Australia mistakenly included on list of countries joining US-UK civil nuclear deal, British government says

A nuclear power station in Suffolk, England. An Australian government spokesperson has said the country is an an observer to the agreement. Photograph: Jason Bye/Alamy

The UK government has conceded that Australia was mistakenly included on a list of countries that were expected to sign up to a US-UK civil nuclear deal.

The Albanese government flatly denied media reports on Tuesday that it would join the UK and the US in a collaboration to share advanced nuclear technology. The UK and the US announcement said they would speed up work on “cutting-edge nuclear technology”, including small modular reactors, after inking a deal at the Cop29 UN climate summit in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.