Interesting thought,
I think Aus will cave in and follow big brother US to allow India access to our U3O8,
Also looks like the Uranium Bull is getting ready for a really big charge soon, anyone see GBE today? went absolutely nuts, I think the big trigger will Be U3O8 spot prices hitting $40us/lb IMO that will be the equivalent of when Oil hit $75 and Gold hit $575, ie same effect on stocks, watch and see
As a number of commentators have already pointed out, all of this leaves Australia in a difficult position. Since it started large-scale uranium exports in the 1970s, successive Coalition and Labor governments have argued that India does not qualify for receipt of Australian uranium due to its non-membership of the NPT.
The argument has been that uranium sales to a non-NPT state would undermine Australia's strong support for the treaty. Somewhat pointedly – though entirely predictably – Indian observers have wasted no time in contrasting Australia's willingness to export uranium to "Communist" China (an NPT member) with its refusal to enter into a nuclear trading relationship with fellow Commonwealth state India.
In the context of an increasingly competitive world nuclear market, the US policy shift places pressure on Canberra to review this long-standing policy.
Already, Prime Minister John Howard has signalled he is open to rethinking Australia's position despite Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's apparent preference for the policy status quo.
Yet any decision to approve sales of uranium to a country that refuses to support the NPT would be at odds with Australia's strong support for the treaty. Any decision to review existing policy will need to be taken carefully with this in mind.