A departing Australian envoy to Pakistan on Thursday said his
government would not consider selling uranium to the South Asian state,
though it is pursuing plans to make the material available to
neighboring India, Dawn reported (see GSN, Jan. 20, 2011).
“India has an exemption from Nuclear Suppliers Group, which does not apply to Pakistan,” Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan Timothy George said in goodbye remarks. The organization of nuclear exporting nations in 2008 granted a special exception enabling members to engage in civilian atomic trade with India, even though the nuclear-armed state has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (see GSN, Jan. 26).
Uranium can be employed to power nuclear energy reactors or, with sufficient enrichment, used in nuclear weapons.
Islamabad, which also holds nuclear weapons outside the nonproliferation accord, has on multiple occasions said it should have the same rights to acquire Australian uranium as its South Asian rival. George, though, said the two nations' situations are not identical (Dawn, May 18).
http://www.nti.org/gsn/
“India has an exemption from Nuclear Suppliers Group, which does not apply to Pakistan,” Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan Timothy George said in goodbye remarks. The organization of nuclear exporting nations in 2008 granted a special exception enabling members to engage in civilian atomic trade with India, even though the nuclear-armed state has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (see GSN, Jan. 26).
Uranium can be employed to power nuclear energy reactors or, with sufficient enrichment, used in nuclear weapons.
Islamabad, which also holds nuclear weapons outside the nonproliferation accord, has on multiple occasions said it should have the same rights to acquire Australian uranium as its South Asian rival. George, though, said the two nations' situations are not identical (Dawn, May 18).
http://www.nti.org/gsn/
