Central Australia ideal for becoming a renewable energy exporter
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201202/s3421358.htm Central Australia bursting 
with renewable gold, ABC Rural, By Caddie Brain, 02/02/2012 A new study shows central Australia could become a major renewable energy exporter to Asia and major Australian cities. The former chair of the Climate Impact Group at the CSIRO, Dr Barrie Pittock, says the region holds an abundance of solar and geothermal resources.
He says the cost to harness the energy would be similar to the National Broadband Network, but would create local employment. ”Eventually if we were generating so much electricity, we could start exporting it by undersea cable to Indonesia. There would be a huge market up there. ”But I think in the near future we’re just talking about getting it to the west Australian grid or the east Australian grid.”
Extreme weather rains on uranium mining company’s parade
Toxic year for ERA unlikely to get better, SMH, Peter Ker, February 2, 2012 THE struggling uranium miner Energy Resources Australia has underwhelmed the market with its production forecasts, raising fears its poor year last year could continue into this one.
The stock plunged almost 14 per cent yesterday after the company, majority owned by Rio Tinto, revealed a $153.6 million loss for the year to December 31. The result, despite being 427 per cent worse than the previous year, came as no surprise. The company’s Ranger mine was shut down for much of last year, and a massive depreciation of assets had already been
announced in August.
The bigger surprise for the market came when ERA forecast production of between 3000 and 3700 tonnes of uranium oxide this year, well below the 4100 tonnes forecast by analysts at Goldman Sachs.
Production figures at Ranger are highly dependent on the weather. Water management problems during the Northern Territory’s wet season often cause interruptions.
There was record rainfall in December, and ERA warned that its underwhelming production forecasts could be further affected if bad weather returned.
The ERA board has approved spending of $220 million on a brine concentrator, which will help mitigate its water problems. ERA’s future rests on hopes of finding uranium deposits beneath the Ranger open cut and turning it into an underground mine. Investors will have to wait until 2014 before knowing if the project, known as Ranger Deeps, will proceed.
ERA shares fell 21¢ to $1.33 yesterday….. Hopes that Rio Tinto will come to the rescue of another ASX-listed
uranium company, Extract Resources, appear dashed after Rio sold a strategic investment to state-owned Chinese interests. http://www.smh.com.au/business/toxic-year-for-era-unlikely-to-get-better-20120201-1qtgb.html#ixzz1lFkRZG00
Land grab and discrimination against Aboriginals remain in Australia’s draft Constitutional changes
A recommendation that jars, however, is Section 116A that would prohibit racial discrimination. It is not long ago that the federal government over-rode the Racial Discrimination Act to launch its outrageously discriminatory Northern Territory Intervention in 2007 during the Howard era. The Rudd and Gillard governments embraced the policy. It is not ancient history.
The discrimination was said to be ended by atrocious legislation that extended aspects of the Intervention to disadvantaged people of all backgrounds in the Northern Territory and beyond.
While the original Intervention legislation is approaching its sunset clause to be replaced by the cheerier sounding “Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory”, the land-grabbing intent continues. Residents of remote Aboriginal communities are being pressured to sign regular leases on their property. Sign on the dotted line before the August
deadline or lose it. Funding for housing in remote communities is frozen in favour of construction in faraway towns. Opposition leader Tony Abbott is rubbing his hands together on behalf of resource developers referring to the current situation in the NT as that of a “failed state”.
Words won’t replace need for struggle, The Guardian 25 Jan 2012, Symbols and words can be powerful and useful; they can unite and heal. But nobody is impressed by lip service or tokenism. In the lead-up to Invasion Day (or Survival Day as it also known) and which is officially celebrated as Australia Day, such judgements are being made about a government-sponsored report on proposed changes to the constitution.
Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution is the work of a panel headed by Aboriginal leader Professor Pat Dodson and senior lawyer Mark Leibler AC. It is said to be the result of discussions with “… more than 4,600 people, in more than 250 meetings in 84 locations across the country and received more than 3,500 submissions.”
The recommendations include “Recognising that the continent and its islands now known as Australia were first occupied by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; Acknowledging the continuing relationship of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with their traditional lands and waters; Respecting the continuing cultures, languages and heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; Acknowledging the need to secure the advancement of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.”
Commentators have noted that solid majorities in polls taken on these issues have been reflected in the recommendations. The fact that attitudes to questions like recognition of the first peoples of Australia are improving is certainly to be welcomed. Read more »
Extreme weather in Northern Territory bodes no good for uranium miner Energy Resources of Australia
Australia’s ERA warns rains to hit uranium output again SYDNEY, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Energy Resources of Australia warned on Thursday that recent flooding caused by monsoon rains in northern Australia will continue to restrict its production of uranium in 2012.
Production at the company’s Ranger mine — which in previous years supplied as much as 10 percent of the world’s uranium — was halted by heavy rains in early in 2011 and did not resume until mid-June.
A second deluge in December that dumped record rains across parts of the tropical Northern Territory meant ERA would be unable to readily mine richer ores at the bottom of the lode, it said.
“As a result, access to the high grade ore located at the bottom of the pit will be delayed and is highly dependent on rainfall
experienced for the remainder of the 2011/2012 wet season,” said ERA, 68 percent owned by Rio Tinto but separately listed on the Australian bourse….. Analyst are expecting the company to show a loss on earnings before interest and tax of around A$61 million against a profit of A$68.4 million in 2010.
The stock has plummeted more than 80 percent in the last 12 months, in part due to negative sentiment toward uranium companies following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan last March…..
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL3E8CB8ZU20120111?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0
Northern Territory radioactive river spill causes wave of concern
Environment Centre NT calls for EPA investigation radioactive spill, 2 Jan 2012 The train derailment at Edith River spilling 1200 tonnes of copper concentrate into the flooded environment, which may have contained 0.01% of uranium, has urged the Environment Centre NT to call on the EPA for a full investigation.
“We have now learnt that the NT Government approved the transport of these toxic materials in substandard casing, covered only by a tarp. We want to know which department and which minister had signed off on this outrageous exemption” Said Cat Beaton, Nuclear Free NT Campaigner at the Environment Centre NT.
“This incident is a serious warning, that must trigger serious action. We will be writing to the EPA requesting a full investigation”.
“NT Government should not approve any increased transport of radioactive materials by rail until such an independent investigation has been undertaken,” continued Ms Beaton.
The Northern Territory is at the dawn of increased transport of toxic and radioactive materials. The expansion of BHP’s Olympic Dam mine in SA is set to see 1.6 million tonnes a year of uranium infused copper concentrate transported daily by 1.8km long trainloads for the next 80-plus years.
The Territory could also face the reality of radioactive waste transport for a proposed nuclear waste dump at Muckaty, 120ks north of Tennant Creek.
“Right now the Territory Government cannot be trusted to ensure the safe transport of dangerous goods and we all need to think about the risks to our rivers, environment and the outdoors lifestyle that Territorians enjoy,” concluded Ms Beaton.
Toxic spill might raise insurance costs for uranium transport from planned BHP new mine
it was unclear whether the incident would raise premiums for miners
By far the biggest user of the railway will be BHP Billiton, which, if it approves its expected expansion of the Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine in South Australia, will run a train a day from the mine to Darwin. …..
OZ Minerals’ insurance claim for derailment loss may face complication over pollution BY: MATT CHAMBERS The Australian January 02, 2012 OZ Minerals may recoup through insurance some of the losses from the up to 1200 tonnes of copper concentrate that disappeared into the Northern Territory’s Edith River last week after a train derailed. In an announcement to the stock exchange on Thursday, OZ said the value of the lost concentrates was between $US7 million ($6.85m) and $US8m, or about 4 per cent of its 2010-11 underlying net profit of $189m. Read more »
Northern Territory train derailment raises danger of uranium transport in tropical weather
Audio Questions raised over toxic goods transport in the Northern Territory ABC Radio AM December 29, 2011 While government officials are investigating the cause and the environmental impact of a serious train derailment in the Northern Territory, a Territory Environment group has raised questions over the safety of transporting uranium in tropical weather conditions.
Michael Coggan MICHAEL COGGAN: Forty-eight hours after floodwaters swept part of a large freight train into the Edith River and cut off the Stuart Highway north of the Top End town of Katherine, several investigations are underway into the cause of the train derailment and the environmental impact of tonnes of copper concentrate spilled into the flooded Edith River from the freight train.
Jim Grant is the head of the Northern Territory Environment Department. JIM GRANT: Well it’s not a highly toxic substance but it’s not to be ingested or inhaled. We think it’s washed all over the place…..
MICHAEL COGGAN: Environment Centre director Stuart Blanch says the accident shows why dangerous goods including uranium oxide should not be carried on the Alice Springs to Darwin railway.
STUART BLANCH: A much bigger risk to Top End rivers would be derailment of trains carrying uranium oxide from the Roxby Uranium Mine in South Australia. The Territory Government should call a halt on approving the transport of more and more trains of uranium oxide up to Port Darwin until there are really adequate, safe measures in place to stop such a derailment ever happening with uranium on the track.
MICHAEL COGGAN: But Chief Minister Paul Henderson doesn’t want to speculate about the implications for the transport of uranium in the Northern Territory…. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-29/questions-raised-over-toxic-goods-transport-in-the/3750842?section=nt
Australian government’s planned nuclear waste dump breaks international safety standards
The government’s policy on the most hazardous radioactive waste is to store it in a large above-ground warehouse — indefinitely!
Contrary to the government spin therefore, the Federal Government’s policy on radioactive waste management is not a disposal solution to the most hazardous form of radioactive waste in Australia. This places the Australian Government in breach of its international treaty obligations, but, more importantly, does not eliminate the risks to humans and the environment.
Australia’s lazy plan to dump nuclear wastes - `Solution’ brings more problems By DR PETER KARAMOSKOS Northern Territory News 10 Dec 11 THE proposed radioactive waste repository at Muckaty was determined less on scientific and public health criteria and more on opportunity. Indeed, Muckaty was not even identified as a preferred site in the NT in the original site selection process.
But the contention that is most in error is that the radioactive waste to be disposed of there is largely nuclear medicine waste. Nearly all such waste is actually short-lived and decays in local storage, and is subsequently disposed of safely without need for a repository.
While some medical-related radioactive waste requires appropriate disposal, it is only a very small proportion of the waste intended for the repository. The vast bulk of the waste that is intended to be disposed of at Muckaty is Lucas Heights nuclear reactor operational waste, and contaminated soil (10,000 drums) from CSIRO research on ore processing in the 1950s and 1960s. This waste requires isolation from the environment for up to 300 years (deemed low-level waste).
More hazardous waste (deemed intermediate level waste) arises from further Lucas Heights reactor operational waste, reprocessed spent fuel rods and residues from mineral sands processing. Intermediate-level waste requires isolation from the environment for thousands of years, most usually in an engineered disposal site up to a few hundred metres underground, as specified by the “Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of
Radioactive Waste Management” a legally binding treaty of which Australia is a signatory. We also participate in the development of these international safety standards. Read more »
Aboriginal homelands vulnerable to land grab, as Northern Territory Intervention is widened
As part of the 2007 “intervention” legislation, Aboriginal land granted under the 1976 Land Rights Act was compulsorily acquired by the government through five-year leases. These will be replaced with “voluntary” forty-year leases that remove all previous restrictions on how town camp and “Community Living” land could be used.
Over the past four years the government has attempted to press local communities to sign long-term leases by cutting funds for essential services to the homeland communities.
Australia: Labor to extend NT “intervention” for a decade, World Socialist Website, By Susan Allan, 12 December 2011 The Labor government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard is intensifying its social austerity cutbacks with a raft of proposed new laws that continue the Northern Territory (NT) “intervention” for another ten years and expand its punitive measures to include all welfare recipients, indigenous and non-indigenous alike, Australia-wide. Read more »
Australia’s Northern Territory allows free groundwater to mining companies, not to any other users!
Mataranka residents surprised by mining’s right to ground water, ABC Rural News, By Steven Schubert, 02/12/2011 Members of a committee formed to develop a water plan for the Northern Territory town of Mataranka say they were never told mining operations could gain unrestricted access to ground water.
Mining operations don’t require a licence from the water controller under the NT Water Act, while other users have to apply for an allocation of ground water. Committee member Hamish McFarlane says if a mining project is formed near the town, there could be less water for irrigators and other users.
“Keeping in mind that you said before that the Water Act gives priority to mining, if a mining company came in here at this point in time and took the consumptive pool there would be no growth in Mataranka outside the mining industry.”… http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201112/s3382086.htm
Australian government policies force Aborigines off homelands (convenient for the nuclear industry)
As Amnesty International has noted, the Government has decided to direct virtually all funding and investment in the Northern Territory to 21 “growth towns”. Thus, the 500 communities, which have about 35 per cent of the NT’s Indigenous population, were allocated $7.1 million out of the $672 million housing program. They note that “the Commonwealth Government has transferred the responsibility for homelands to the Northern Territory Government, whose own policy
clearly states no new homes on homelands in the Northern Territory”.
The result will be to force Indigenous communities from the land that has “social, cultural and economic significance to them”.
Destroying Indigenous communities and cultures, The Drum, Michael Brull , 1 Dec 11, Jenny Macklin has just delivered her second reading speech for the new intervention legislation. She had sought to soften the ground for this by announcing the new ”evidence” which she claimed vindicated her measures, in the absence of any evidence of improving socio-economic conditions. Read more »
Doctors say Alice Springs at risk from transport of radioactive waste:
Alice Springs, 28
November 2010: An Alice Springs-based team of doctors has completed a study of the potential risks of transport of radioactive waste materials, and has launched a fact sheet to explain the findings. Co-author, MAPW member Dr Tom Keaney, believes that this work is timely, with the proposed waste repository at Muckaty currently the subject of a major national debate.
- Read the MAPW Fact Sheet on transport of radioactive waste
- Read the media release by MAPW Northern Territory Branch
- Read the MAPW fact sheet: Q&A on the nuclear waste - explaining what it is planned to bury, or store, at the Muckaty site. http://www.mapw.org.au/news/alice-springs-risk-transport-radioactive-waste-mapw-nt-members
Non Government Organisations support Aboriginals, urge repeal of punitive Intervention legislation
“The compulsory nature of income management and its blanket imposition (in combination with other changes, such as local government reform, shire amalgamations and losses of local councils; changes to CDEP; the loss of the permit system; and changes in land tenure) are likely to have contributed to people’s feeling of a loss of freedom, empowerment and community control.”.
Aboriginals of Australia: NGOs Urge Government to Repeal Intervention Legislation Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) 26 Nov 11 Despite government-sanctioned reports that ‘welfare quarantining’ has resulted in the disenfranchisement of indigenous communities in their own affairs, Canberra has voted to extend the legislation. NGOs are particularly concerned with the development of a measure which would suspend welfare payments to parents whose children exhibit recidivism in low school attendance. Read more »
An unexpected green upside to new USA military base in Australia?
When the case for renewables is made on the grounds of national security, the arguments of climate denialists and delay merchants are bombed back to the Stone Age. ….
as the U.S. Marine Corps demonstrates, energy conservation and renewable energy are now critical national security concerns.
Will President Obama Send Green Marines to Darwin?, Renewable Energy World, By Dan Cass ,November 18, 2011 President Barack Obama was in Australia this week and upset China and Indonesia with the annoucement of an increased military presence in this country, including 2500 US Marines to train and provision equipment in Darwin.
When the U.S. Marine Corp establish themselves a new home in Darwin, they will bring some seriously green equipment and ideas to our shores. This is because in the three years of his Presidency, Barack Obama has actively led the U.S. Department of Defense to embrace renewable energy and a strategic awareness of climate change…. Read more »
Australia: Northern Territory Government tries to shut down protest against uranium transport
Protesters air uranium transport fears, ABC News, 17 Nov 11 The Northern Territory Government has tried to shut down a protest in Alice Springs. People were meeting to protest about the increased uranium that will pass through the town if the South Australian Olympic Dam is expanded.
The protest comes as dam developers BHP Billiton holds its annual general meeting in Melbourne today. Protester Lauren Mellor says she feels people do not know about the extra uranium that will be travelling through the town.
“We’re protesting here today for the specific reason of the transport risks to people who are along this rail line that the radioactive ore will be carried on up to Darwin,” she said.”So here in Alice Springs we’re at the intersection where this radioactive ore, two trains a day will be coming through our town and putting the lives of people here at risk and also the environment in Alice Springs.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-17/protesters-air-uranium-transport-fears/3677478
This month
For international news, go to nuclear-news
Check on the Ugly Australian company, Lynas, in Malaysia http://baddevelopers.nfshost.com/Docs/L.htm
http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/49872 Peter Watts at Global Conference for a Nuclear Power Free World
Aboriginal protest in Canberra. Scroll down page. Video news shows no violence from protestors, only from police http://www.3aw.com.au/blogs/breaking-news-blog/the-referendum-died-today/20120126-1qj4x.html
of the week. http://www.radiationreport.com/effects-of-radiation/nuclear-apologists-play-shoot-the-messenger-on-radiation/
Energy Matters Video News – Episode 56 – February 1, 2012
http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3021
Anti nuclear action below: - more info at Action Australia « Antinuclear and at Event details « Antinuclear
EVENTS
- February 13 Adelaide Fukushima and the Future of Nuclear Power
- 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
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)
