Pakistan a potential uranium customer, says Ziggy Switkowski

AUSTRALIA will have to consider selling uranium to Pakistan in the future after agreeing to export it to India, according to nuclear expert Dr Ziggy Switkowski.

The assessment came as Pakistan demanded the same treatment as its nuclear neighbour, which Labor has agreed to export uranium to despite India's refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Dr Switkowski, a nuclear physisist and former head of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, said Pakistan wasn't yet ready to be considered as a buyer of Australian uranium.

But he said that “down the line that will need to be considered”. “Pakistan is handicapped by its less than impressive history in the whole nuclear space, having traded nuclear secrets to unstable regimes, in Iran, in Libya and North Korea,” he said.

“It also has a miniscule civilian nuclear power program - I think they have two reactors. “So, at this stage it is very much a hypothetical. “But over time, as they gain the confidence of the international community and the civilian nuclear program builds, they will need to be considered.”

Pakistani High Commissioner to Australia Abdul Malik Abdullah said Pakistan should also be able to buy Australian yellowcake. “If Australia is going to lift the ban on a country which has not signed NPT it is much hoped that will also apply to Pakistan the same way,” he told ABC radio.

Mr Abdullah said Pakistan has not made a request to buy Australian uranium, but this could change in the future. “In that case we will hope that we will also be treated at par with other non-NPT signatories,” he said. More