Friday, 6 October, 2006

by Michelle Wiese Bockmann
The Australian

AUSTRALIAN exports of uranium could be used in China's nuclear weapons program ... and there is nothing Canberra can do about it.

The Australian Conservation Foundation told a federal parliamentary inquiry yesterday that a lack of proper safeguards meant Australian uranium "could disappear off the radar" as soon as it arrived in China.

But the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office has insisted that China will not use Australian uranium for military purposes because it has enough already. ASNO director general John Carlson also cited "open source" information indicating China "ceased production of fissile material for nuclear weapons some time ago".

ACF spokesman David Noonan said claims that if Australia did not supply uranium to China somebody else would amounted to "the drug dealer's defence".

The inquiry is examining the Howard Government's April agreement to export uranium to China.

Mr Noonan said Australian yellowcake would be converted and enriched with uranium from other countries at facilities in China jointly run by the military, outside of the International Atomic Energy Agency's inspection regime. There was no way to adequately monitor whether uranium was used for nuclear weapons, he said.

The ANSO's submission responding to the ACF's claims was released yesterday. It said despite concern about China's non-proliferation record, Beijing "now has in place the policy and export control framework needed to implement its non-proliferation commitments".

China's appetite for uranium for non-military purposes is expected to increase four-fold in the next 15 years. It has 10 nuclear power reactors and plans to build a further 13.

China's uranium demands would be significant and treaties would be the "optimal" method of securing influence to monitor its use, the Association of Mining and Exploring Companies submission said.

The federal Government predicted Australia would supply China with up to a third of its yellowcake needs - 2500 tonnes a year - by 2020, currently worth $250 million.

BHP Billiton, owner of the Olympic Dam uranium mine, gave evidence behind closed doors. A $7 billion proposed expansion for the mine would make the mine the world's largest and BHP Billiton the major beneficiary of Chinese uranium sales.