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Australia refuses to sell uranium to India until it signs NPT

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, May 23, IRNA
India-Australia-NPT
Australia will not sell uranium to India until it signs the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane has said.

The minister's remarks were in contrast to the recent hints from Prime Minister John Howard that Australia could shift its policy and allow yellowcake to be exported to India.

"The answer is no," Macfarlane said adding, "The Australian uranium industry can prosper without India, that's my answer.

"We have a prohibition on the basis they have not signed the NPT." As recently as March, Howard appeared to leave open the prospect of Australian uranium sales to India.

Speaking during a visit by India's nuclear envoy Shyam Saran, the prime minister said: "We see India as a very responsible country. The relationship between Australia and India is growing. It's a very important relationship. They will be considerations that we will bear in mind."

India's confirmed uranium reserve currently is now 78,000 tonnes and it requires 100,000 tonnes in the near future to sustain the growth of nuclear power projects.

India is moving aggressively on its uranium exploration program to double its reserves within the next five years, Secretary of the Atomic Energy Commission Anil Kakodkar said Monday in Kolkata, capital of West Bengal state.

"We are moving very aggressively on uranium. We are looking at new reserves. We want the reserves to be augmented two-fold in the next five years," Kakodkar told reporters after receiving the 'Raja Ram Mohan Puraskar, 2007' from the Ram Mohan Mission in Kolkata.

He said the exploration would be done with technology developed by the Bhaba Atomic Research Center.

Paper work for amendment to the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, was now on and the matter would be placed before Parliament as soon as possible for a decision, he said.

According to Kakodkar, the country's first Fast Breeder Reactor would be ready by 2011.

Strongly advocating reactor fuel recycling despite objections by the US, he said the process cuts down fuel wastes to a negligible level, besides enabling up to 80 times of energy generation out of the same fuel.

"I would expect the US to agree to it. The July 18, 2006, agreement says this could be negotiated," he said.

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