Antinuclear

Australia mistakenly included on list of countries joining US-UK civil nuclear deal, British government says

Albanese government denies media reports it is signing up to collaboration to share advanced nuclear technology

Guardian Adam Morton in Baku and Sarah Basford Canales, 19 Nov 24

The UK government has conceded that Australia was mistakenly included on a list of countries that were expected to sign up to a US-UK civil nuclear deal.

The Albanese government flatly denied media reports on Tuesday that it would join the UK and the US in a collaboration to share advanced nuclear technology. The UK and the US announcement said they would speed up work on “cutting-edge nuclear technology”, including small modular reactors, after inking a deal at the Cop29 UN climate summit in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.

The UK government’s original media release noted Australia was one of 10 countries “expected” to sign on to the agreement, but mention of Australia was removed a short while later. The other nine countries were also removed…………………………………………………………………..

………… The acting prime minister, Richard Marles, told question time Australia was not signing up to the deal.

“It is an agreement which goes to civil nuclear energy – that means nuclear reactors which provide energy to cities and to electricity grids, and we do not have that in this country, and so as a result … this agreement is not relevant to Australia,” Marles said.

The Australian climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, and the UK minister for energy security and net zero, Ed Miliband, on Tuesday morning in Baku signed a climate and energy partnership to cooperate on renewable energy technology and investment and help “coordinate global climate action under the Paris agreement”. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/19/australia-mistakenly-included-on-list-of-countries-joining-us-uk-civil-nuclear-deal-british-government-says

November 21, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized