Friday 29th of March 2024

Australia-India Uranium Trade Tied To Nuclear Reactor Construction Contracts

I've highlighted the last sentence of this extract because it seems of particular significance to activity in Australia. 

 [from the Financial Express, poste 20/5/05]

MAY 19:  Seeking to meet its rising energy demands, India may
pay suppliers, including General Electric (GE) Co, Rs 1.8 trillion ($40
billion) to build nuclear reactors over the next 14 years, a government
official said.

France’s Areva SA, Electricite de France and US-based Westinghouse
Electric Co are among the possible providers of 25 to 28 reactors by
2020, chairman Nuclear Power Corporation of India, SK Jain said.

US President George Bush is seeking an end to the three-decade-old
international ban on nuclear technology sales to India, prompted by its
atomic bomb test in 1974.

India and China are leading a worldwide revival in atomic
energy after oil and coal prices rose to record levels. Russia and
Japan are among the nations that may lift sanctions on India and enter
the contest for contracts to install 40,000 megawatts (mw) of capacity.
This would be enough to supply electricity to four cities the size of
New York.

‘‘We are very confident the deal and all agreements will go
through,’’ Mr Jain said in an interview in Mumbai on Tuesday. ‘‘As an
outcome of that, India will have access to the global nuclear
technology market.’’

President Bush has asked the US Congress to end nuclear
sanctions against India. US and other members of the so-called nuclear
suppliers group, including France, Russia, Japan and Australia, are
debating whether to lift their ban on exports of equipment and
materials for atomic use to India.

India is turning to overseas nuclear-reactor builders after
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh doubled the nation’s 2020 capacity target
from an initial 20,000 mw. India’s homegrown atomic power programme
won’t cope with the stepped-up construction plan, Mr Jain said.He
addedthe programme was also limited because of a uranium shortage
caused by the international embargo on sales of the reactor fuel. Once
sanctions end, supplies of enriched uranium will be included in
contracts to install reactors.

 While
at this stage having no evidence to authenticate the last claim, let's
assume for now, even though this might not be the case, that
international reactor constructors are including whole-of-life (that's
20,000-plus in uranium years) supervision and/or ownership of
fission-fuel used on Indian soil. 

If such were the case,
placing of the waste in a repository would be on the agenda, which
would be more difficult for a company that didn't already have a
pre-arranged site when it made a tender to the Indian Government.

No matter which company wins I bet Halliburton will make a fortune in environmental impact assessments. 

Who
were the "officials' that Downer was relying on for his information
last week?  They need to be identified sooner rather than later 

cunning conning condi .....

‘Condoleezza Rice, testifying April 5 before the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee about the US-India nuclear deal: 

"India's society is open and free. It is transparent
and stable. It is multiethnic. It is a multi-religious democracy that is
characterized by individual freedom and the rule of law. It is a country with
which we share common values. ... India is a rising global power that we
believe can be a pillar of stability in a rapidly changing Asia. In other
words, in short, India is a natural partner for the United States." 

And here is a State Department
human rights report - released the very same day - that had this to say about
India: 

"The Government generally
respected the rights of its citizens and continued efforts to curb human rights
abuses, although numerous serious problems remained. These included
extrajudicial killings, disappearances, custodial deaths, excessive use of
force, arbitrary arrests, torture, poor prison conditions, and extended
pretrial detention, especially related to combating insurgencies in Jammu and
Kashmir. Societal violence and discrimination against women, trafficking of
women and children for forced prostitution and labor, and female feticide and
infanticide remained concerns. Poor enforcement of laws, widespread corruption,
a lack of accountability, and the severely overburdened court system weakened
the delivery of justice."
 

Is it not enough to murder your
brain?’ 

"Come Out
Of The White House With Your Hands Up!"