No to Australian uranium and Chinese bombs: "Jim Green
From the corporate media reports of the uranium export agreement struck between Canberra and Beijing last week, you could be forgiven for not knowing that China need not subject a single gram of Australian uranium to safeguards inspections. Further, the uranium can be used in nuclear weapons without breaching the terms of the agreement.
The Chinese regime can, if it wants, accept Australian uranium at a uranium conversion plant not subject to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). To meet the terms of the agreement, it would need to transfer an equivalent amount of nuclear material to a safeguarded facility at some other stage of the nuclear fuel cycle (e.g. an enrichment plant). In theory then, there would not be a net transfer of nuclear material to un-safeguarded facilities (and potentially to weapons� production).
However, even if such transfers did take place, Australian uranium could easily find its way into Chinese weapons. Assuming exports of 4000 tonnes per year, Australian uranium could be converted into 800 nuclear weapons each year.
This directly contradicts foreign minister Alexander Downer�s claim on April 3 that the agreements �establish strict safeguards arrangements and conditions to ensure Australian uranium supplied to China ... is used exclusively for peaceful purposes�.
It is far from certain that there will be a transfer of nuclear materials such that there is no net contribution to China�s stockpile of non-safeguarded nuclear materials.
For starters, it would be naive to take the secretive, militaristic and murderous Chinese regime on good faith. It is also doubtful that IAEA inspections could ensure that a transfer to a safeguarded facility took place, or that it was not subsequently transferred to military use. The April 5"