nuclear-news

Courageous decision on Russian nuclear deal – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Courageous decision on Russian nuclear deal
ABC News By Jim Green Sep 19, 2008 “…………the Federal Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Treaties had the courage to recommend against ratification of the uranium export agreement signed by John Howard and Vladimir Putin last September……………………….The claim by the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office (ASNO) that “strict” safeguards conditions will “ensure” that uranium remains in peaceful use has been exposed for the lie that it is. The Safeguards Office conspicuously failed to provide any information to the Joint Standing Committee on the reality of safeguards in Russia. It was left to Friends of the Earth to do the research, the conclusion being that there have been no International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards inspections in Russia since 2001, and there is no reason to believe that this pattern of non-inspection will change in the future.
Not unreasonably, the Joint Standing Committee concluded that: “It is essential that actual physical inspection by the IAEA occurs at any Russian sites that may handle [Australian Obligated Nuclear Materials]. Further, the supply of uranium to Russia should be contingent upon such inspections being carried out.”……………………..If Stephen Smith and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd intend to ratify the Howard/Putin agreement, they will need to argue that Russia is complying with its disarmament obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) even though Russia is doing no such thing. Russia’s arsenal of over 14,000 nuclear weapons has an explosive yield equivalent to 200,000 Hiroshima bombs……………..Ratifying a uranium export agreement with a belligerent nuclear weapons states would shred the Rudd government’s credibility ahead of the formal launch of its International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament in October.

Courageous decision on Russian nuclear deal – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radiation

September 20, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics