nuclear-news

The issue reportedly came up at Mr. Ansari’s meeting with Australian Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott on Thursday. Mr. Abbott heads the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia, which favours allowing Australia — which has the world’s largest reserves of uranium — to export the mineral to India…..

Mr. Ansari is also likely to discuss the issue at his bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard later this week. The ruling Labour party is split on the issue, which is expected to be a subject of hot debate at the party conference this December. Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd argued that India’s civil nuclear power programme was not dependent on Australian uranium.

“If you hear an argument from an Indian businessperson that the future of the nuclear industry in India depends exclusively on access to uranium, that is simply not sustainable as a proposition. Have a look at the data,” he said at a mining industry breakfast, according to a report by Australian news agency AAP. Both Indian officials and businessmen have been raising the issue on the sidelines of the CHOGM. “There is no problem in terms of global supply, let’s just be very, very blunt about this.”However, Resources Minister Martin Ferguson who supports uranium exports to India, said he was eager to debate the issue at the party conference, which could turn out to be pivotal for India’s hopes of accessing Australian uranium….http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2574653.ece