Australian Yellow cake fuels Ukrainian fires

Importantly JSCOT urged that "actual physical inspection by the IAEA occurs" at any Russian sites that may handle Australian uranium and recommended that "the supply of uranium to Russia should be contingent upon such inspections being carried out."

Despite these concerns successive Australian governments have furthered the fiction that the Russian nuclear sector is secure and safe. And put undue and unproven confidence in the myth that nuclear safeguards - meant to stop the cross pollination of the military and civil nuclear sectors - actually work. International inspections and scrutiny are limited or absent and perceived commercial interests have been given precedence over proven safety and security concerns.

In late December 2010 the first shipment of Australian uranium, sourced from Energy Resources of Australia’s troubled Ranger mine in Kakadu — itself the site of a spectacular and severe contamination event last December — arrived in Russia.

The former Chair of JSCOT, Labor MP Kelvin Thompson, has made an urgent called for the uranium sales deal to be reviewed in the light of current tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

And it would appear most Australians agree with this common sense proposition. A 2008 survey found 62% of Australians opposed uranium exports to nuclear weapons states compared to 31% in favour. An International Atomic Energy Agency survey of 1,000 Australians in 2005 found 56% believed the IAEA safeguards system was ineffective − nearly double the 29% who considered it effective.

Ukraine is no stranger to nuclear threat. On 26 April 1986 the meltdown and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear complex in Ukraine spewed radioactive waste across large parts of the Soviet Union and well beyond. The accident caused massive economic, environmental and human damage and dislocation and the radioactive reverberations continue today.

Putting the promises of an under-performing resource sector ahead of evidence based assessment has seen Australia squander a real chance to advance nuclear non-proliferation — however, we still have the ability and the responsibility to make a difference.

Foreign Minister Bishop must stop wringing hands and act decisively to halt any chance of fuelling arms.

President Putin’s civil atomic aspirations exceed the capacity of Russia’s nuclear sector while his military ones have no place on a habitable planet. Neither should be fuelled by Australian uranium.