BANGUI, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - The Central African Republic criticized Wednesday French nuclear group Areva's purchase of a uranium mining operation in the country's east.

In July, Areva completed the purchase of Canadian uranium producer UraMin, with operations in South Africa, Namibia and in Bakouma in the Central African Republic.

'This operation is irregular concerning Central African Republic legal arrangements and contractual causes,' a government statement said.

TOKYO, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - North Korea has told the United States that it procured aluminum pipes, which can be used to build uranium-enriching centrifuges, from a third country, a report said Monday.

But Pyongyang stopped short of admitting that it had begun the process of uranium enrichment, Japan's Kyodo News said quoting unnamed diplomatic sources.

SYDNEY, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) - Russia on Friday joined a rush by nuclear powers for access to Australia's huge uranium reserves as President Vladimir Putin signed a landmark deal to import the strategic fuel.

The agreement he signed with Prime Minister John Howard came just months after Australia ratified a deal to sell uranium to China to feed its voracious appetite for energy.

SYDNEY, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Friday signed a landmark deal for the export of uranium to the nuclear superpower.

'This new agreement will allow the supply of Australian uranium for use in Russia's civil nuclear power industry and provide a framework for broader cooperation on peaceful nuclear-related activities,' Howard said.

SYDNEY, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Friday signed a landmark deal for the export of uranium to Russia.

But Howard quickly moved to allay fears in Australia that sales of yellow cake, set to be used in domestic Russian civilian reactors, would pose a potential nuclear risk.

'Any uranium that is sold to Russia will be sold under very strict safeguards,' Howard said at a joint press conference with Putin in Sydney, where both will attend a weekend Asia Pacific summit.

NIAMEY, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - French nuclear engineering group Areva has assured Niger of its commitment to peace in a nation where it has been accused of financing Tuareg rebel unrest where it mines uranium, state media reported Wednesday.

'We're a major player in the economic and social development of Niger, which translates into a commitment to peace and security in this country,' Areva's regional representative Zephirin Diabre told journalists.

He was speaking after talks on Tuesday with President Mamadou Tandja.

BEIJING, Aug 24, 2007 (AFP) - Four Chinese men have gone on trial for trying to sell uranium that can be used to make nuclear weapons and has since gone missing, state media reported Friday.

Investigators are working hard to locate the eight kilogrammes (17.6 pounds) of uranium, warning that it poses a health risk to people who may come in contact with it, the China Daily said.

CONAKRY, Aug 18, 2007 (AFP) - Reserves of uranium have been found in the west African country of Guinea by Australian mining company Murchison United National League, Guinean Mines and Geology Minister Ahmad Kante announced.

The discovery resulted from analysis of samples taken from the Firawa site at Kissidougou 600 kilometres (400 miles) southeast of the capital Conakry, the minister told an AFP journalist here.

SYDNEY, Aug 17, 2007 (AFP) - Australia is close to signing a deal to supply uranium to Russia for civilian purposes which could be completed next month, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Friday.

Australia could be supplying the nuclear element to Russian reactors as early as next year, and a pact could be signed when Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Australia in September for a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

SYDNEY, Aug 17, 2007 (AFP) - Prime Minister John Howard on Friday defended Australia's landmark deal to sell uranium to nuclear power India, saying its safeguards were as strong as the international anti-proliferation treaty.

The in-principle deal reached Thursday has been widely criticised, as India has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has nuclear weapons.

India is involved in a long-running nuclear stand-off with neighbouring rival Pakistan, leading to fears the uranium could be used to make bombs.

SYDNEY, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) - Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Thursday defended his government's decision to lift a ban on uranium sales to India, likening it to plans to sell the nuclear fuel to China.

Howard said he had struck an agreement to sell uranium to New Delhi in a telephone conversation with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.

'Australia has decided in principle to export uranium to India, subject to India agreeing to very stringent safeguards and conditions,' Howard told reporters.

SYDNEY, Aug 15, 2007 (AFP) - Australia has agreed to sell uranium to India for use in nuclear power plants even though New Delhi has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty on atomic weapons, local media reported Wednesday.

A condition of the deal would be that Australian inspectors would be allowed to check the chain of supply of the nuclear fuel to ensure none was siphoned off into weapons programmes, The Australian newspaper said.

The national security committee of the federal cabinet reportedly made the decision at a meeting overnight.

SYDNEY, Aug 15, 2007 (AFP) - Australia has agreed to sell uranium to India for use in nuclear power plants even though New Delhi has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty on atomic weapons, local media reported Wednesday.

A condition of the deal would be that Australian inspectors would be allowed to check the chain of supply of the nuclear fuel to ensure none was siphoned off into weapons programmes, The Australian newspaper said.

The national security committee of the federal cabinet reportedly made the decision at a meeting overnight.

SYDNEY, July 26, 2007 (AFP) - Australia is considering selling uranium to India after New Delhi finalises a landmark civilian nuclear deal with the United States, the government said Thursday.

Australia has the world`s largest known reserves of uranium and has been under pressure sell the nuclear fuel to India since it agreed last year to supply rival Asian giant China.

But Australia has a policy of refusing to export uranium to countries which have not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and, while China is a signatory, India is not.

MCCLEAN LAKE, Canada, July 24, 2007 (AFP) - Twenty years after the Chernobyl disaster poisoned the world`s taste for reactors, a French firm is sniffing out fresh uranium supplies in Canada. And the race for nuclear power is back on.

After the deadly Chernobyl reactor explosion in Ukraine in 1986 and a lesser scare at the Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania that rattled the United States in 1979, 'people were wondering whether nuclear power even had a future,' said Yves Dufour, one of the directors of Areva, the world`s leading civilian nuclear power provider.

MCCLEAN LAKE, Canada, July 24, 2007 (AFP) - Hidden in Canada's northern Boreal Forest, amongst hundreds of wild rivers and lakes, the McClean Lake uranium mine produces enough ore to light up Paris.

Day and night, massive trucks and mechanical shovels shake the earth and move some 5,000 tonnes of rock each 11-hour shift that clench the precious material used to feed nuclear reactors around the globe.

At least five trucks working in tandem crawl through the dirt and debris in the open pit mine daily to a nearby processing plant.