The revised AUKUS agreement presented to the Australian Parliament faced criticism for key provisions that exempted the United States and the United Kingdom from certain obligations.

Under the revised clauses, Australia has agreed to compensate the US and the UK in the event of any loss or damage, including third-party claims, related to the storage and disposal of nuclear waste. Second, the two partners can terminate the contract with one year’s notice if their own nuclear submarine program is affected, ABC News reported.

The three AUKUS partners signed the agreement in Washington last week. The agreement will remain in force until December 31, 2075, provided the Australia-New Zealand-United States (ANZUS) alliance remains intact and the US and UK remain in NATO.

AUKUS was a trilateral security agreement between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom that was concluded in 2021. Under the partnership, the United States and the United Kingdom will transfer nuclear materials and know-how to support Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine project.

Article 1 stipulated that the two partners may transfer “material and equipment related to conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines to Australia” provided that doing so does not pose a threat to their own security.

“This agreement makes it clear in black and white: If at any point the United States feels it does not have enough submarines for itself, it can pull out of AUKUS 2.0 – why is the government of Albania not being honest about the magnitude of the risk?” asked Greens Senator David Shoebridge.

Shoebridge described the deal as a $368 billion gamble with taxpayers’ money and said it offers the US “multiple emergency exits”.

The agreement also gave Australia sole responsibility for the management, storage and disposal of fuel and radioactive waste generated from the operation of the Navy’s nuclear propulsion facilities, including third-party claims.

Meanwhile, the Australian government said the AUKUS partnership is critical to building a sovereign nuclear-powered submarine fleet from the 2030s onwards. The agreement will allow for the transfer of Virginia-class submarines from the US to Australia, as well as the supply of equipment from the UK to support Australia’s SSN AUKUS submarines.

The deal is also seen as supporting Australia’s preparation for the Submarine Rotational Force-West at HMAS Stirling from 2027, supporting the rotating presence of up to four Virginia-class submarines from the US and one Astute-class submarine from the UK.

Defence Minister Richard Marles dismissed security concerns, saying the agreement prevents any breach of non-proliferation obligations and precludes uranium enrichment or spent fuel reprocessing in Australia.