http://www.theaustralian.com.au/index_national.htm The Australian Fallout forces US denial on N-dump By CAMERON STEWART and RICHARD McGREGOR 11dec98 THE US Government has distanced itself from a top presidential adviser who urged that Canberra consider a controversial plan for a disposal site in Australia for the world's nuclear waste. The US statement coincides with one of support for the proposal by one of Australia's most eminent scientists, Gustav Nossal, who praised disposal as "the only permanent solution". "If the company is right, then Australia and Australians can take a leadership role in solving the problems of nuclear weapons and waste," Sir Gustav says in an article in The Australian today. Richard Stratford, director of the office of nuclear affairs in the US State Department, said yesterday that Washington had not endorsed the proposal from the Seattle-based Pangea Resources to use outback Australia as the disposal site. "The US Government has not endorsed any of these specific proposals nor has it approached any other government regarding them," Mr Stratford told The Australian. Earlier this week, Robert Gallucci, President Bill Clinton's special envoy on weapons of mass destruction, urged Australia to consider the Pangea proposal for the site, saying it would provide "enormous benefits for the world". The Pangea proposal envisages a $10 billion nuclear waste dump in outback South or Western Australia for the waste and also plutonium from bombs disassembled at the end of the Cold War. One senior US official, who declined to be identified, said yesterday that a site was needed to store nuclear waste, but that the US was unlikely to promote openly any proposal in a foreign country because of the political sensitivities. "Ambassador Gallucci made clear in his remarks and subsequently to the press that he was speaking on his own behalf in support of the concept of multinational spent fuel storage," Mr Stratford said. US officials have confirmed that the Pangea plan is one of three international proposals currently being circulated in Washington. The other two proposals involve the dumping of nuclear waste on remote Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean or in Russia. Garry Samore, special assistant to the President and senior director for non-proliferation and arms control at the President's National Security Council, has been briefed on the Pangea proposal, but it is not known whether Mr Clinton is aware of the plan. Pangea's Jim Voss said he was not surprised the administration had declined to specifically back his company's plan. "It would be premature and probably inappropriate to endorse one at the moment." ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List As vilified, slandered and attacked by One Nation mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
