Antinuclear

[Scott Ludlam] “Well what Australia is doing in proposing to sell uranium to India is simply reward bad behaviour. India never signed up to the non-proliferation treaty – it’s flawed but it’s the only multilateral instrument we have for governing the proliferation and disarmament of nuclear weapons and Australia’s planning to violate it in the interests of the uranium mining companies.”…….

But Scott Ludlam says those profiting from uranium, that they claim is necessary to address humanitarian needs, overlook some significant issues – management of radioactive waste, reactor safety and nuclear warfare chief amongst them.

He says the world uranium price has gone from 140 U-S dollars a pound in 1997 to 40 U-S dollars a pound today, and some 150 nuclear stations in Europe are scheduled for closure… and that with nuclear in retreat worldwide, the industry is pursuing India.

The world uranium sector is in huge trouble at the moment so I think the Australian government at the behest of the mining industry who obviously are the loudest voices at the table are looking for any markets at all, because the sector is in such trouble. So they see India as an industrialising nation with a growing power sector, they see the dollar signs but they quite clearly don’t seem to be interested in the risks.”

Senator Ludlam says India has a history of nuclear accidents, near misses and misadventure, and it’s only a matter of time until a serious incident occurs – something he thinks Australia’s shouldn’t want to be implicated in.

But even more troubling he says is the escalating tension between India and its neighbour Pakistan.

“India is a nuclear weapons state and they’re on the record saying they’re trying to buy foreign sources of uranium so they can lock up their domestic reserves for a nuclear arms race with Pakistan. So it’s a very volatile and dangerous security situation into which to be selling uranium.”….. The negotiations for the export of Australian uranium to India are expected to take two years; Scott Ludlam says he’ll be using that time to push for an inquiry and stop the deal. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1763258/Uranium-sales-to-India-fuel-nuclear-arms-fears