Australia and Russia sign nuclear trade deal

9/7/2007

SYDNEY : The leaders of Russia and Australia signed a deal Friday to export Australian uranium to fuel Russian nuclear power stations, and promised the atomic material would not be sold on to Iran.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Australian Prime Minister John Howard signed the pact during bilateral meetings on the sidelines of a summit of Pacific Rim leaders in Sydney.

While the agreement stipulates that Russia can not sell Australian uranium to any other nation or use it for military purposes, critics of the deal worry that it could make it easier for rogue states, such as Iran, to obtain the raw material.

Asked by journalists whether Russia could be trusted not to sell Australian uranium to Tehran, Putin said his mineral-rich country already had an "excessive" supply of weapons-grade uranium that it was selling on the U.S. market.

"If we have a need to sell uranium to other countries, our resources, our own resources, are sufficient," Putin said through a translator.

Under a 1993 agreement with the United States, Russia has pledged to convert 500 tons of its excess enriched uranium - enough for 20,000 weapons - into low-enriched uranium to fuel American nuclear power plants.