Greens Senator Scott Ludlam has urged the Rudd Government to take its nuclear disarmament message to Europe with the news of a deep sea collision between two nuclear armed and powered submarines in the Atlantic ocean.

"Ballistic missile submarines operate on a fifteen minute 'launch on warning' basis. At all times of day and night, the submarine fleets of the nuclear weapons states are capable of unleashing a nuclear apocalypse with fifteen minutes notice," said Senator Ludlam.

"This is a timely, terrifying reminder that the cold war never ended, and the obscenity of nuclear weapons are still a clear and present danger. Australia, as a uranium supplier nation to nuclear weapons states has an obligation to play a leading role in the abolition of these weapons."

The crash could have been far worse had the collision happened at speed, with the risk of reactor breach or the scattering of live nuclear weapons on the seabed.

"The Rudd government says it has had positive talks with the Obama administration in Washington about nuclear disarmament. Now is the time to take the disarmament message to Europe as well.

This collision in the Atlantic is a shocking example of the dangers of nuclear weaponry. It's time they were abolished once and for all," concluded Senator Ludlam.

Media contact: Robert Simms - 0417 174 302