Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and Australian Prime Minister John Howard have struck a uranium deal that will allow Australia to sell nuclear fuel to China, Reuters reported. Under the terms of the deal, Beijing will respect international safeguards for the sale of uranium from Australia. China has called for a pricing mechanism that would guarantee a steady supply of nuclear fuel, suggesting negotiations could go the way of current iron ore talks. BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto of Australia and CVRD of Brazil are locked in discussion with steel mills including Chinese representatives unhappy about large price increases in recent times. "In our bilateral co-operation we should establish a long-term, stable and fundamental institutional and systematic safeguard," said Wen at the start of a tour of Australia. China intends to increase nuclear energy production by a factor of four by 2020, in a move away from reliance on coal-fired power stations.
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