Antinuclear

Australian uranium to China not monitored

Australian Uranium to China, a Worry for Many Reasons Second shipment of uranium heads to Australia, environmental whistleblowers still in jail By Shar Adams Epoch Times Staff  18 Nov 09 AUSTRALIA

“…………………..It is into this world that Australia has just sent its second shipment of uranium, its first from Olympic Dam in South Australia.

The first shipment to China, from the Rio Tinto Ranger mine in the Northern Territory, was sent last year.

Both deals were made possible by a 2006 agreement between the previous Howard government and Beijing on a nuclear safeguards pact. They have occurred way in advance of the agreed date for the first shipment, which was not anticipated to take place until 2010.

The Rudd government is not holding back in pushing uranium exports to China. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith accidentally let slip in April this year that negotiations were underway to export more uranium to China from the BHP Billiton-owned Olympic Dam………………

For David Noonan, spokesperson for the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), this sort of statement sounds alarm bells.

“We believe it is unacceptable for the Australian government and BHP to look the other way and to claim that they can conduct trade simply for profit, particularly the uranium sector, and ignore all those human rights and transparency issues that are so apparent in China,” Noonan told The Epoch Times.

The case of Sun Xiaodi highlights just some of the concerns the ACF has with the China deal.

Epoch Times – Australian Uranium to China, a Worry for Many Reasons

November 19, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics international, uranium | antinuclear, Australia, nuclear, nuclear weapons, uranium