The Australia Nuclear Horn Is Ready (Dan 7)

Australia set for uranium exports to India, UAE

26th November 2015
BY: ESMARIE SWANEPOEL
CREAMER MEDIA SENIOR DEPUTY EDITOR: AUSTRALASIA

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Australian government has finalised two agreements to expand its global uranium exports with India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which are investing in nuclear programmes.

The Australia-India nuclear cooperation agreement would permit Australian companies to start commercial uranium exports to India, which Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said was an important milestone in Australia’s relationship with the Asian country.

“This agreement provides the framework for substantial new trade in energy between Australia and India. The supply of Australian uranium will help India meet its rapidly growing electricity demand,” she added.

The administrative arrangements have been signed and uranium exports can begin immediately.
India is considered the second-fastest growing market for nuclear and is forecast to have about 100 GW of capacity in 2050, making it the third largest market for nuclear after China and the US. According to the World Nuclear Association (WNA), India has six nuclear reactors under construction (4 300 MW), 22 planned reactors (21 300 MW) and 35 proposed reactors (40 000 MW).
The federal government has also finalised Australia’s nuclear cooperation agreement with the UAE, paving the way for Australia to supply uranium for use in UAE’s developing nuclear power programme.

The UAE currently has no nuclear reactors operable, but is planning to expand its nuclear significantly. The WNA reports that the UAE has four reactors under construction (5 600 MW) and that it has proposed to build another 10 reactors (14 400 MW).

Bishop said that these agreements set out strict conditions for the peaceful use, safeguarding and security of Australian uranium.

The Australian resources sector has welcomed the signing of the agreements, with the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) saying that the uranium industry was looking forward to building relationships with customers and stakeholders in India and the UAE.

The MCA’s executive director for uranium, Daniel Zavattiero said that the agreements were timely, as they came just days after the release of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) latest World Energy Outlook 2015 detailing its projections on nuclear energy growth in India.

According to the IEA’s base case scenario, nuclear power generation in India is expected to grow by almost 700% from 2013 to 2040, while the UAE’s nuclear programme is targeting delivering electricity to the grid in 2017, and producing nearly a quarter of the country’s electricity by 2020.
Australia now has 24 nuclear cooperation agreements in force, allowing exports to 42 countries and Taiwan.

Australia has three operating uranium mines – Ranger, in the Northern Territory; Olympic Dam, in South Australia; and Beverley with Four Mile, in South Australia. Other mines were shut down pending higher uranium prices.

The country produced 5 001 t of uranium in 2014, which is about 9% of global output.
EDITED BY: Mariaan Webb CREAMER MEDIA SENIOR RESEARCHER AND DEPUTY EDITOR ONLINE

The Australian Nuclear Horn Exports Uranium (Daniel 7)

Australia could boost Ukrainian energy security with coal, uranium

By Matt Siegel
SYDNEY | Wed Dec 10, 2014 8:04pm EST

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia could export coal and uranium to Ukraine to help ease Kiev’s over reliance on Russian energy exports, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday.

Russia has this year annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and given support to separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, driving relations between Moscow and the West to the lowest point since the Cold War.

Last month Russia suspended coal supplies to Ukraine, a blow to domestic energy suppliers who are struggling with a severe lack of raw fuel for power plants due to the conflict in the industrial east.
Abbott, who has been among the most vocal critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine following the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in July, proposed Australian commodities as a secure alternative.

“Australia is an energy super power and energy security is very important to Ukraine, particularly given its current vulnerability to supply,” Abbott said.

Poroshenko, who is on the second day of a three-day state visit to Australia, signaled Ukraine’s interest in importing both coal and uranium.

“We discussed today the possibility of co-operation in the sphere of nuclear energy,” he told reporters. “There is the possibility for Ukraine to buy Australian uranium for our nuclear power stations.”

Russia has been accused of using its enormous energy reserves as a weapon against former Soviet republics, and Ukraine is eager to diversify supply to avoid more disruptions.

Ukraine had been set to rely on Russian coal to get through the current winter after the war disrupted supplies to thermal power plants (TPP), which provide around 40 percent of the country’s electricity.

Australia and Russia signed a bilateral agreement in 2007 enabling uranium exports, but Abbott halted the trade earlier this year in retaliation over MH17.

Australia, which has no nuclear power plants of its own, is one of the world’s top exporters of uranium, mining 7,529 tonnes of uranium in fiscal 2011/12, worth A$782 million ($653.83 million), according to government figures.

Australia is the world’s second biggest exporter of thermal coal, after Indonesia.

(Additional reporting by James Regan in SYDNEY; Editing by Michael Perry)