Australia, Russia Sign Uranium Sale Agreement
Date: 10-Sep-07
Country: AUSTRALIA
Author: Oleg Shchedrov
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.
"We already have an excessive amount of uranium for
military use," Putin told a joint news conference after talks
with Australian Prime Minister John Howard. "We also have
enough of our own uranium to sell to third countries."
Russia sells 30 tons of weapons-grade uranium a year to the
United States under a bilateral deal. "Why should we bother
enriching Australian uranium?" asked Putin.
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 US project.
Howard was equally confident in the safety of the deal
signed by his Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Sergei
Kiriyenko, the head of Russia's nuclear energy agency Rosatom.
"My attitude to these assessments is that they are wrong,"
he said in response to concerns about the deal.
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.
"Russia's program to significantly expand its nuclear power
industry in the next decade, and Australia's role as a leading
and expanding supplier of uranium, give both countries a stake
in the contribution of nuclear power to addressing global
climate change," the statement said.
