Marko Beljac has set it our clearly - the Howard government does not care about nuclear weapons proliferation, nor about any other conceivable restraint on Australia flogging off its uranium, and slavishly following the Bush line - no matter what.

Is there something else happening here? Is it the success of renewable energy technologies, winning investors all over the world? Is it the awful realisation that the government's corporate backers might lose out, if they don't sell the stuff off quickly - before the whole nuclear energy farce collapses?

With the uranium to India deal coming on, John Howard might live to be famous as Yellowcake John - in the same way that Menzies, promoting sales of iron to Japan on the eve of World War 2, has become known as Pig Iron Bob.
No wonder the crowrds will be out, protesting, on Sunday August 5th, the eve of Hiroshima Day.
Christina Macpherson www.antinuclearaustralia.com

India has had a nuclear industry for over fifty years. We were exchanging technology with the Indians back in 1968 when I was involved with the industry. I wonder how you think it will be impeded if Australia refuses to sell it yellowcake.

"Marko Beljac has set it our clearly"...Yeah, a most astute observation if I may say so myself!!

Why wouldn’t we sell uranium to India for their power needs. The IAEA are going to monitor India’s civilian nuclear program to make sure Australian uranium is not diverted to the military. Whilst this leaves India’s own uranium supplies for weapons programs if India had to choose between their defence program and electricity, they’d choose weapons. Instead, they would just build more coal powered generators contributing significantly to current CO2 emissions. There are no current base-load generation options available that are affordable for a country like India.

India has a solid history in not onselling their nuclear technology. The real farce, I would suggest, is that most opponents of this deal just plain HATE nuclear energy, anywhere. It’s carnal sin to the priests and priestesses of the high church of the environment. Christina I wish you and your half dozen protesters warm weather. That way you might get the ratbag element who turn up to protests for lack of something better to do. You might also get the pseudo intellectuals of the anti capitalism movement who aren’t quite sure what they want, but are crystal clear on how much they hate that globalisation thingy.

How many investors an unproven technology has is totally irrelevant. Until there are working base load generators which are even remotely price competitive no third world country is going to buy them, nor should they have to. Nuclear power is the bridge we need in order to lower greenhouses gases until better technologies become available.

Christina said “With the uranium to India deal coming on, John Howard might live to be famous as Yellowcake John - in the same way that Menzies, promoting sales of iron to Japan on the eve of World War 2, has become known as Pig Iron Bob.”

And the greenies who are trying to shut down all of our power supplies MIGHT be responsible for pushing the world into global recession, destroying the livelihoods and savings of billions.

For sure, we aren’t going to be at war with India any time soon

> Should this come to pass, then like the US, this will be an express
> violation of our obligations under the NPT. Article III states that
> no state may export “source or special fissionable material”,
> including uranium, to a non nuclear weapon state that does not
> accept what are called “full scope safeguards”.

If you can find the words "full scope" in the NPT treaty text, I'll send you a case of whiskey.

India already has safeguard agreements under Article III with the IAEA and IAEA chief ElBaradei fully supports the US-India deal.

Ashley J. Tellis, special assistant o Under-Secretary NIcholas Burns, was a member of the US delegation that negotiated the 123 agreement.

He wrote an interesting article that you may be interested in.

Atoms for War? US-Indian Civilian Nuclear Cooperation and India's Nuclear Arsenal

http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/atomsforwarfinal4.pdf

Among the most serious criticisms leveled at the U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation initiative agreed to by President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is that it would enable India to rapidly expand its nuclear arsenal. This criticism rests upon two crucial assumptions:

* that New Delhi in fact seeks the largest nuclear weapons inventory its capacity and resources permit; and,
* the Indian desire for a larger nuclear arsenal has been stymied thus far by a shortage of natural uranium.

Atoms for War? US-Indian Civilian Nuclear Cooperation and India's Nuclear Arsenal by Ashley J. Tellis, Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, suggests both these assumptions are deeply flawed. The study concludes that:

* India is currently separating far less weapons grade plutonium annually than it has the capability to produce. The evidence, which suggests that the Government of India is in no hurry to build the biggest nuclear stockpile it could construct based on material factors alone, undermines the assumption that India wishes to build the biggest nuclear arsenal it possibly can;

# Further, India's capacity to produce a huge nuclear arsenal is not affected by prospective U.S.-Indian civilian nuclear cooperation. The research in this report concludes that: India already has the indigenous reserves of natural uranium necessary to undergird the largest possible nuclear arsenal it may desire and, consequently, the U.S.-Indian civilian nuclear cooperation initiative will not materially contribute towards New Delhi's strategic capacities in any consequential way either directly or by freeing up its internal resources; that the current shortage of natural uranium in India caused by constrictions in its mining and milling capacity is a transient problem that is in the process of being redressed. The U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation agreement proposed by President Bush does not in any way affect the Government of India's ability to upgrade its uranium mines and milling facilities—as it is currently doing. As such, the short-term shortage does not offer a viable basis either for Congress to extort any concessions from India in regards to its weapons program or for supporting the petty canard that imported natural uranium will lead to a substantial increase in the size of India's nuclear weapons program.