Australia, a top US ally, could become the world s
nuclear bank, leasing enriched uranium to other
countries to generate power and then storing depeleted
fuel rods in its vast, empty outback. But analysts say it won t happen without a spirited
debate.
Prime Minister John Howard reignited the nuclear
debate in Australia after a visit to the United States
last month, and a prime ministerial taskforce is to
report on all aspects of the industry by the end of
the year. Domestic debate has centred on possible nuclear power
stations, but Howard has talked up the benefits of
adding value to existing uranium exports and a small
lobby is pushing for the geologically stable continent
to be used for waste storage.
The scenario would fit US President George Bush s
Global Nuclear Energy Partnership plan, which aims to
limit the spread of nuclear weapons by controlling
access to enriched uranium.
"I do think it s something Howard wants to lay the
ground for, and I think the Americans are deeply
involved because this can tie in with nuclear
non-proliferation," said Australian National
University political analyst Michael McKinley.
The US proposal calls for advanced nuclear nations to
provide nuclear fuel and recycling services for energy
generation to other countries, which would then forgo
developing nuclear technologies of their own.
Australia holds 40 percent of the world s known
recoverable uranium and is a major producer, but would
have to move from selling yellowcake, or uranium
concentrate, to an enrichment and fuel fabrication
programme and storing nuclear waste.
"The issue is whether Australia is a stable enough
country both politically and geologically, and I think
the answer is probably yes to both of those," said
Aidan Byrne, head of physics at Australian National
University.
"Technologically, it s certainly a feasible option."
Australia s role in the potentially lucrative business
is being pushed by the Nuclear Fuel Leasing Group
(NFLG), an international grouping of private sector
interests that has lobbied governments around the
world.
"Australia has without doubt the best geology in the
world in terms of being dry, stable and flat to store
spent fuel," said John White, a member of the group
and chairman of the governments Uranium Industry
Framework.
Exportação de resíduos
Plans to use Australia as a waste dump are not new.
They were pursued in the 1990s and suggested again
last year by former Australian Prime Minister Bob
Hawke.
Australia s Green Party believes the new inquiry is
aimed at preparing the ground for the export of
enriched uranium and the storage of waste, with some
members of Howard s own party sceptical about the need
for nuclear power.
"The whole debate on nuclear power is complete
nonsense. Australia doesn t need nuclear power," said
Australian Greens Senator Christine Milne, pointing to
opportunities for renewable energy.
The Greens fear a proposal to build a nuclear
enrichment plant near the vast Olympic Dam copper and
uranium mine in outback South Australia, with enriched
ore sent to Darwin on the north-south rail link and
then shipped overseas.
Waste would be returned and potentially stored in the
outback, possibly at Maralinga in northern South
Australia, a British atomic bomb test site in the
1950s.
Apart from environmental and security hazards,
opponents argue that enrichment will support the
proliferation of nuclear weapons by providing fuel for
energy generation to countries that can use their own
uranium for weapons, and slow a move to alternative
energy sources.
"As long as you are stuck in a mindset of coal and
uranium, you can t get beyond it and see the potential
of renewables," said Milne, pointing to geothermal and
solar energy.
The Nuclear Fuel Leasing Group s White described
nuclear energy as an inevitable stop-gap until
renewable energy became widely available, given the
need to tackle global warming.
"This is going to be an enormously strategic,
international business," he said, with the NFLG
looking to participate in a business-led development,
backed by government.
Howard has called for a "full-blooded debate" in
Australia, but any move to lease nuclear energy may be
years away and the Greens warn it would face enormous
community opposition.
The ANU s McKinley said enrichment might eventually
become a reality given the economic case that could be
made.
"Over the next 20 years its a better-than-even
chance."
But using the country as a nuclear waste dump would
create a political furore. "That s going to be a
really nasty debate in Australia," said McKinley.
(Por Richard Pullin,
Planet Ark, 29/06/2006)