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Australia says no need to fear Russia nuclear deal
Sydney (AFP) Sept 4, 2007 Russia has adequate safety standards for handling nuclear materials and there is no need to fear a proposed deal to supply uranium, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Tuesday. Violating such a deal would mean risking a confrontation with most of the western world and Moscow was unlikely to want that, Downer said. He also dismissed the possibility of another Chernobyl disaster as a result of any such new agreement with Russia, which he has suggested could be signed during a regional summit this week. "My view is you can put in place a good safeguards arrangement with Russia," he told Sky News. "Russia would have absolutely no interest in breaching a safeguards arrangement -- in creating a massive diplomatic confrontation -- not just with Australia, but with most of the western world over something like that." Safety had improved since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, he said. "It was a Soviet reactor. There has been an enormous amount of work done, not only that model of reactor, the ones that are still in existence have been very substantially upgraded," Downer said. "But I think the level of safety with nuclear reactors these days is very high," he said. A new deal on supplying Australian uranium to Russia is widely expected to be signed during this week's meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum under way in Sydney. Russian President Vladimir Putin is among the world leaders who will attend. Australia already exports uranium to Russia but the current deal is for processing by a third party. The deal would follow a similar one with India last month, which was also highly controversial. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Civil Nuclear Energy Science, Technology and News Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
Muslim clerics say Indonesia nuclear plans 'sinful'
Jakarta (AFP) Sept 3, 2007An influential group of Muslim clerics from Indonesia's largest Islamic movement has declared the government's nuclear plans for earthquake-prone Java as sinful under Islam, a cleric said Monday. |
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