Friday, 7 September, 2007

ABC News Online

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says the nuclear safeguards agreement signed today with Russia paves the way for the export of at least $1 billion worth of uranium a year.

The agreement has yet to be ratified by federal Parliament and by Russia's Duma.

It stipulates that Australian uranium can not be sold on to any other nations or used for weapons.

Mr Downer says Russia is planning to massively increase its nuclear power station capacity over the next 20 years

"So there's no doubt there will be a very big demand from Russia for uranium and Australia has around 40 per cent of the world's uranium reserves," he said.

"If we can negotiate a satisfactory safeguards agreement with Russia to export that uranium then that makes good sense."

But Greens Senator Christine Milne says Australians can not be confident that any misuse of uranium in Russia would be uncovered.

"We have this crackdown on the free press, we have a return to punitive psychiatry, people being put back in asylums, just like in the old days of the KGB," she said.

"How would Australians know just what is going on in Russia when there is just no free society."

Senator Milne says the Greens will move for a Senate inquiry into the deal on Monday.