Australia finalizes uranium export deal with India: On July 9, the two countries signed an administrative arrangement under their 2015 Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, enabling Australia (holding ~28% of global uranium) to supply India for civilian nuclear energy to help reach its 100 GW target by 2047. 

Strong commercial and political push despite proliferation concerns: The deal is celebrated by mining industry and government for economic benefits and energy security, but critics (including ICAN, Malcolm Fraser, and legal experts) argue it risks breaching the Treaty of Rarotonga and NPT principles, as India is not an NPT member and lacks full-scope IAEA safeguards. 

Broader strategic and human rights context: The agreement reflects deepening Australia-India ties under Modi, but raises issues over India’s nuclear weapons program (potentially freeing up domestic uranium), past proliferation risks, RAW espionage activities in Australia, and Modi’s record on human rights and sectarianism.

It was a distasteful affair, but Australian politicians have become accustomed to those toadying practices that accompany capitulations to power.  On his visit to Melbourne, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was, as he had been on a previous trip, greeted by an evangelical atmosphere unseen and, it should be said, needless for other political leaders.  Indian Australians mean votes for the politicians in Canberra; an Indian economy, strappingly moving ahead, means returns: education, services, and as became so clear on this Modi sojourn, uranium.  

On July 9, Australian and Indian governments minted an administrative arrangement permitting the sale of Australian uranium to an ever energy hungry India.  The Australia-India Joint Statement on Energy Security confirmed the finalisation of such arrangements “necessary to enable the export of Australian uranium to India for exclusively peaceful purposes and under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, as provided for under the Australia-Indian Nuclear Cooperation Agreement (2015).”  In Modi’s words, this would “give our clean energy objectives fresh momentum.”  Australian uranium, which accounts for almost 28% of global sources, is seen as essential for helping India reach its goal of 100 gigawatts of nuclear energy capacity by 2047.

There was much in the way of ignominious........

© Eurasia Review