the price of uranium smashed through usd 100, page-14

Europe wants to buy WA uranium

8th April 2007, 7:30 WST


Alan Carpenter will come under renewed pressure next week to lift WA’s ban on uranium mining, with the European Union saying the State is in a strong position to supply the controversial energy source to EU countries.



In his first official WA visit, EU ambassador Bruno Julien will argue that nuclear energy offers the EU a way to slash its greenhouse gas emissions while meeting its future energy needs.

Mr Julien told The West Australian that several European countries were interested in securing long-term contracts for uranium.

With so much of the resource in WA, there were opportunities to supply Europe and for European countries to become more heavily involved in mining in the State.

“You are sitting on a mine, more or less,” he said. “Energy supply is one of our greatest concerns in the EU because we are dependent on outside supplies.

“We need more uranium because we are trying to green our energy supplies, to reduce our CO2 emissions, and it’s our view that we can work with WA.”

Mr Julien’s comments will add to what is already significant pressure on the Premier to overturn his Government’s opposition to uranium mining.

Mr Carpenter has long cited environmental reasons for the ban and says WA would come under immense pressure to take nuclear waste if it sold uranium.

But last month he changed his stance, saying he was opposed to uranium mining because WA may need it to meet domestic energy needs in the future.

Mr Carpenter told Parliament this week a suggestion from former Western Mining Corp executive Hugh Morgan that a nuclear waste dump be built on the WA-South Australian border highlighted the dangers of mining uranium.

Mr Morgan said the dump should be owned by various governments and utilities around the world with the Australian Government and leading Australian businesses.

Mr Carpenter said Mr Morgan’s proposal emphasised the dangers the State would face if the Government was to lift its ban on uranium mining.

“We would in turn be requested, required or at least pressured heavily into receiving the waste back in return,” he said.

Mr Carpenter said he believed that once WA went down the uranium nuclear fuels path, there would be overwhelming pressure on the State and Federal governments and the business community for a location in WA to be identified and made available for nuclear waste.

“We shouldn’t belittle or decry the prospect because it is a real prospect,” he said.

But Liberal MP Colin Barnett, who has championed his party’s push for lifting the uranium mining ban since he returned to the front bench last year, said nuclear waste should be stored close to where it was generated.

He said nuclear waste disposal would not be a serious issue for Australia until it had a nuclear power generation industry, which was 20 years away for the east coast and 50 years away for WA.

“If there is any risk in handling it, it’s in the transport and that’s why you would store it as close as you can, safely, to the point where it was generated,” Mr Barnett said.

Uranium mining will be hotly debated at Labor’s national conference this month.

Many ALP members, including Federal Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd, believe the party should abandon its three-mines policy.

Mr Julien acknowledged that uranium mining and nuclear energy were as controversial in Europe as they were in Australia.

But he said it had to be considered as a solution to climate change.

SHANE WRIGHT
ECONOMICS EDITOR

It's all good news.

There is a tsunami coming a nuclear industry Tsunami.... Bring it on.