By GREG ANSLEY
CANBERRA - Newly released cabinet papers show that Australia was reluctant to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty partly because it wanted the right to use atomic explosives in mining.
The 1970 records of Prime Minister John Gorton's cabinet also reveal fears that the treaty could hamper plans to launch into nuclear energy with an atomic power station below Sydney.
Yet at the same time, the Government worried that if it refused to ratify the treaty - already signed by 95 other countries, including New Zealand - it could be diplomatically cold-shouldered by the United States, and denied knowledge and equipment for its reactor.
The dilemma produced the diplomatic sidestep of deciding to sign, but holding back on ratification and hedging the signature with qualifications in the hope of gaining better terms before the pact became final.
The cabinet papers released today by the National Archives of Australia show doubts about the effectiveness of the treaty in limiting nuclear weapons, and fears that Australia's security could be endangered and its development crimped.
Central to this were the issues of uranium mining, the plans to build a nuclear power station at Jervis Bay, on the south coast of New South Wales, and the development of other nuclear technology.
Beyond these concerns was the prospect of using nuclear explosives for excavation in major mining and civil engineering projects, as advocated by the mining magnate Lang Hancock, who in 1952 discovered the world's richest iron ore deposit in Pilbara, Western Australia.
Worries that signing the treaty could inhibit nuclear development were counterbalanced by fears that refusal to sign would have the same effect because Australia would be unable to obtain nuclear explosives for civil engineering without coming on board.
The biggest diplomatic axe over the cabinet's head was the US, at that stage beginning its phased withdrawal from Vietnam and worrying Australia with the prospect of a complete exit from the western Pacific.
Washington had made it clear it wanted Canberra to sign up, and the cabinet papers reveal deep concern that refusal could encourage the Americans to quit the region.
Australia later ratified the treaty. The Jervis Bay atomic power plans were dropped in favour of the still-controversial research reactor at Lucas Heights in Sydney, and nuclear explosives were never used for mining or engineering.
Australia's nuclear dilemma
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