NUCLEAR LIES – theme for January 2012
In 2012 in their desperate struggle to keep the nuclear industry alive, corporations, governments, academia and media will trot out the same old lies, plus a few newer ones.
The new ones will be:
1. to downplay the prospects for renewable energy and energy efficiency – lies about costs, about “base load” power.
2. to tout the safety of new nuclear technology, such as “small modular thorium nuclear reactors”.
3. More subtly than lies – the nuclear lobby uses OMISSIONS – watch how in 2012 the topics of Fukushima, and nuclear waste, fade from mention in the media, even though they are still topics of critical importance.
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This month
For international news, go to nuclear-news
Audio from Sydney Parliament House rally against uranium mining in New South Wales, 22 Feb http://beyondnuclearinitiative.com/audio/
of the week: http://hormesishistory.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/radiation-hormesis-and-adaptive-response-definitions/ Here’s a brand new website. It’s for anyone who wants background knowledge on ionising radiation. It will bust the spin of the current propaganda campaign promoting bodgie pseudoscience. – “radiation hormesis” and “adaptive response” are the latest spin designed by the nuclear industry to reassure us that low level ionising radiation is OK.
from Lauren Mellor I am currently writing a history of uranium mining in the NT and would be very interested to discuss with families of those affected as workers or traditional owners of the mine site – if anyone would like to contact me for more information please write to lauren.a.mellor@gmail.com
Energy Matters Video News – Episode 59 – February 22, 2012
http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3063
Anti nuclear action below: - more info at Action Australia « Antinuclear and at Event details « Antinuclear
EVENTS
Take action against National Radioactive Waste Management Bill http://beyondnuclearinitiative.com/2012/02/06/four-action-points-to-help-stop-the-proposed-nt-nuclear-dump/
Petition opposing nuclear waste dump at Muckaty http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/no-nuclear-waste-dump-at-muckaty.html
- February 23 - Adelaide Nicole Foss – a Mentor For Turbulent Times. Nicole Foss speaks on Energy and the Economy http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=FqRGVNUK5x0
- March 7 -Darwin – information night on Nuclear Free World Conference
- March 11 – Darwin – Fukushima Memorial Night
- March 11 – Perth - Remembering Fukushima
- March 11 Melbourne - Japanese for Peace- Rally
- March 17 – April – Perth - Muckaty Photo Exhibition http://www.fotofreo.com/ .
LATEST AUDIO & VIDEO ITEMS. arrive – so fast and so good – go to our audiovisual page Audiovisual « Antinuclear for information on these websites
Nuclear power and WATER – theme for February 2012
For Australia especially, Global warming means WATER shortage – drought over wide areas, more evaporation.
Nuclear power and uranium mining are water-intensive
Uranium mining is water intensive. Already outback communities are being hit by water shortage, as water is being extracted from the Great Arterial Basin faster than it is being replenished.
Yet BHP Billiton has open slather, at no cost whatever, to its daily guzzle of 35 million litres, and BHPB plans to extract an additional 120 million litres of publicly-owned artesian water per day, every day, for the next 70 years.)
Out of sight, out of mind
Groundwater is a major resource, but one that has been taken for granted for decades. In the past, groundwater supplies were treated as an infinite resource, and subject to an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ attitude. But that’s changing. There’s now an enormous interest in the way our groundwater resources are measured, managed and utilised. There are also concerns over issues such as over-extraction of water, pollution, wastage, allocation and licensing issues, water pricing and groundwater salinisation.
The water source beneath one-fifth of Australia
The most well-known and important groundwater source in Australia is the Great Artesian Basin, or GAB. This is a vast groundwater source that underlies 22 per cent of Australia – extending beneath the arid and semi-arid regions of Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales. It covers about 1.7 million square kilometres, and contains an estimated 8700 million megalitres of water. Not surprisingly, it’s one of the largest artesian water basins in the world……
The sustainable yield of a groundwater source depends on balancing the use or discharge against recharge rates. Normally discharge of groundwater occurs through vegetation, into streams and lakes, or through evaporation into the atmosphere. Sustainable yield cannot simply be determined by a measure of the recharge rate. If water is extracted for human use at the recharge rate, discharge to other areas can be affected…..
Extraction of groundwater can also lead to salinity problems and have a negative impact on native vegetation with roots that tap into groundwater, as well as wetlands, rivers and streams. The full impact of using these aquifers as planned is not known, but is likely to reduce the rate of water flowing to support rivers and wetlands and other groundwater dependent ecosystems…. http://www.science.org.au/nova/100/100key.htm
Garlick said water from the Great Artesian Basin in Central Australia is being depleted to keep residual radioactive dust from uranium mining wet in order to keep it from blowing across the continent. Seven million gallons of water is being extracted from the basin per day to keep the radioactive dust in place, she said.
Despite its profits more than tripling in the last three years, BHP has never paid a cent for the vast amounts of water used by the Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine near Roxby Downs. The mine currently uses approximately 35 million litres of water a day from the Great Artesian Basin. Under the Roxby Downs Indenture Act BHP is not required to pay for this water usage.
The Indenture Act applies specifically to the Olympic Dam mine, and provides for wide-ranging legal exemptions and overrides from environmental and Aboriginal heritage protection laws that apply elsewhere in the state, including the Environmental Protection Act and the Natural Resources Act (which incorporates water management issues).
“The Indenture Act means that the Olympic Dam mine is not subject to the same environmental regulatory framework as other industrial projects in the state,’ explained Nectaria Calan of Friends of the Earth Adelaide. “Additionally, by allowing BHP to take water from the Great Artesian Basin for free, the South Australian government is essentially providing BHP with a massive subsidy,” she continued.
The water intake from the Great Artesian Basin has already had adverse impacts on the unique Mound Springs found near Lake Eyre, which are fed by the underlying Artesian Basin, and are sacred to the Arabunna people, the traditional owners of the area.
As part of the proposed expansion of the Olympic Dam mine, BHP Billiton proposes to increase its water consumption by an additional 200 million litres per day. Water intake from the Great Artesian Basin will increase to up to 42 million litres per day, with the remainder to come from a proposed desalination plant at Point Lowly. This amounts to over 100,000 litres of water per minute.
“The vast water usage of uranium mines is often forgotten in the debate about uranium and nuclear energy. Here we are, in the driest state on the driest continent on earth, host to a mine which needs millions of litres of water each day. Due to the Indenture Act, we are essentially exporting our water overseas for free,” said Ms. Calan. (FOE)
