Antinuclear

No reason for PM to change ban on uranium to India says Australian Conservation Foundation

With Prime Minister Julia Gillard saying she thinks Australia should start selling uranium to India the Australian Conservation Foundation has called on the Labor Party to retain the export ban while India refuses to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

“The Labor Party has a long-standing, prudent and sensible policy of not supplying uranium to countries that will not sign the international nuclear non-proliferation treaty,” said ACF nuclear free campaigner Dave Sweeney.  “The non-proliferation treaty, while imperfect, remains a key international legal mechanism in restricting the spread of nuclear weapons technology.

“Uranium is a dual-use fuel – it can be used in reactors and it can be used to power the world’s worst weapons.
“Australia, as a significant global uranium supplier, has a responsibility to acknowledge that India is a nuclear-armed state that obtained its weapons capacity in breach of international commitments. “Adding Australian uranium to the mix would not ease the long standing tensions between India and its nuclear-armed neighbours or improve the effectiveness of the global nuclear safeguards regime.

“There is no compelling or convincing reason for Labor to change its policy.” ACF opposes uranium sales to nuclear weapons states and has long campaigned for Australia to phase out uranium mining and exports, including to Russia, China and India.

November 15, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | General News