Scientist Tim Flannery has accused Australia of taking an immoral position by exporting polluting coal to India but refusing to sell it uranium to help it establish a cleaner power-generation industry. The author of The Weather Makers said India’s plan to build a new generation of coalfired power stations in the next five years would be a catastrophe for the country because it would lessen its energy security.
“They’re backing themselves into a situation where they will have a lot of what is now cheap energy but which will inevitably become more expensive because there will be a cost on carbon,” Dr Flannery told The Australian in New Delhi.
Australia exports about 10,000 tonnes of uranium a year a $900 million injection into the domestic economy which equates to about 400 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year that are not generated. But the Rudd Government has ruled out exporting Australian uranium to India, the world’s second most populous nation, because it is not a signatory to the UN nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
More from here
