Australia to review stand on uranium sale to India

MELBOURNE: Australian Opposition parties on Thirsday pressed the Federal Government to review its stand on selling uranium to India, saying the current "hypocritical" policy will hurt the mining companies with New Delhi back into the nuclear club.
 
The Opposition parties also reminded the Government that it did not object to NSG waiver for India.
 
"Now that the US-India agreement has been made law, the Rudd government is in an untenable position by refusing to allow the sale of Australian uranium to India under the same terms, conditions and International Atomic Energy Agency inspection program as Australian uranium sales to China," Opposition resources spokesman Ian Macfarlane said.
 
"This is the same agreement that Australia approved last month, as a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, yet the government persists with its ideological and patronising refusal to allow a similar deal between India and Australia.
 
"This unsustainable position comes at the expense of local jobs in the Australian resources sector, which is being denied access to the substantial market and major investment opportunities," Macfarlane said.
 
The Government led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has insisted that it will not sell uranium to India while the country remains outside the non-proliferation treaty.
 
Macfarlane said India will need extensive reserves of clean energy to meet the needs of its growing population while lowering its greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation.
 
"With the world's most extensive reserves of uranium, Australia is well positioned to meet that demand," he said.
 
"But the government's obstructionist approach and unsustainable double standards are holding us back and standing in the way of jobs growth and new export opportunities for the resources sector," he said.