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Australia provides fuel for nuclear weapons. Call to government to stop this

April 28, 2012

Chernobyl anniversary: Time for Australian government action on uranium, 28 April 12,  On the anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear accident the Australian Conservation Foundation has called on the federal government to improve nuclear safety and stop literally fuelling nuclear insecurity.

On 26 April 1986, a nuclear reactor at Chernobyl in the Ukraine melted down and spewed radioactive materials across Europe and beyond. The human, environmental and economic impacts of the accident were profound and continue.

“Chernobyl literally exploded the myth of the ‘peaceful atom’ and caused many nations to reconsider the risks and costs of nuclear power,” said ACF nuclear free campaigner Dave Sweeney.

“On the anniversary of Chernobyl and in the continuing shadow of Fukushima it is important Australia also reviews and reconsiders the costs and consequences of our involvement in the global nuclear trade as a significant supplier of uranium – the basic fuel for both nuclear power and nuclear weapons.”

Last year it was confirmed in the federal Parliament that Australian uranium was in the failed Fukushima reactor and is now causing contamination in Japan.  However the federal government has failed to act on calls – including from the UN Secretary General – to review the industry.

ACF has called for the federal government to learn from Chernobyl and Fukushima and:

  • ·         Commission an independent assessment of the environmental and social impacts of uranium mining in Australia (as recommended in the UN review into the Fukushima crisis)
  • ·         Stop selling uranium to nuclear weapon states pending an independent review of importing countries’ compliance with international disarmament obligations
  • ·         Strengthen international and multi-lateral initiatives by including specific performance requirements and review mechanisms in new and existing Agreements and contracts

“Uranium is the asbestos of the 21st Century: like asbestos, the product works, but at too high a cost – and like asbestos Australia will one day stop mining and supplying it. In the meantime we need to step up to our responsibilities and review and address the impacts of the uranium trade. To fail to do so is to fail to learn from the lessons of Chernobyl and Fukushima and to fail to stop the next nuclear disaster,” Mr Sweeney said.

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South Australia allows lease to nuclear weapons connected uranium company

April 28, 2012

This is a disgrace – the South Australian government furthering the nuclear weapons industry by allowing Quasar, with its connections to nuclear weapons, to start a uranium mine in S.A.

Four Mile uranium mine gets lease Adelaide Now, by: Julian Swallow  April 27, 2012 ALLIANCE Resources and its joint venture partner Quasar Resources have been granted a 10-year mineral lease over their Four Mile project, ending months of negotiations. Mineral Resources minister Tom Koutsantonis said on Friday that South Australia was a step closer to its next major uranium mining development. However, no timetable or funding commitment has as yet been made by the venture partners, who remain locked in a legal dispute…… (more…)

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Five nations cleared out their stocks of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU)

April 6, 2012

US says 5 nations clear out weapons-grade uranium NewsDay,  DOUGLAS BIRCH  WASHINGTON – (AP)  March 22, 2012  The U.S. has helped five nations completely clear out  their stocks of highly enriched uranium since President Barack Obama outlined his plans for securing all weapons-usable materials worldwide, officials say, citing it as progress in the administration’s efforts to prevent nuclear weapons from getting in terrorists’ hands. (more…)

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Australia’s uranium to India – a contribution to Asian nuclear weapons race

January 29, 2012

... Kevin Rudd is filthy with Prime Minister Gillard’s uranium decision and thinks India ought to have been forced to make some concessions in return for uranium sales, such as ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. If so, Rudd ought to say so publicly…..

South Asia is a dangerous nuclear minefield. All the more so in the wake of the US-India agreement, and all the more so in the wake of Labor’s decision to sell uranium to India with no conditions which would curb its weapons program or de-escalate the South Asian nuclear arms race. 

Labor Signs Up To The Arms Race, New Matilda, 5 Dec 11, Paul Howes might think the Cold War is over but the nuclear arms race hasn’t slowed. South Asia is a nuclear minefield and Labor’s decision to sell uranium to India makes it more dangerous, writes JimGreen….. Of all the idiotic, asinine contributions to Labor’s faux-debate on uranium sales to India, Howes trumped the lot with his assertion that ”The Cold War is over and it’s time for Labor to embrace that fact”.

Since the end of the Cold War the existing weapons states have been busily “modernising” their nuclear arsenals:

Pakistan and North Korea joined the nuclear weapons club by testing nuclear bombs for the first time. France, India, the US and Russia have also tested weapons. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty remains in limbo, with the culprits
including India and some of Australia’s existing uranium customers. Pakistan has spread weapons technology (originally stolen from a European consortium) to Iran, North Korea, Libya and probably elsewhere. (more…)

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An embarrassment to Australia – uranium customer India going allout for nuclear weapons

January 29, 2012

India’s muscle flexing comes at a sensitive juncture for Australia, too.

At the Australian Labor Party’s national conference this weekend, one of the pre-eminent agenda items is a motion to end the ban on selling uranium to India.

 a new market offering high-grade uranium ore for India’s civilian reactors frees up the country’s limited indigenous supplies for boosting its military program.

 

India to test new missile  dubbed ‘the China killer’, The Age 3 Dec 11, Given the incendiary moniker ”the China killer” by the more sensationalist press, India’s newest nuclear-capable missile will be its most powerful yet, and an unmistakable signal to its neighbours.

Agni V – formally named after the Hindu god of fire and acceptor of sacrifices – is set to be tested within three months. It will be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead 5000 kilometres, meaning it can reach not only Beijing and Shanghai, but all of northern China. India’s existing arsenal can already reach every corner of Pakistan…. (more…)

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No way to stop Australian uranium ending up in India’s nuclear weapons

January 29, 2012

The alternative course for Australia is to side with the large majority of the world’s countries who want to re-establish and reinforce the principle that nuclear trade should be restricted to countries that have signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty and take seriously their non-proliferation and disarmament commitments.

We could take a principled rather than an unprincipled approach. We could lead rather than follow. 

Safeguarding uranium exports to India Online Opinion , Dr Jim Green, 1 Dec 11 A big part of the PR pitch for uranium sales to nuclear-armed India is the assertion that ‘strict’ safeguards will ‘ensure’ peaceful use of Australian uranium. Sadly, it’s just PR.

The claim sits uncomfortably with the reality that safeguards are based on occasional inspections of some nuclear plants by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The claim sits even more uncomfortably with the observations of recently-retired IAEA chief Mohamed El Baradei that the Agency’s basic rights of inspection are “fairly limited”, the safeguards system suffers from “vulnerabilities” and efforts to improve it have been “half-hearted”, and the system operates on a “shoestring budget…comparable to a local police department”. (more…)

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Australian invention Silex Laser Uranium Enrichment opens danger of nuclear weapons proliferation

January 2, 2012

many of the good things GE is using to make a case about Silex—less use of resources and electricity and increased efficiency—are actually negatives that make it easier for rogue states to hide clandestine plants…..methods for the production and use of nuclear materials that would be more difficult to detect,” the report states

New Uranium Enrichment Technology Alarms,  Aviation Week, By Kristin Majcher Washington 23 Nov 11 General Electric says it has successfully tested a faster, cheaper way to produce nuclear reactor fuel, and is planning to commercialize the technology by building a facility in Wilmington, N.C. While the prospect of saving resources to generate energy at a lower price sounds like a breakthrough, scientists are concerned that the top-secret method of enrichment that GE is using will indirectly elevate proliferation risks around the world, thus inspiring rogue states to develop their own laser enrichment facilities for nuclear
weapons.
The enrichment technology is the Separation of Isotopes by Laser Excitation (Silex). It was developed by Silex of Australia in 1992. The technology company USEC funded early research on Silex, but abandoned it in favor of focusing on centrifuge enrichment. In 2006, GE signed an exclusive agreement to commercialize and license the technology and spearhead further research and development.
Although Silex is the only known method of laser enrichment that works and could be commercially viable, scientists are concerned because many countries have funded laser-enrichment projects. According to the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, more than 20 countries have researched laser isotope separation techniques, including China, India, Iraq, Russia, Japan and Pakistan. Although they were unsuccessful, scientists say that putting Silex back into the public eye, regardless of the safeguards GE promises, poses a problem. Showing that it works could renew efforts by countries to develop the process. (more…)

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Australia will fuel arms race by selling uranium to India, says Labor Senator

November 28, 2011
Left fears uranium backflip will fuel arms race 1233 ABC  Newcastle, 19 Nov 11 A Victorian Labor Senator fears Australia will be fuelling a nuclear arms race if it lifts the ban on exporting uranium to India. Prime Minister Julia Gillard wants next month’s ALP conference to agree to change the policy, under the condition India only use it for peaceful purposes.
India possesses nuclear weapons but is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and current Labor policy prohibits selling uranium to any country that is not a signatory. But Senator Gavin Marshall says there is no doubt it will be used directly in India’s nuclear weapons program or to free up domestic supplies.

“Either way, Australian uranium assists in a nuclear arms race in that part of the world,” he said. ”I don’t think that’s a responsible thing for this government to do.” He also does not buy the Prime Minister’s argument it would be good for jobs and disputes it would reduce poverty…..

Senator Marshall says those fighting the policy shift could still win the argument. The left convenor will meet with his other faction colleagues tomorrow. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-19/labor-left-fears-uranium-backflip-will-fuel-arms-race/3681338/?site=newcastle

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Pakistan will be wanting Australia to sell uranium to it

November 28, 2011

Like India, Pakistan is a nuclear armed state that refuses to sign the NPT. There is no doubt the Islamabad will be keeping a close eye Canberra and on Darling Harbour come Labor’s National Conference in December.

Inevitably, if Labor moves to sell uranium to India then Pakistan will make a political and diplomatic point of being the next cab in the radioactive rank. 

If Australia sells uranium to India, will Pakistan be next?, November 18, 2011   Crikey ,  Dave Sweeney   Uranium is both common and controversial in resource rich Australia. It is tricky stuff as it can be used to produce electricity or to fuel nuclear bombs. And India has both……. (more…)

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Australia’s options on nuclear non proliferation and uranium sales to India

November 28, 2011

Promises and U-turns of the nuclear kind, The Drum, Jim Green, 19 Nov 11“…..What steps could Australia take to extricate us from the current mess – the South Asian nuclear arms race, and the broader problem of nuclear proliferation?

Option #1 is to leave uranium in the ground. It’s not as radical an idea as it might sound. Uranium accounts for a paltry 0.3 per cent of national export revenue and 0.03 per cent of Australian jobs. Few would notice if the industry vanished and still fewer would miss it. (more…)

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