An update to the AUKUS deal has sparked concerns about nuclear waste being stored in Australia.
This week, the U.S, UK, and Australian governments said they had reached a “significant milestone” in the AUKUS partnership, agreeing to send technology to Australia to build and run nuclear-powered submarines.
The details of the latest stage of the agreement have not been made public.
Here’s what you need to know.
AUKUS
AUKUS is a security partnership between Australia, the U.S, and the UK that was first announced in September 2021.
Its central aim is to “promote security and stability” in the Indo-Pacific region. The trilateral agreement has been broadly seen as an attempt by Western nations to curb China’s influence in the region.
For Australia, the main part of the deal involved obtaining and developing nuclear-powered submarines.
Nuclear
Under the agreement, Australia will initially buy nuclear-powered submarines from the U.S before boosting its own capabilities to build them here.
These submarines will be powered by on-board nuclear reactors. They won’t carry nuclear weapons; rather, they’ll be armed with “conventional” weapons like missiles.
However, there is currently a national ban on building nuclear facilities. Australia has one operational nuclear site which is only used for research.
New agreement
Earlier this week, AUKUS partners signed a deal to provide Australia with the technology needed to build and operate nuclear-powered submarines.
The details of the agreement haven’t been made public.
In a letter addressed to Congress, U.S. President Joe Biden said the deal would facilitate the “transfer of naval nuclear propulsion plants” to Australia.
These “plants” are the submarines’ engine rooms.
The U.S. and UK, which both have established nuclear industries, would sell equipment to Australia allowing it to build submarine plants.
Part of the agreement also includes information-sharing between the partners to “safely operate, maintain, and regulate this technology”.
Work is already underway in Adelaide to convert an existing shipyard into a naval base for an AUKUS fleet.
Nuclear waste
Biden said the agreement also includes an “understanding” between the partners to engage in “additional related political commitments.”
However, he did not specify what those commitments might involve.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who represents South Australia, has raised concerns about the “secret” aspect of the AUKUS deal.
Hanson-Young said the updated AUKUS agreement could mean Australia becomes a “nuclear waste dumping ground for the US and the UK”.
Government remarks
Defence Minister Richard Marles told the ABC this morning that “there is no prospect of any nuclear waste coming to Australia from the US or the UK.”
He said Australia would handle its own nuclear waste when building and operating its submarines.
Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Birmingham also said the deal was a “great step forward”.
AUKUS has broad Opposition support because it was developed under the former Coalition Government.
Paul Keating
Former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating is a longstanding critic of the AUKUS agreement.
Last night, he told the ABC’s ‘7.30’ that “AUKUS is really about, in American terms, the military control of Australia”.
He also said the Government’s current approach risked turning Australia into America’s “51st state”.
