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Australia's long-standing ban on the sale of uranium to India faces scrutiny again following the commitment this week by US President Barack Obama to support India's full membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
Speaking in New Delhi on Monday at the end of his high-profile visit to India, Obama promised to back India's entry to the NSG in a "phased manner," while India moved towards full adoption of the NSG's export control requirements.
The NSG was set up in 1974 specifically as a response to India's first nuclear test in May 1974. Australia, which is a member of the NSG, holds about 40 percent of the world's known low-cost uranium deposits and already sells uranium to China, as well as to other buyers in the U.S., European Union, Japan, South Korea and Canada. It has also flagged possible sales to Russia.
But since the mid-1970s, Australia has had a bipartisan approach that it would not sell uranium to India because it was not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
That policy was briefly overturned in August 2007 when then-Prime Minister John Howard agreed in principle to allow uranium exports to India, on the condition the uranium was used for peaceful purposes and India signed safeguard agreements with Australia and the United Nations.
When Howard lost office in November 2007, the incoming Labor government led by Kevin Rudd reverted to the policy of no uranium sales to non-NPT members.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has continued that policy since replacing Rudd as Labor leader in June this year. During a 2009 visit to India when she was Deputy Prime Minister, Gillard said the policy was not directed specifically at India. "As a principle, we don't sell uranium to countries that have not signed the NPT," she told Indian media.
This week's joint statement by Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh moves India closer to wider acceptance into the nuclear community, despite its continued reluctance to sign the NPT. The other nations which are not in the NPT are Pakistan, North Korea and Israel.
India and the United States already have a civil nuclear agreement under a deal struck by former US President George W. Bush during his 2006 visit.
India's 1974 nuclear test, the first by a nation outside the U.S., UK, France, Russia and China, was made possible by a nuclear reactor donated to India by Canada, which subsequently cut off the supply of further nuclear material and technology.
US companies, along with rivals in Europe and Japan, are keen to sell civilian nuclear technology to India as it upgrades its power capacity.
In their joint statement, Obama and Singh welcomed the start of negotiations between India's state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation and U.S. nuclear energy companies. They "expressed hope for early commencement of commercial cooperation in the civil nuclear energy sector in India, which will stimulate economic growth and sustainable development and generate employment in both countries."
India is likely to need 8000 tonnes of uranium a year as it boosts its nuclear power output over the next decade. Its own domestic mines have limited capacity, so it buys additional uranium from France, Russia and Kazakhstan. It has signed civilian supply agreements with other producers such as Canada and Namibia, while Mongolia, South Africa, Nigeria and other African nations are viewed as potential sources.
Australia's Liberal Opposition is in favour of selling uranium to India, arguing that New Delhi has now signed an international convention covering nuclear accident liability, known as the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage.
Deputy Liberal leader and shadow minister for foreign affairs and trade Julie Bishop said on October 28 that Labor's ban on uranium exports to India was "illogical, hypocritical and depriving the Australian mining sector of access to a key and growing market in the important early stages of development."
Former Liberal PM John Howard told the Foreign Correspondents Association on November 5 that he regretted that the Rudd government abandoned the process of possible uranium sales to India.
Howard said that after his visit to India in March 2006, he set in chain a process for uranium sales, even though India was not a signatory to the NPT. By August 2007 Howard had received sufficient Indian assurances on safeguards for him to announce the Liberal coalition government's decision to allow sales.
"I believe we should sell uranium to India," Howard said last week. "India doesn't have the NPT, but it has other protocols, and India will get its uranium from elsewhere. It is a great pity that it is not buying uranium from Australia, when we are prepared to sell uranium to China and Russia."
Howard said he wished he had reached his "2006 mindset" towards India much earlier.
"When we met in 2006, Dr Singh made a remark that resonated strongly with me. He said that India and Australia were two countries that had a lot in common, but very little to do with each other," Howard said.
Though Labor shows no sign of changing its policy, it is likely to be a subject of discussion ahead of the visit to Australia by Prime Minister Singh next year, following an invitation issued by Gillard when the two leaders met at the East Asia Summit in Hanoi on October 30.
Singh's visit would be the first by an Indian prime minister since Rajiv Gandhi in October 1986. Singh is likely to be in Australia in October 2011, when the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting is due to be held in Perth.
All of Australia's annual uranium production of 10,500 tonnes is exported. Sales in 2009-10 were worth about $1.1 billion, with the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics (ABARE) forecasting sales will rise by 2014 to 14,000 tonnes, worth $1.7 billion.
Australia's three operating mines are BHP Billiton-owned Olympic Dam in South Australia, Beverley (owned by Heathgate Resources, a subsidiary of US company General Atomics), also in South Australia, and the Ranger mine in the Northern Territory, owned by Energy Resources Australia, which is majority owned by Rio Tinto. Other mines have been foreshadowed in South Australia and Western Australia.
The Australian Uranium Association, representing interests across the industry, says it sells uranium only to countries that have both signed the NPT and entered into bilateral export treaties with Australia.
But it has given itself some "wiggle room," arguing that Australia's diplomatic effort should aim to help bring the non-signatories into the NPT or, at least, to find other mechanisms that align their behaviours with the expectations of the NPT."
If those "other mechanisms" align Indian behaviour with NPT expectations in a way that convinces Labor, a policy shift is a possibility.
http://nuclearexportcontrols.blogspot.com/2010/11/scrutiny-for-australias-india-uranium.html
Speaking in New Delhi on Monday at the end of his high-profile visit to India, Obama promised to back India's entry to the NSG in a "phased manner," while India moved towards full adoption of the NSG's export control requirements.
The NSG was set up in 1974 specifically as a response to India's first nuclear test in May 1974. Australia, which is a member of the NSG, holds about 40 percent of the world's known low-cost uranium deposits and already sells uranium to China, as well as to other buyers in the U.S., European Union, Japan, South Korea and Canada. It has also flagged possible sales to Russia.
But since the mid-1970s, Australia has had a bipartisan approach that it would not sell uranium to India because it was not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
That policy was briefly overturned in August 2007 when then-Prime Minister John Howard agreed in principle to allow uranium exports to India, on the condition the uranium was used for peaceful purposes and India signed safeguard agreements with Australia and the United Nations.
When Howard lost office in November 2007, the incoming Labor government led by Kevin Rudd reverted to the policy of no uranium sales to non-NPT members.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has continued that policy since replacing Rudd as Labor leader in June this year. During a 2009 visit to India when she was Deputy Prime Minister, Gillard said the policy was not directed specifically at India. "As a principle, we don't sell uranium to countries that have not signed the NPT," she told Indian media.
This week's joint statement by Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh moves India closer to wider acceptance into the nuclear community, despite its continued reluctance to sign the NPT. The other nations which are not in the NPT are Pakistan, North Korea and Israel.
India and the United States already have a civil nuclear agreement under a deal struck by former US President George W. Bush during his 2006 visit.
India's 1974 nuclear test, the first by a nation outside the U.S., UK, France, Russia and China, was made possible by a nuclear reactor donated to India by Canada, which subsequently cut off the supply of further nuclear material and technology.
US companies, along with rivals in Europe and Japan, are keen to sell civilian nuclear technology to India as it upgrades its power capacity.
In their joint statement, Obama and Singh welcomed the start of negotiations between India's state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation and U.S. nuclear energy companies. They "expressed hope for early commencement of commercial cooperation in the civil nuclear energy sector in India, which will stimulate economic growth and sustainable development and generate employment in both countries."
India is likely to need 8000 tonnes of uranium a year as it boosts its nuclear power output over the next decade. Its own domestic mines have limited capacity, so it buys additional uranium from France, Russia and Kazakhstan. It has signed civilian supply agreements with other producers such as Canada and Namibia, while Mongolia, South Africa, Nigeria and other African nations are viewed as potential sources.
Australia's Liberal Opposition is in favour of selling uranium to India, arguing that New Delhi has now signed an international convention covering nuclear accident liability, known as the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage.
Deputy Liberal leader and shadow minister for foreign affairs and trade Julie Bishop said on October 28 that Labor's ban on uranium exports to India was "illogical, hypocritical and depriving the Australian mining sector of access to a key and growing market in the important early stages of development."
Former Liberal PM John Howard told the Foreign Correspondents Association on November 5 that he regretted that the Rudd government abandoned the process of possible uranium sales to India.
Howard said that after his visit to India in March 2006, he set in chain a process for uranium sales, even though India was not a signatory to the NPT. By August 2007 Howard had received sufficient Indian assurances on safeguards for him to announce the Liberal coalition government's decision to allow sales.
"I believe we should sell uranium to India," Howard said last week. "India doesn't have the NPT, but it has other protocols, and India will get its uranium from elsewhere. It is a great pity that it is not buying uranium from Australia, when we are prepared to sell uranium to China and Russia."
Howard said he wished he had reached his "2006 mindset" towards India much earlier.
"When we met in 2006, Dr Singh made a remark that resonated strongly with me. He said that India and Australia were two countries that had a lot in common, but very little to do with each other," Howard said.
Though Labor shows no sign of changing its policy, it is likely to be a subject of discussion ahead of the visit to Australia by Prime Minister Singh next year, following an invitation issued by Gillard when the two leaders met at the East Asia Summit in Hanoi on October 30.
Singh's visit would be the first by an Indian prime minister since Rajiv Gandhi in October 1986. Singh is likely to be in Australia in October 2011, when the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting is due to be held in Perth.
All of Australia's annual uranium production of 10,500 tonnes is exported. Sales in 2009-10 were worth about $1.1 billion, with the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics (ABARE) forecasting sales will rise by 2014 to 14,000 tonnes, worth $1.7 billion.
Australia's three operating mines are BHP Billiton-owned Olympic Dam in South Australia, Beverley (owned by Heathgate Resources, a subsidiary of US company General Atomics), also in South Australia, and the Ranger mine in the Northern Territory, owned by Energy Resources Australia, which is majority owned by Rio Tinto. Other mines have been foreshadowed in South Australia and Western Australia.
The Australian Uranium Association, representing interests across the industry, says it sells uranium only to countries that have both signed the NPT and entered into bilateral export treaties with Australia.
But it has given itself some "wiggle room," arguing that Australia's diplomatic effort should aim to help bring the non-signatories into the NPT or, at least, to find other mechanisms that align their behaviours with the expectations of the NPT."
If those "other mechanisms" align Indian behaviour with NPT expectations in a way that convinces Labor, a policy shift is a possibility.
http://nuclearexportcontrols.blogspot.com/2010/11/scrutiny-for-australias-india-uranium.html
3396/24%) = 80.60:1, which shows that Aussie ore is ridiculously cheaper.
