[Greens-Media] MEDIA CONFERENCE TODAY 2.15pm : The PM must not advance uranium sales to India

[Torre, Giovanni (Sen S. Ludlam)]

MEDIA CONFERENCE TODAY  2.15pm
The PM must not advance uranium sales to India

2:15pm, Monday 15 October
Senate Courtyard
Senator Scott Ludlam, Australian Greens
Dave Sweeney, Australian Conservation Foundation
Mia Pepper, WA Conservation Council

"The Prime Minister should put human rights and safety before uranium profits during her current visit to India," said Australian Greens spokesperson on nuclear issues, Senator Scott Ludlam.

"Recently at the site of a nuclear reactor in Koodankulam, police have used brutal tactics against tens of thousands of peaceful protestors.  Two people have been shot dead by police, most recently Mr Anthony Samy in September.  There have been at least five deaths in the struggles against Koodankulam (Tamil Nadu), Jaitapur (Maharashtra) and Gorakhpur (Haryana) nuclear power plants since 2010.

"The Indian nuclear industry - as has been the experience in the former Soviet Union, Japan and the United States - has a history of accident, misadventure and near misses: the fire at Narora, the flooding of Kakrapar, the collapse of the Kaiga containment structure while still under construction.

"The slow collapse in the world uranium price since the Fukushima emergency reflects deeper undercurrents; the terminal decline of the nuclear industry worldwide.  Pushing uranium onto India's market temporarily benefits a dying industry in Australia at the expense of Indians who deserve clean, affordable energy. Nuclear is neither."


Media Contact: Giovanni Torre - 0417 174 302