The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons (ICAN) is dismayed at moves by the Rudd government to open the door to uranium sales to Russia.
 
The Government response to Report 94 of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties could see Australia supplying uranium to a nuclear weapons state whose nuclear security is poor, whose facilities are off-limits to international inspectors, and whose record on disarmament is woeful.
 
“If these recommendations are adopted, Australia would effectively be relinquishing responsibility for supplying the raw ingredient for bomb fuel to a nuclear weapons state with an acknowledged lack of transparency in its civil/military arrangements,” said ICAN spokesperson Dr Bill Williams.
 
Williams noted the government’s position is out of step with 75 per cent of Australians who agree that nuclear disarmament should be a top priority for the Australian government according to a Lowy Institute Poll from 2009.
 
“The clear wishes of the Australian public are poorly served by an Australian government opening the door to uranium sales to nuclear weapons states.”
 
“In rejecting JSCOT’s recommendation not to sell to Russia, the government is relying on the under-equipped, under-funded International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, which has acknowledged that Russia’s military sites are off-limits to IAEA inspectors.”
 
“This is incompatible with Mr Rudd’s expressed desire for a nuclear weapons free world. Australia should not be selling uranium to states which are non-compliant with their international treaty commitments to get rid of their nuclear weapons - we are simply throwing fuel on the fire,” said Williams.