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Friday, 07.09.2007
Australia to supply uranium for Russia's atomic power
Sydney. Australia intends to supply Russia with uranium over the next thirty years. One billion dollars of atomic fuel will be delivered annually. Both parties assure that it will only be used for civilian purposes.
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Australia's foreign minister Alexander Downer and the head of Russia's nuclear agency Sergei Kirienko signed the agreement on the margins of the APEC summit. Australia's Prime Minister John Howard and Russian President Vladimir Putin were also both present.
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30 new nuclear power stations
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Putin had already declared this agreement to be of great significance for Russia's electricity utility. The long-term contracts will now make it possible to build 30 new nuclear power stations in Russia over the next 15-20 years, he said.
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He also rejected any possibility of Russia using the atomic fuel for military purposes. "Anyone speculating about military use of Australian uranium either does not know what he is talking about or is deliberately trying to harm cooperation between Australia and Russia," Putin said.
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Putin: No Australian nuclear fuel to be sold to Iran
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He also rejected fears that Russia could pass on uranium purchased from Australia to other states, such as Iran. The uranium will be used exclusively in Russian reactors, he said. "Regarding delivery to other countries, we have enough resources of our known, if this should prove necessary," Putin stated at the press conference.
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The former Russia military journalist Grigori Pasko had published an article in an Australian newspaper warning the Australian government against cooperation with "Putin's Russia", because Moscow could pass the uranium on to Tehran. Pasko was sentenced in 2001 to four years in jail for revealing official secrets when reporting on illegal dumping of Russia nuclear waste in the Pacific.
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Australia interested in Russian atomic technology
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Australia's foreign minister Downer pointed to the security clauses in the atomic fuel contract. Both military use of Australian uranium and its passing on to other countries are expressly prohibited, he said. Downer said he trusted the Russian president. "Russia would never even think about violating the treaty," he said.
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In return for supplying uranium, Australia is interested in acquiring nuclear technologies from Russia. The country owns the world's largest uranium reserves (around 40%) but lacks its own nuclear programme. 80% of its electricity needs come from coal-fired power stations.
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Prime Minister John Howard has already declared on numerous occasions that it is 'stupid' to have the world's largest uranium reserves but no nuclear power. Russia could provide important technology for processing uranium, he said.
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Nuclear power for environmental protection?
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Both countries regard nuclear power can combat climate change, they said in a joint statement. This however presupposes safe use of nuclear fuel.
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This nuclear treaty was signed shortly before the 50th anniversary of the atomic catastrophe "Mayak". On 29th September, 1957, a concrete tank containing nuclear waste exploded, releasing 20 million curies of radioactivity. The catastrophe was hushed up by the Soviet Union for many decades, and its effects can still be traced in terms of nuclear contamination in parts of the Urals regions today.
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Experts are still skeptical about security at Russia nuclear sites. The nuclear expert Vladimir Kusnetzov warned against the danger of insufficient security controls. The federal atomic security programme has only received 12% of the funding it should have had, he told Russia-Now. Many controls have therefore simply been omitted. (ab/.rufo/Moscow)
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