US wants Australia in nuclear group

US President George Bush will invite Australia to be part of two plans aimed at guaranteeing future energy supplies: to produce ethanol from wild grasses, and a global nuclear partnership, which includes many of the main nuclear players.

 
Mr Bush will raise the two issues during bilateral talks with the Prime Minister, John Howard, before the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum meeting next week, senior officials said.

 
The US, through the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, is driving a research effort to develop a new generation of fast-cycle reactors that would produce far less hazardous waste than conventional nuclear reactors.

 
The group includes many of the main countries involved in the nuclear fuel cycle, including Russia, China and France. Its broader aim is to eventually secure the entire fuel cycle and confine production and reprocessing to the group, with smaller countries effectively leasing nuclear fuel from the partnership and returning waste to it for reprocessing.

 
Australia and Canada, both uranium-producing countries, have so far stalled on joining because of domestic concerns about obligations to take back nuclear waste and store it.

 
This is a hot-button issue in Australia.

 
But a senior official said last week that the US would not be pressuring Australia to take back nuclear waste if it joined.

 
"We want Australia to be part of the research effort. It doesn't mean Australia would have to take back nuclear waste," the official said.

 
Documents obtained by the Herald two months ago revealed the Department of Foreign Affairs and the US Department of Energy were working on a bilateral nuclear partnership, which would see closer research ties and more involvement by Australia.