Earlier today, the foreign minister said whether Australia joined the GNEP depended on how it was developed by the US.
"For example, they wish to limit the number of countries in the world that can enrich uranium to a small list of countries that currently do enrich uranium," Mr Downer said to ABC Radio.
"Australia would, under the global nuclear energy partnership as it currently stands, at least the draft of it currently stands, not be able to enrich uranium."
Conservation groups were unanimous in damning the government's proposed involvement in the GNEP.
Greenpeace Australia chief executive Steve Shallhorn said if Australia joined, the country's uranium supplies would be leased, rather than sold to other nations.
This would expose Australia to the threat of becoming a dumping ground for the world's nuclear waste, Mr Shallhorn said.
The Wilderness Society's Alec Marr said: "The Prime Minister is laying down to President Bush who is desperately seeking somewhere to dump American nuclear waste because he has not been able to build his own in the US."
Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman David Noonan said there were also regional security implications in joining the GNEP.
"Enriching uranium produces the material that is used in nuclear weapons," Mr Noonan said.
"By getting involved in this US initiative we risk starting a nuclear arms race in the Asia-Pacific and fuelling existing regional insecurities."
Federal Labor treasury spokesman Wayne Swan said the opposition remained firmly against nuclear reactors and uranium enrichment.
"Labor has made it very clear that we oppose the prime minister's nuclear plan and we will do so vigorously all the way through to the election," Mr Swan said.