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 CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Australia agreed Monday to sell China uranium for nuclear power stations despite concerns that Beijing could divert the material to atomic weapons.
The countries' foreign ministers signed two agreements containing assurances that China will not build bombs with uranium from Australia, which has 40 percent of the world's known deposits. No official estimates were available Monday but the deal is expected to generate billions of dollars in annual sales.
"These agreements establish strict safeguards, arrangements and conditions to ensure Australian uranium supplied to China, and any collaborative programs in applications of nuclear technology, is used exclusively for peaceful purposes," said Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who signed the Nuclear Transfer Agreement and Nuclear Cooperation Agreement with his Chinese counterpart, Li Zhaoxing.
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