This ought to give Bush fits. I mean they've got their panties all in a bunch about Iran's Uranium processing program.
Australia is negotiating with a deal with China to sell Uranium, well, yellowcake anyway, to the Chinese. But first the Aussies want assurances that China won't use their yelowcake for military purposes. However, Uranium is fungible. If China agrees not to use the Aussie Uranium for military purposes, that just frees up an equivalent amount of Uranium either produced locally or purchased somewhere else for military purposes.
And while extracting U-235 from natural Uranium is a pain in the ass, extracting Pu-239 from spent reactor fuel is much easier. At least the Russians required the Iranians to send back the spent reactor fuel so they couldn't process the Plutonium out of it.
More below
From
China Daily
Australia seeks nuke co-op with China
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-10 05:32
CANBERRA: The Australian Government announced yesterday it is to start talks with China on a bilateral nuclear co-operation agreement.
"I am pleased to announce Australia will formally commence negotiations on a nuclear co-operation agreement with China," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said in a statement.
"The deal will establish safeguard arrangements to ensure Australian uranium supplied to China is used exclusively for peaceful purposes," he said.
The two countries have already held exploratory talks on the proposed agreement, according to Downer.
Australia has an estimated 40 per cent of the world's low-cost uranium resources, while China has great energy needs to fuel its rapid economic development.
From the International Herald Tribune
Australia to start formal negotiations on uranium exports to China
By Gemma Daley and Angela Macdonald-Smith Bloomberg News
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2005
...Uranium ore, the raw material for nuclear plant fuel, has traded at $29.50 a pound since July 13, its highest price for 23 years.
Australia has 41 percent of global uranium reserves, but it can meet only 21 percent of demand, according to government figures, partly because of mining bans. An agreement with China may enable BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto Group, two of the world's biggest miners, to export the ore to Asia's biggest energy user.
"This agreement will be good for companies like Rio or BHP, or any other operator that has a uranium asset operating within Australia," said Neil Boyd-Clark, a fund manager at ABN AMRO Asset Management Australia. "This potentially represents opening up a new market, although it's still early days."
China plans to build 27 power plants to meeting rising demand for energy, according to the World Nuclear Association. An agreement with China may be concluded in time for Australia to start exporting uranium there just after 2010, Ian Macfarlane, the resources minister, said in June.
Australia's uranium exports may rise to 650 million Australian dollars, or $500 million, in the year ending next June 30, from 364 million dollars in the past year, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
And finally, this from The Advertiser
Safeguards sought on sale of uranium
10aug05
THE Federal Government has taken the first step to sell uranium to China, less than a week after seizing control of the Northern Territory's yellowcake resources.
Australia will demand China, a global growth powerhouse, sign an agreement to ensure the controversial commodity is used only for power generation and not military purposes.
Foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer yesterday said specific trade negotiations with China would start only after a nuclear co-operation deal was in place.
In the last article, Mr. Downer is quoted as saying that, "safeguards would be set up to ensure the uranium 'is used exclusively for peaceful purposes'."
Some fun now, eh?