Australia to sell uranium to India

AUSTRALIA: Australia has agreed to sell uranium to India for use in nuclear power plants even though New Delhi has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty on atomic weapons, local media reported Wednesday.

A condition of the deal would be that inspectors would be allowed to check the chain of supply of the nuclear fuel to ensure none was siphoned off into weapons programmes, The Australian newspaper said.

The national security committee of the federal cabinet reportedly made the decision late Tuesday but it would not be announced until Prime Minister John Howard had advised his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.

Australia has the world’s largest known reserves of uranium and the move would mark a major change in its policy of refusing to sell the nuclear fuel to countries that have not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Howard’s government, a strong supporter of US President George W. Bush’s administration, had signalled a break with the policy after New Delhi finalised a landmark civilian nuclear deal with the US last month.

Australia, meanwhile, has been under pressure to sell uranium to India since agreeing last year to supply rival Asian giant China. India and China already have nuclear weapons but Beijing has signed the NPT while New Delhi has not.

Sydney, Wednesday, AFP