Nuclear renaissance becoming a stillbirth in Southeast Asia?
In Malaysia, the government has quietly put a proposal to build two 1,000 MW nuclear power plants “on the back burner,” said a senior government source.
The decision came after environmentalists targeted a plan by Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp to commission a processing plant in central Malaysia that would have to dispose of radioactive waste….
Analysis: Southeast Asia goes slow on nuclear, Reuters, By John Ruwitch HANOI Feb 2, 2012 ”…..Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore are among some 35 countries considering going down the nuclear path, likely doubling the number of operational reactors in the next few decades, according to Lloyds Register.
But even the most ambitious plans will run up against barriers and constraints. In most Southeast Asian countries where there is interest in nuclear power, politics are holding it back. Indonesia’s National Atomic Energy Agency has been researching reactors for more than four decades and preparing the human resources, but the political will is lacking. Read more »
The Ugly Australian – Lynas rare earths company’s rocky ride in Malaysia
Malaysian group to file suit to challenge approval for Aussie rare earth plant Washington Post, : February 2 LAWSUIT PLANNED: A Malaysian group representing villagers and civil groups will file a legal challenge to the government’s decision to approve a $230 million rare earths plant by Australian miner Lynas Corp., a lawmaker said Thursday. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/malaysian-group-to-file-suit-to-challenge-approval-for-aussie-rare-earth-plant/2012/02/02/gIQAmIwDlQ_story.html
Key victory, but battle is not over yet BY: ROWAN CALLICK, : The Australian February03, 2012 ”….Environmental concerns have been driving greater political involvement in Malaysia as the population becomes better educated.
Growing ecological awareness has provided a common cause for middle-class activists of the three races — Malays, Chinese and Indians — who have tended otherwise to be divided by the country’s political parties…. The plant approval intensifies the need for Lynas to operate it impeccably and to build its community relations, because an election is almost certain to be called in Malaysia later this year. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has already warned that his three-party coalition would scrap the plant if it wins the election.
Fuziah says Lynas plant will scare off other investors, The Malaysian Insider, By Shannon Teoh January 31, 2012 KUALA LUMPUR, — Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh has hit back at Lynas Corp, insisting that the presence of the Australian miner’s RM2.5 billion rare earth plant would deter investors from Pahang.
Earlier today, Lynas executive chairman Nicholas Curtis warned against any move by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to shut the company’s refinery, which has raised fears of radiation pollution, saying such action would deter foreign investors.
Fuziah, who has led protests by locals and environmentalists against the plant, said yesterday the federal opposition would shut down the plant if it won a general election that must be called by May next year.
“Would any foreign investor want to site their operations right beside a rare earth plant? Would companies like Siemens want to set up near Lynas?
“This is not a strategic investment in terms of risk versus benefit. We don’t need rare earth to be high-tech. Germany doesn’t have rare earth,” she told The Malaysian Insider…… Read more »
Malaysian opposition to Lynas, the Ugly Australian company overseas
“We are disappointed but not surprised by the very weak application presented by Lynas. Most worrying of all is that Lynas’ proposed waste management plan is full of holes and is totally unsafe. “
Raw Earth Miners and Processors, Bad Developers, 2 Feb 12 Today marked the final day for public comments on Lynas’ application for the pre-operational licence for its Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in Gebeng.
Together with concerned citizens including representatives from the Pahang Bar Council and the Malaysian Medical Association who converged at the Pahang Secretariat Office, SMSL and SLC delivered a joint
submission to MOSTI and the AELB urging the two authorities to reject Lynas’ application until a safer plan is produced. Read more »
Still no plan for radioactive waste disposal, but Australian company Lynas gets temporary license
Lynas’s plant is near Kuantan, the capital city of the central Pahang state. Protests by residents and non-governmental organizations over the past 10 months included a march on Malaysia’s parliament and the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur….
China has been limiting rare-earth output and exports since 2009 on concerns mining activities caused pollution
Lynas Granted Temporary Rare-Earth Refining License From Malaysian Board, Bloomberg, By Manirajan Ramasamy – Feb 1, 2012 Malaysia’s Atomic Energy Licensing Board granted Lynas Corp. (LYC) a temporary operating license to begin refining rare earths under certain conditions following public protests.
The Sydney-based miner will be able to start refining under conditions that include a plan for a permanent disposal facility and paying the government a $50 million security bond in installments, the board said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
Lynas’s plant would be the world’s largest refinery of the minerals with total capacity of 22,000 tons per year should a second phase be approved and completed, the company said on Nov. 16.
Its plan to start production in September was delayed after the government imposed extra safety standards recommended by an international review panel after residents expressed fears over possible radiation and contamination. Read more »
Australian rare earths company Lynas has not solved its Malaysian radioactive waste problem
Locals say market won’t buy Lynas’ recycled waste, Malaysia, By Shannon Teoh, January 26, 2012 KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 — Lynas Corp’s plans to recycle waste from its controversial RM2.5 billion rare earth plant in Kuantan into a commercial product will not be accepted by the market, local residents opposed to the refinery said today.
The Stop Lynas Coalition (SLC) and Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL) groups said in a joint submission to the government that the synthetic gypsum the Australian miner hopes to produces from its waste is the subject of an international safety campaign due to radiation fears. The use of phospho-gypsum plaster-board and plaster cement in buildings as a substitute for natural gypsum may constitute an additional source of radiation exposure to both workers and members of the public,” the document quoted from Internet-based environmental organisation Zero Waste America. Read more »
Global spread of Fukushima radiation
Fukushima Radiation Spreads Worldwide, Global Research 17 Jan, by Washington’s Blog California, Finland, Canada, Australia Hit By Radiation The University of California at Berkeley detected cesium levels in San Francisco area milk above over EPA limits … and even higher than they were 6 months ago.
Finnish public television says that cesium from Fukushima has been detected in lichens, fungi and elk and reindeer meat in Finland.
The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency confirmed a radiation cloud over the East Coast of Australia.
The West Coast of Canada is getting hit by debris from Japan … and at least some of it is likely radioactive…..
Bed Bath and Beyond has recalled radioactive tissue holders after they set off police radiation monitors aboard a delivery truck This may just be an example of the incredibly lax handling of radioactive materials.
And thyroid cancers are – mysteriously – on the rise in the U.S.
But don’t worry: The owner of the Fukushima plant has the plant in cold shutdown, so everything is “under control” … Although temperatures have apparently jumped inside Fukushima’s number 2 reactor, and the Japanese have no idea where the nuclear fuel has gone, so they are drilling a hole into the containment vessel to try to find it. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28714
India was involved in A.Q. Khan’s illegal nuclear network
Australia in particular, along with the United States and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, must review recent decisions to positively discriminate in order to permit nuclear dealings with India.
Gillard’s sexual education, Crikey, January 18, 2012 –, by NAJ Taylor ”…….. if Playboy’s January issue (the one with Lindsay Lohan on the cover) is approached with open eyes, I believe it has the capacity the recast the Australia-India relationship. In sum, the article by Joshua Pollack concerns an already infamous Pakistani and a group of Indian nuclear scientists – the evidence assembled suggests only one thing: there was once a time when they were all in bed together.
If it is true, it means India was Pakistani AQ Khan’s previously unknown “fourth customer” of nuclear technology and know-how (the others were Libya, Iran and North Korea). Read more »
Australia should rethink uranium sales to India, as India has poor nuclear security
India scores poorly in nuclear security ratings, The Age, David Wroe, January 13, 2012 A NEW report that gives India a poor rating on nuclear material security has been seized on by opponents of plans for Australia to sell uranium to the emerging economic giant. The report, released yesterday by US think tank the Nuclear Threat Initiative, ranked India fourth-last among countries with significant quantities of weapons-grade nuclear material, putting it above only North Korea, Pakistan, Iran and Vietnam.
The Nuclear Materials Security Index assessed countries’ ”contribution towards improved global nuclear materials security
conditions”. The report follows Labor’s proposal, ratified at its party conference late last year, to overturn its long-held stance against selling uranium to India, which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
As part of its deal with India, Australia is negotiating a treaty to guarantee safeguards on its uranium exports.
But Greens nuclear spokesman Scott Ludlam said the report highlighted how far India had to go in meeting the standards Australia should demand. ”I think this is going to force the government to put some teeth into this so-called safeguards agreement, which doesn’t address the kinds of issues that the NTI is putting down in their paper,” Senator Ludlam said.
The NTI’s report rated India as below average on a number of issues including transparency, corruption, the number of sites where material was stored, the independence of regulators and security during transport.
”I think it’s a massive wake-up call that, first of all, the change of policy at the end of last year was a mistake,” Senator Ludlam said. On a broader scale that included countries not in the possession of weapons-usable material, Australia ranked No. 1 in the world, partly because it has little nuclear material at all.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/india-scores-poorly-in-nuclear-security-ratings-20120112-1pxj6.html#ixzz1jNWNIOtk
Radioactive colonialism – Autralian company Lynas’ rare earths plant in Malaysia
This little news item from THE AUSTRALIA barely touches on the salient points about Australian company Lynas’ planned rare earths processing plant in Malaysia. It should not be forgotten that:
- Lynas was well into building the plant before it obtained the necessary permissions from teh Malaysian government
- The plant is in a highly populated area (unlike the rare earths plant in China, which radioactively polluted a huge area)
- Lynas wanted to go ahead with no plan for the permanent disposal of its radioactive wastes
- No doubt the waste disposal problem was Lynas’ reason for not planning the rarenearths processing plant in Australia. As with Australian uranium mining companies in Nigeria, Tanzania etc – another example of radioactive colonialism. - Christina Macpherson
Lynas licence decision date set for Malaysian plant, THE AUSTRALIAN, BY: ROSS KELLY January 05,“………Malaysian authorities have indicated the Atomic Energy Licensing Board will meet January 30 to decide whether Lynas should be granted a temporary operating license, Lynas said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange. The decision is then expected to be tabled to a full session of the Malaysian cabinet. …
Rare earths typically occur in deposits that contain uranium and thorium, meaning radioactive waste is present in tailings that require safe disposal. Activists and some politicians have actively campaigned against the Malaysian processing plant, prompting authorities to ask the International Atomic Energy Agency to review the $232 million
development that’s almost complete.
A report by the IAEA in June largely backed the plant, while recommending Lynas deliver a plan for dealing with its waste.
A temporary license will allow the company to ramp up production at the Malaysian facility to nameplate capacity and sell its products, Lynas said. If Lynas complies with the strict monitoring and government oversight requirements of the temporarily license, a permanent operating licence can be issued within two years. …
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/lynas-plant-license-decision-set/story-e6frg9df-1226237278015
Australia should rethink policy on uranium sales to India – safety and corruption risks
Australian senator slams India’s nuclear sector, Australia network news, 27 Dec 2011 An Australian Greens Senator has said India’s nuclear sector is set to become more irresponsible, and wants Australia to rethink its policy to sell uranium to the country. Senator Scott Ludlum made his comments after India announced plans to replace its independent nuclear regulator with a government-controlled body.
The decision comes just weeks after Australia announced it would begin selling uranium to India’s civilian nuclear program. Senator Ludlum told Connect Asia after Japan’s nuclear disaster in March this year, governments around the world were having second thoughts about how to regulate uranium.
“Because the technology is so unforgiving, and when things go wrong they go so seriously wrong, you need to have an exquisite safety culture to maintain this equipment,” the Western Australian Senator said.
Corruption risk The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board will be replaced with a safety authority answerable to government ministers, which Senator Ludlum said could suffer from government interference. ”On a day to day basis they will actually have the ability, from the prime minister down, to direct the regulator, force it to investigate or not investigate certain kinds of activities and, I think, quite improper use of national interest tests to decide what the regulator should do.
“Not just in India, but everywhere around the world where this technology is used, you need to be completely at arms length and you need have a fiercely independent regulator to stick its nose in wherever it thinks it’s appropriate,” he said.
“The last thing you want is something that’s just a puppet of the top tiers of government and that’s what the Indian movement and Indian officials are telling us is occurring here,” the senator said. http://australianetworknews.com/stories/201112/3398569.htm?desktop
Greens Senator helping Julian Assange, amid silence from Australian government on Assange’s human rights
Scott Ludlam (left) in Europe to ‘protect Julian Assange’s human rights’ Herald Sun, : AAP December 26, 2011 SWEDISH officials have met an Australian senator to discuss the future of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. As extradition proceedings against the 40-year-old Australian continue in London, Greens Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam has
embarked on a European mission to secure guarantees about Assange’s human rights, should he be extradited to the Nordic nation. Swedish prosecutors want Assange in Stockholm for questioning over allegations that he sexually assaulted two women in the capital inAugust 2010.
Assange denies the claims and is refusing to return to Sweden, fearing that the country will hand him over to the United States, where his secret-leaking website is the subject of a major investigation……
From February 1, Assange will face a panel of seven British supreme court justices for a two-day hearing where he will appeal the rulings of lower courts that he should be extradited to Stockholm.
Senator Ludlam plans to take the information he has learned in Stockholm to the Australian Parliament and seek cross-party support for the Government to do “everything possible to prevent this
extradition”. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/greens-senator-scott-ludlum-in-europe-to-protect-julian-assanges-human-rights/story-e6frf7lf-1226230346843
Experts said the evidence may open Assange to a charge of conspiracy to commit espionage. Assange to face US spy charges Courier Mail, December 25, 2011 JULIAN Assange may face spying charges in the US for his alleged role in stealing military documents. During this week’s hearing into the Private Bradley Manning case at
Fort Meade, Maryland, lawyers produced online chat logs which purport to show that the 40-year-old Australian coached Mr Manning on how to break passwords and gain anonymous access to military computer networks, The (London) Times reported. Read more »
Australian Conservation Foundation calls on Labor to reverse decision to sell uranium to India
And none of this was clear or apparent at the time that 55, only 55 per cent of delegates at the ALP national conference put their hand in the air and said let’s sell uranium to India.
India has given nothing away and in return India has eroded global will, including Australia’s, and has been welcomed into the nuclear fraternity. …
ACF concerned by change in India’s nuclear regulation, http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2011/s3397198.htm ABC Radio – The World Today Samantha Donovan reported this story , December 23, 2011
TANYA NOLAN: Environmentalists are urging the Federal Government to reverse its decision to sell uranium to India after that country announced it will dismantle its independent nuclear watchdog. The Australian Conservation Foundation says it’s to be replaced by a new government-run body.
Samantha Donovan reports. SAMANTHA DONOVAN: The Indian parliament is considering legislation to replace the expert panel that acts as its nuclear watchdog with a body largely made up of government ministers and chaired by the prime
minister.
It’s only a couple of weeks since Labor’s national conference voted to overturn its longstanding ban on selling uranium to the subcontinent and the Australian Conservation Foundation’s national nuclear campaigner Dave Sweeney says he’s deeply concerned by India’s plans.
DAVE SWEENEY: It is a troubling development. It is a development that has a material bearing and interest on the decision made by the Australian Labor Party narrowly at the start of December to open the door to uranium sales to India. We have started the month with the Australian Government opening the door to uranium sales; we’ve ended the month with the Indian government closing the door on nuclear
scrutiny. Read more »
Australia backing India for U.N. Security Council, despite India’s nuclear weapons boom
Can you believe it? Australia is now likely to lose its bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council, because it has decided to disregard India’s nuclear militarism – in particular, India’s refusal to sign the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty.
But hey, the Australian governmnet now has the gall to back India, even as India is ramping up its long range nuclear missile production, – to back India’s bid for a seat on the U.N. Security Council.
This is likely to be seen as two militaristic nations backing each other. – Christina Macpherson
Aus supports India’s claim for permanent UNSC seat, The Economic Times, 8 DEC, 2011, NEW DELHI: Australia supported India’s claim for a permanent seat in an expanded UN Security Council and said the decision of its ruling party on supplying Uranium to New Delhi has removed any “potential irritant” in their growing bilateral relationship.
On a three-day visit to India, Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith said the two countries have also agreed to look into prospects of enhancing practical military cooperation by holding bilateral naval exercises in future. … http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/11032000.cms
Contrary to Ziggy Switkowski’s dreams, Australia must not sell uranium to Pakistan
Why Australia must not sell uranium to Pakistan, The Conversation, Peter Meyer 7 December 2011 
Predictably, Pakistan is seeking equal treatment with India on uranium sales from Australia……The activities of the AQ Khan network in selling equipment and technology to other states show Pakistan to have been an active proliferator (as Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark point out in their book, Deception: Pakistan, the United States and the Global Nuclear Weapons Conspiracy). And the military establishment under whose wings Khan – the father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme – operated still dominates public affairs in Pakistan, even under an elected government…..
Ziggy Switkowski spruiks for Australian uranium sales to Pakistan
Pakistan a potential uranium customer, says Australian nuclear expert, The Nation, 6 Dec 11 An Australian nuclear expert Dr Ziggy Switkowski said that Australia will have to consider selling uranium to Pakistan in the future after agreeing to export it to India…..over time, as they gain the confidence of the international community and the civilian nuclear program builds, they will need to be considered.”
Earlier, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Australia, Abdul Malik Abdullah said if Australia is willing to export uranium to India then it should sell it to Pakistan as well.
Abdullah said, “If Australia is going to lift the ban on a country which has not signed NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) it is much hoped that will also apply to Pakistan the same way.” Australia’s ruling Labour Party voted to overturn a decades-old ban on uranium sale to India, paving the way for Canberra to supply yellowcake to a nation outside the NPT.
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)
