Australia to export uranium to Russia.
Tuesday, 11 September, 2007
Echorouk
Addressing Australian concerns, Russian President Vladimir Putin ruled out chances that Australian uranium could be used for military purposes or that it could end up in countries such as Iran, suspected of working on their own atomic weapons.
Putin said Russia would double the number of its nuclear reactors to around 60 in the next 20 years and Australian uranium would be used as fuel for domestic power supplies.
The deal with Australia could also help a Russian plan to create a network of global uranium processing centres, which would allow any country to generate nuclear power without obtaining the full nuclear cycle, he said.
Russia believes this could assure other countries access to nuclear energy without putting at risk nuclear non-proliferation. Moscow says it is ready to combine its initiative with a similar U.S. project.
Under the agreement, nuclear materials traded within its framework could only be used for peaceful purposes, and Australian nuclear materials cannot be exported beyond Russia without Australia's prior written concent.
Putin and Howard also said nuclear cooperation between Russia and Australia, which has about 40 percent of the world's reserves of uranium, could help address global climate change. Agencies.