Oz uranium industry hails lifting of India ban as 'sign of maturity'

Canberra, Dec 4 (ANI): Australia's ruling Labor Party's decision to vote in favour of lifting a long-standing ban on exporting uranium to India is a sign of maturity, the nation's uranium industry has said.

The CEO of the Australian Uranium Association (AUA), Michael Angwin, said the decision was a welcome move beyond the automatic responses of the past.

"It is a sign of the increasing maturity of the national conversation about uranium mining and exports," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Angwin, as saying.

According to the AUA, based on Australia's uranium exports and India's projected nuclear growth, Australia could be selling 2500 tonnes of uranium, worth 300 million dollars, annually to India by 2030.

Angwin urged the federal government to develop legal and treaty arrangements with India similar to those made with countries that have signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

"The uranium industry highly values the assurance that is implicit in an Australian Government decision to approve uranium sales to a foreign country," he said.

"It is like a warranty for us that our product will be used responsibly and safely," he added.

Delegates at the ALP national conference today voted 206 to 185 in favour of Prime Minister Julia Gillard's decision to sell uranium to India, which has not signed Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.illard argued that Australia could sell uranium to India without breaching its obligations under the NPT. She said any agreement to sell uranium to India would include strict safeguards to minimise proliferation risks. (ANI)