EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1990 No. 298
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy
NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION (SAFEGUARDS) ACT 1987
NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION (SAFEGUARDS) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
The purpose of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation (Safeguards) Act 1987 (the Act) is to give legislative effect to Australia’s international nuclear non-proliferation obligations.
Part II of the Act provides for the control of nuclear material and associated items by means of a system of permits.
Section 74 of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act.
Section 4 of the Act defines a “prescribed international agreement” to mean an agreement between Australia and a foreign country, a group of countries or an international organisation, that is either listed in Schedule S to the Act or prescribed by regulations under the Act.
Paragraph 9(c) of the Act provides that Part II of the Act applies to all nuclear material except for nuclear material which has been exempted by regulation.
The proposed Regulations amend the Nuclear Non-Proliferation (Safeguards) Regulations by prescribing international agreements between Australia and three other countries and a relevant international body, for the purposes of the Act; they also exempt certain nuclear material for the purposes of Part II of the Act. Details of the amendments follow:
Proposed regulation 1 is a formal provision.
Proposed regulations 2 and 4 insert new regulation 2A and a Schedule into the Regulations, consistent with the definition of “prescribed international agreement” in the Act. The Schedule, which augments the list of agreements contained in Schedule S to the Act, sets out the formal titles and the dates of signature of Australia’s agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Switzerland, Egypt and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Proposed Regulation 3 adds paragraph (g) to existing sub-regulation 3(1) and has the effect that Pan II of the Act does not apply to depleted uranium if it is not subject to a prescribed international agreement, and has been used in the manufacture or assembly of an object that is not being used in nuclear activities. As a consequence, the provisions of the Act which relate to the control of nuclear material would not apply to depleted uranium which is not currently subject to nuclear safeguards obligations and which is not significant from a nuclear non-proliferation perspective.
Depleted uranium (DU) is a by-product of the enrichment of uranium. In DU the proportion of the fissile isotope uranium-235 (U-235) is typically around 0.20%, compared with 0.71% in natural uranium. Depleted uranium has a very much lower commercial and strategic value than natural uranium. DU has limited uses, and most DU is presently stored at enrichment plants virtually as a waste product. As it is denser than lead, DU is used in certain non-nuclear applications such as radiation shielding, ship ballast and counterweights in aircraft control systems.