Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith says the Federal Government is still considering whether it should supply uranium to Russia for non-military use, despite strong recommendations from organisations including ICAN, accepted by the government's review body the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, that sales should not go ahead due to an ineffective safeguards regime and credible documentation of the many links between military and civilian uses of uranium.

See the ABC News story.

Take Action:

Help the government withstand pro-nuclear industry and lobbyists by urging Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith to reject the Russia agreement. Click here for just a few of the main reasons.

Addresses via ICAN partner Friends of the Earth Australia are posted here.

Also see our previous ICAN news items on this issue.

Chernobyl, Ukraine (photo: Trey Ratcliff, Creative Commons license).

Points you can make - Why should Australia reject the Russian deal?

1. Russia has not honoured its disarmament obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) but has called to make its nuclear weapons stockpile (with an explosive force equivalent to 200,000 Hiroshima sized bombs) "more compact but more effective" according to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
2. The existing safeguards system is inadequate in determining whether Australian uranium will be used for Russia's civil or military nuclear program
3. The existing safeguards system neither guarantees inspections nor applies to military nuclear facilities - anywhere
4. Nuclear safety in Russia is poor
5. The treaty does not rule out nuclear fuel reprocessing (which separates Plutonium, usable in nuclear weapons)
6. Nuclear power is not a solution to climate change, and the proposed deal would have only small effects on greenhouse gas emissions.