If Aus sells uranium to china, why not to India?

MELBOURNE: Australia which holds world's largest uranium reserves is set to expand the industry with sealing of a controversial deal with India and another one with Russia in sight for exporting the nuclear fuel.

Prime Minister John Howard announced the sale of uranium to India under "strict conditions", which he discussed in a phone conversation last night with his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh. He said it did not make sense to sell uranium to China but not to India.

Government officials also confirmed that a new agreement to sell uranium to Russia could be signed next month during the visit of President Vladimir Putin to Australia. The deal will pave the way for Australian uranium to fuel Russian reactors for the first time, 'The Age' reported today.

Announcing the deal with India, the government said it would include a bilateral safeguards agreement to ensure the uranium supplied by it was used only for peaceful purposes.

India should put two-thirds of its existing nuclear power plants, and any new facilities, under United Nations supervision, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has said.

But the government has been forced to fend off questions about whether there are sufficient safeguards to sell uranium to a country outside the international treaty on non-proliferation.

There was also controversy over the issue yesterday in India, after a declaration by the Bush Administration that the United States will scrap its planned nuclear co-operation agreement with New Delhi if the Singh Government conducts a nuclear test, according to local press reports.