Australia opens door for uranium to India-analyst

Canberra, Mar 7: Australia has opened the door to future uranium sales to India but would not want to consider the issue for several years and not until Australia has locked in lucrative sales to China, a leading analyst said today (Mar 7, 2006).

''Australia doesn't need to sell to India at the moment. It has everything to gain by first signing an expanded agreement with China,'' said Michael McKinley, from the Australian National University's school of international relations.

Prime Minister John Howard has discussed uranium sales with his counterpart Manmohan Singh during a visit to India just days after India and the United States signed a landmark nuclear cooperation agreement.

Under that deal, India promised to separate its civilian and military nuclear programmes, allowing international inspections for the bulk of its power stations.

Howard said officials would examine the US-India agreement, but repeated Australia's policy of not selling to countries that have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and which do not have a safeguards agreements with Australia.

Australia has more than 40 per cent of the world's known uranium reserves and is keen to increase production and exports, although it has no nuclear industry of its own.

Canberra is negotiating a nuclear safeguards agreement with China, allowing it to sell uranium to help meet China's rapidly growing energy market.

China is expected to build 40 to 50 nuclear power plants over the next 20 years, while India is looking to boost its nuclear power industry, which currently accounts for only three per cent of energy production.

Media reports said Australia could sign the nuclear safeguards agreement with China as early as April, when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visits Australia.

The Age newspaper said Howard raised the prospect of sales to India but then ruled out a change of policy the next day, creating confusion on his India visit.

''Maybe he mostly wanted to be polite to his Indian hosts, who would like to get hold of the vital resource,'' columnist Michelle Grattan wrote in the Age.

McKinley said Howard wanted to hold out the prospect of future sales but wanted to also send a message to China that Australia would not simply follow the US over the issue.

He said if nuclear-armed India maintained a distinction between its civilian and military nuclear industries, Australia could find a way to sell uranium by saying India had complied with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, even though it had not signed up.

''If they can maintain a clear demarcation, there may be grounds for Australia to take advantage of it,'' he said, adding that Australia would find itself under pressure from India and the United States to approve sales in a few years.

Australia currently has 19 nuclear safeguard agreements, covering 36 countries, including the United States, France, Britain, Mexico, Japan, Finland and South Korea.

Australia has only three operating uranium mines, which are owned by BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc, Rio Tinto Ltd/Plc and General Atomics of the United States.

REUTERS