Russia, Aust sign uranium deal

Posted 45 minutes ago Updated 37 minutes ago

Vladimir Putin signed the deal hours after arriving in Sydney. (APEC 2007 Taskforce)
Video: Putin begins historic visit (ABC News)
Video: APEC organisers try to appease needs of media (ABC News)
Map: Sydney 2000
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Russia has signed an agreement allowing it to buy Australian uranium for its nuclear reactors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed the deal after his talks with Prime Minister John Howard this morning at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
Australia could be exporting its yellowcake to Russia as soon as next year, but today's agreement means Russia could not sell the fuel to any other nation or use it for military purposes.
Russia previously said it would sign a nuclear safeguards agreement to allow for the sale of the fuel, to ensure it is used only for domestic civil use.
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has expressed confidence that Russia would not risk breaching those conditions.
"To suggest that Russia - which has its own uranium by the way - would breach a treaty of that importance with a country like Australia, is not just the real world," he said.
"I don't think for a minute Russia would do that. Russia is not some kind of a rogue state."
But the deal has angered Greenpeace, which says it will create a nuclear weapons proliferation risk.
Greenpeace says the plan could free up Russia's own uranium supplies for weapons production and export.
Greenpeace spokesman Steve Shallhorn says it will also create more nuclear waste.
"Uranium is a dangerous substance, it should be left in the ground," he said.
"Money invested in nuclear power is a waste of funding that could be used to generate electricity by using safe, clean renewable technologies.
"That's where APEC should be putting its energy - in that direction."
Democrats leader Senator Lyn Allison strongly condemned the move in the lead-up to the agreement.
Senator Allison says the Government is committing Australia to a long-term agreement that most people do not want.
"The Government doesn't have a mandate to do this, there's no parliamentary oversight and 66 per cent of Australians say that it's unwise and that they don't want to sell uranium to Russia," she said.
She says the safeguards agreement is "generally regarded as joke".
"Russia has a very poor history of safety, it routinely flouts its own laws, it won't ratify the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) additional protocol that would have allowed for greater levels of inspection," she said.
Mr Putin arrived in Sydney via Jakarta, where he signed off on a deal to sell Russian submarines to Indonesia.
He is the first serving Russian political leader to visit Australia, arriving in Sydney for APEC.
He was greeted on the tarmac by Mr Downer and New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma.
Mr Downer says it is the first time a Russian or Soviet leader has visited Australia.
"It's quite a historic occasion for the President of Russia to be here," he said.
"Russia has of course been a power since the end of the Cold War and you're seeing now quite a significant resurgence of Russia."