Saturday, 18 August, 2007

The West Australian

The federal government hopes to sign an agreement with Russia at next month's APEC summit to sell uranium to the former Cold War enemy.

News of the deal comes a day after Prime Minister John Howard struck a conditional agreement to sell the nuclear fuel to India.

While federal Labor has vowed to tear up the Indian deal, it has given tacit backing for selling uranium to Russian because it is at least a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Mr Howard and Russian President Vladimir Putin could finalise a deal in Sydney next month.

“We would hope to sign the agreement when President Putin is here,” Mr Downer told reporters.

Mr Howard said: “I am sure the issue will come up when he is in Sydney at the APEC meeting.”

The federal government started working with Russia in April on the agreement which would see Australia supply uranium for Russia's civil nuclear power industry.

“We should support civil nuclear power programs in responsible countries with responsible and appropriate protections,” Mr Downer said.

An agreement struck in 1990 allows Australian uranium to be processed in Russia, but it must then be sold on to other countries which Canberra allows.

Mr Downer said if a deal was made, Australian uranium would “probably not by the end of the year but into next year” start being used in some of Russia's 30 civil nuclear power stations.

He said the federal government was not in discussions to sell uranium with any other countries.

Labor opposes the Indian deal because the country is not an NPT signatory, but foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland said selling uranium to Russia could do some good.

“We are certainly open to it because they are a party to the NPT,” Mr McClelland told ABC Radio.

“But what I am saying is that we can drive their commitment to do certain things and most specifically we can drive their commitment to disarmament.”

The Australian Greens and Australian Democrats have expressed outrage at both deals, saying they could lead to Iran advancing its nuclear ambitions.

“With both Russia and India known to have transferred nuclear materials and technology to Iran, it is inconceivable that Australian sales of uranium to these countries will not facilitate Iran's ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons, regardless of any safeguards regime,” Greens senator Christine Milne said.

But Mr Downer dismissed the claims, saying it was “scare-mongering” and “a bit nutty” to think Russia would want to break international law by supplying uranium to a third party.

Dr Robert Ayson, a nuclear proliferation expert from the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, said India would not be helping out countries like Iran.
“And I think in the case of Russia, it's highly unlikely,” Dr Ayson said. Both deals made sense, he said.