12 Nov (NucNet): Australia’s prime minister Julia Gillard and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev have ratified an agreement at the G20 summit in Seoul, South Korea, that will allow Australian uranium to be used in Russian civilian nuclear reactors.
Ms Gillard’s office said the agreement allows for the supply of Australian uranium to Russia for use in its civil nuclear power industry, updating an existing nuclear agreement between our countries.
That agreement, concluded in 1990, allowed Australian uranium to be processed in Russia on behalf of third countries, but did not allow it to be used for power generation within Russia.
A statement said: “This brings Australia's bilateral nuclear relationship with Russia into line with the agreements we have in place with other countries, including the US, China, Japan and South Korea.”
The statement said the agreement meets all of Australia's long-standing nuclear safeguards requirements by ensuring appropriate safeguards, controls and accounting arrangements apply.
Nuclear material transferred to Russia under the agreement will be used solely for peaceful, non-military purposes. Australian uranium can only be used, processed or stored in facilities subject to Russia's safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The Australian Uranium Association welcomed the entry into force of the agreement. AUA chief executive officer Michael Angwin said: “The Australian government of the day is best placed to determine with whom we should trade our uranium and we are confident the Gillard government has taken into account all the necessary issues.”
Mr Angwin said it will be important now to press ahead to remove the ban on uranium mining in Queensland to ensure Australia has the capacity to supply the additional demand.
“Australia has around 40 percent of the world’s uranium that can be recovered at reasonable cost. Yet we supply less than one fifth of the world’s demand.”
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
Australia Is Negotiating Deal To Sell Uranium To Russia (World Nuclear Review No. 33, 17 August 2007)
