Howard's plan: Australia as global nuclear dump

Howard's end plan - enrichment and global nuclear waste dump: Greens

Prime Minister Howard's close relationship with President George Bush is once again taking Australia down a dangerous and wrong path towards the enrichment of uranium and the creation of a global high-level nuclear waste dump, the Greens said today.

"Prime Minister Howard needs to be honest with the Australian people and tell us exactly what he discussed with President Bush as part of the President's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership plan," Australian Greens energy and climate change spokesperson Senator Christine Milne said in Hobart.

"President Bush wants to establish a series of nuclear supply centres around the world, so that he can control the supply of nuclear fuel and the reprocessing and disposal of nuclear waste.

"Prime Minister Howard desperately wants to be part of President Bush's grand plan, admitting yesterday that if Australia is not a nuclear fuel supplier then that would shut us out of certain gatherings.

"Expanding uranium mines, enriching uranium at Olympic Dam in South Australia, and sending the enriched uranium by rail to Darwin for leasing to China and India is the first part of Prime Minister Howard's real agenda.

"Taking back high-level nuclear waste, possibly including US nuclear weapons waste, and burying it at Maralinga would make Australia the nuclear waste dump of the world. Is that the vision Australians have for their future?

"Prime Minister Howard must tell the Australian people if he agrees with former Prime Minister Bob Hawke that Australia should become the world's nuclear waste dump."

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