nuclear-news

Australian Senator wants to stop uranium sales to India, on safety concerns

Australian senator slams India’s nuclear sector,  Australia network news, 27 Dec 2011  An Australian Greens Senator has said India’s nuclear sector is set to become more irresponsible, and wants Australia to rethink its policy to sell uranium to the country. Senator Scott Ludlum made his comments after India announced plans to replace its independent nuclear regulator with a government-controlled body.

The decision comes just weeks after Australia announced it would begin selling uranium to India’s civilian nuclear program.  Senator Ludlum told Connect Asia after Japan’s nuclear disaster in March this year, governments around the world were having second thoughts about how to regulate uranium.

“Because the technology is so unforgiving, and when things go wrong they go so seriously wrong, you need to have an exquisite safety culture to maintain this equipment,” the Western Australian Senator said.

Corruption risk  The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board will be replaced with a safety authority answerable to government ministers, which Senator Ludlum said could suffer from government interference. ”On a day to day basis they will actually have the ability, from the prime minister down, to direct the regulator, force it to investigate or not investigate certain kinds of activities and, I think, quite improper use of national interest tests to decide what the regulator should do.

“Not just in India, but everywhere around the world where this technology is used, you need to be completely at arms length and you need have a fiercely independent regulator to stick its nose in wherever it thinks it’s appropriate,” he said.

“The last thing you want is something that’s just a puppet of the top tiers of government and that’s what the Indian movement and Indian officials are telling us is occurring here,” the senator said. http://australianetworknews.com/stories/201112/3398569.htm?desktop

December 28, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, safety