Sale of Uranium to India will violate South Pacific Nuclear treaty: Expert

Unless India agrees to open its military facilities to nuclear inspectors, sale of Uranium by Australia to that country will be a breach of Federal government's obligations under the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, a noted legal expert said today.

"Australia would be in breach of the so-called Rarotonga Treaty, if India does not change its stand," Donald Rothwell of Australian National University said in a written legal opinion.

The Rarotonga Treaty bans uranium sales to most countries unless they agree to "full-scope safeguards" defined by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

The uranium sale policy is said to be the hot topic of discussions at this week's national conference of Australian Labor Party in Sydney. The Labor Party will debate on lifting its long standing ban on uranium sale to India.

"If India does not agree to Article 3.1 Non-Proliferation Treaty ( NPT) safeguards and Australia were to export uranium to India, Australia would be in violation of its Treaty of Rarotonga obligations," Rothwell was quoted as saying by 'Herald Sun'.

This could lead to a challenge from other countries that are part of the treaty, he added.

Australia is not saying India shouldn't be subject to safeguards. The real question is the extent and scope of the safeguards. India would need to sign up to full-scope safeguards that would require it to open military facilities.

He said India ratifying IAEA standards was "one step". All countries - apart from the five nuclear powers recognised in 1967 as weapons states (China, France, Russia, Britain and the US) - are required to "not only have open inspections of civil facilities but any military facilities that use nuclear material.

"The five nuclear weapons states aren't required and that is the crux of why India thinks the NPT is discriminatory," Rothwell said.