Australia and China are negotiating an agreement to allow Australia to export uranium to China for peaceful purposes, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday.
Preliminary talks are already underway to secure a Chinese commitment that the uranium would be used only for electricity generation, Downer said.
Australia prohibits the sale of uranium for nuclear weapons, nuclear-powered warships or other military uses.
Australia also insists that uranium customers abide by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and prevent radioactive products from being passed to a third country.
"The agreement will establish safeguards arrangements to ensure Australian uranium supplied to China is used exclusively for peaceful purposes," he said in a statement.
Downer said China is the world's second-largest energy consumer and plans to meet its growing demands with a fourfold increase in nuclear-energy production by 2020.
Downer said he did not expect any objection from the US, a close ally, over a uranium trade deal.
"As long as China meets the safeguard requirements that we lay down and are consistent with international protocols, I think other countries in the region and the United States will be perfectly happy with this," Downer told Sky television.
But independent US intelligence think tank Stratfor predicts Australia will have difficulty convincing other nations and environmentalists of the benefits of such a deal.
"Australia is headed for a heated debate pitting an unlikely alliance of anti-nuclear greens and Chinaphobic nationalists against the government's desire to assert itself in Asia and to boost its revenue stream in the process," Stratfor said.
RSS