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all falling into place for alliance (uranium artic

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    CANBERRA, March 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush
    has briefed Australian Prime Minister John Howard on a U.S.
    nuclear deal with India in a move seen as groundwork by Canberra
    for a possible policy change to allow uranium exports to India.

    The pair discussed the deal after Bush called to pass on his
    sympathies over a tropical cyclone that devastated parts of
    northern Queensland state, a spokesman for Howard confirmed.

    The agreement, reached earlier this month, will see India
    receive U.S. nuclear technology in return for separating its
    military and civil facilities and opening civilian plants to
    inspections.

    India wants to buy uranium from Australia, which has more
    than 40 percent of the world's known reserves of the mineral. But
    Canberra maintains it will not sell to countries, such as India,
    that have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

    "My read on it would be, yes, (Howard) is paving the way for
    a possible change of policy. Whether he does or not depends on
    how people react to it," Monash University political analysts
    Dennis Woodward said.

    A spokesman for Howard said the prime minister wanted to know
    more about "how the deal would work". Howard had already
    discussed the agreement with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
    Rice when she visited Sydney late last week.

    Howard said on Friday he would send a team of officials to
    India to find out more about the deal with the United States, but
    said there would be no immediate change in Canberra's policy.

    "Obviously, like all policies, you never say never," he said.

    Rice said on Thursday that Washington will not push Australia
    to supply uranium to India, which conducted a nuclear test in
    1974 and in 1998 and declared itself a nuclear weapons state.

    Canberra is negotiating a nuclear safeguards agreement with
    Beijing, allowing it to sell uranium to help meet China's rapidly
    growing energy market.

    "I would definitely see us selling uranium to China before
    we'd count on selling it to India," Woodward said.

    Australia also requires countries to agree to a separate
    nuclear safeguards agreement before it will export uranium.
    Canberra is negotiating such a deal with Beijing to allow it to
    sell uranium to help meet China's rapidly growing energy market.

    China is expected to build 40 to 50 nuclear power plants over
    the next 20 years, while India is looking to boost its nuclear
    power industry, which currently accounts for only three percent
    of energy production.

    Australia has 19 nuclear safeguard agreements, covering 36
    countries, including the United States, France, Britain, Mexico,
    Japan, Finland and South Korea. Australia has only three
    operating uranium mines, which are owned by BHP Billiton
    , Rio Tinto and General Atomics of the
    United States.
    ((NUCLEAR-INDIA-AUSTRALIA, reporting by Michelle Nichols,
    editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Reuters Messaging:
    [email protected]; +61 2 6273 3700))

    (c) Reuters Limited 2006
    REUTER NEWS SERVICE
    Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
 
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