Australian govt sneaks in controversial radioactive waste report right on Christmas time
The laws would allow a site to be established anywhere in Australia rather than just the Northern Territory, overriding state and territory laws…the report was tabled while parliament was not sitting and just three days before Christmas…..
Greens cynical about radioactive report, Sydney Morning Herald, Andrea Hayward, December 22, 2010 – Conservationists and the Australian Greens are cynical about the timing of a report giving the thumbs up for draft laws to establish a radioactive waste dump. Continue reading
Top secret journey of 11,300km for nuclear waste transport
Around the world there is a race to secure vulnerable material before terrorists can get their hands on it……..In all, the containers will have made a journey of close to 11,300km (7,000 miles) taking over a month.
VIDEO BBC News – A secret journey to take Serbian nuclear fuel to safety A secret journey to take Serbian nuclear fuel to safety, BBC News, Gordon Corera, 22 Dec 10, AEA’s John Kelly on the dangers of transporting nuclear fuel rods A shipment of nuclear fuel has arrived in Russia after a top-secret international operation to remove it from Serbia, where it was feared terrorists could seize it to make a nuclear or dirty bomb. Continue reading
Australian Conservation Foundation condemns ‘quick and dirty’ nuclear waste dump report
“The proposed law removes appeal rights from the Muckaty community, suspends key Indigenous and environmental protections and overrides all Commonwealth, State and Territory laws that might delay or frustrate the opening of a waste dump…..The timing appears a cynical attempt to further avoid public scrutiny
Quick and dirty report won’t solve long and dirty problem of nuclear waste, 23 Dec 10, A parliamentary report containing a single recommendation – that the House of Representatives pass the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill – has failed to address the Bill’s serious deficiencies, the Australian Conservation Foundation said today. Continue reading
Variety of renewable energy growing in regional Australia
In the past year, wind power generated almost 5000 GWh of electricity enough to power more than 700,000 homes.
Clean energy powers up in ACT region, waste-management-world, John Thistleton; Business EditorCanberra Times (Australia)December 23, 2010 From mini-hydro power stations on our water storages to $100million wind turbines, the ACT region is making a growing contribution to the nation’s clean energy industry. Continue reading
Earthquake risk for UK nuclear waste site
“It would be stupidity to bury high levels of radioactive material underground in areas which can be affected by earthquakes.
Earthquake ‘could hit plans to bury nuclear waste’, Whitehaven News, By Alan Irving, 22 December 2010 WEST Cumbria’s potential for burying highly radioactive nuclear waste could have taken a step back as a result of Tuesday night’s earthquake, say campaigners. Continue reading
ERA: drastic drop in uranium miner’s profit
ERA slashes profit forecast, The Age, December 22, 2010 The uranium producer Energy Resources Of Australia disappointed investors by flagging lower than expected profits and fewer reserves at Ranger mine.ERA said it expected an after-tax profit of between $45 million and $55 million in 2010. It made $272.6 million in 2009. Analysts had expected a profit of about $84 million.It said lower production had forced it to buy uranium oxide to meet sales commitments. Prices were also below average. Shares closed down $1.22, or 9.3 per cent, at $11.95. ERA slashes profit forecast
What the new Nuclear Arms Reduction (START) Treaty means
What’s Inside the New Nuke Arms Treaty , Wired.com, By Spencer Ackerman
December 21, 2010 Back from the brink of annihilation, the Obama administration’s treaty with Russia on reducing nuclear weapons is looking like it’ll pass the Senate after all, possibly as early as Wednesday. The only thing that everyone’s overlooked in the past several months’ political theater over the treaty is what it actually does — and doesn’t do. So we’re here to help. Continue reading
Australians overwhelmingly want renewable energy, and women are strongly against nuclear
just 19 per cent of women support nuclear power as an option for our future generating needs and a huge 59 per cent are against….By big contrast, 53 per cent of men are in favour…………Support for the renewables is emphatic across the population. Nearly 90 per cent want wind generation to feature in our future and an extraordinary 93 per cent feel the same about solar. The number who disagree on solar is close enough to zero.
More power to the people, even if they cannot agree Ross Neilson The Daily Telegraph * December 22, 2010 AUSTRALIAN women hate nuclear power. Continue reading
Martin Ferguson, Top Nuclear Salesman will lead push for nuclear power
Unlike fellow Labor party member Mr Ferguson, Ms
Gillard says that in Australia, “nuclear power doesn’t stack up as an economically efficient source of power”.
Nuclear Debate On the Agenda for 2011 | Australia | Epoch Times, By Shar Adams, 22 Dec 10,“………..The Australian Labor Party (ALP) has long had a policy of caution about the nuclear industry, stating in its National Platform that uranium and the nuclear fuel cycle “present unique and unprecedented hazards and risks”.Their nuclear policy lists threats to human health, nuclear weapons manufacture and dangerous nuclear waste as major concerns. The policy will “prohibit the establishment in Australia of nuclear power plants and all other stages of the nuclear fuel cycle” Continue reading
‘Nuclear renaissance’ needs massive tax-payer subsidy
Nothing but a massive new infusion of subsidies from taxpayers and customers can get the ‘nuclear renaissance’ back on track…………..Subsidizing new reactors will also come disguised as job creation. It takes a lot of people to build a nuclear plant. However, it also takes a lot of people to build other types of power plants or to install energy-efficiency measures. And these other technologies really are shovel-ready.
Nuclear Power’s Search For the Taxpayer’s Wallet, (USA) Epoch Times, By Peter Bradford, 2 Dec 10, As the new Congress convenes in Washington next year, nuclear power’s apparently limitless quest for federal subsidies will test the resolve of representatives elected to end Washington’s culture of entitlement and the costs it imposes on American taxpayers. Continue reading
Rooftop solar power, solar jobs, growing in Australia
The group’s 2010 report also predicted more than 55,000 jobs would be created in the industry by 2020, up from about 8085 now.
Green Australia turns to solar power | The Daily Telegraph, Cameron England , 22 Dec 10, THERE were more than 100,000 solar power systems installed across Australia last year which is more than in the previous decade combined. Continue reading
California promoting small scale, distributed solar power
“This program is a great step forward in facilitating the expansion of distributed solar power generation,”…“At scale, solar is more cost effective than the fossil fuel alternatives.”
(USA) Commission votes to expand mid-sized renewable energy development, California’s feed-in tariff program: Clean Energy, Allie Gardner, 22 Dec 10, Smaller scale solar energy development just got a significant leg-up in California. Continue reading
Renewable energy a more resilient system for Australia’s future
Renewables will need to be a mix of technology and scales, he explained, combining small and medium solar-powered stations with a mix of wind power, biomass and, in the future, geothermal and wave power….“It is a different kind of system and I think it is a system that is more robust and more resilient,”
Nuclear Debate On the Agenda for 2011 | Australia | Epoch Times, By Shar Adams, 22 Dec 10“……….Despite concerns that renewables cannot provide enough consistent energy to meet Australia’s and the world’s needs, Dr Diesendorf said he was confident an energy system built on renewables would not only be sufficient, but would also offer a safer, more reliable energy source. Continue reading
New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty a hopeful START
START has also warmed relations between the two nuclear powers, allowing for more trust, and deeper cuts in both weapons stocks and dangerous nuclear materials that could fuel terrorism, as well as lowering the possibility of developing new offensive weapons.
U.S.-Russia treaty on track for cutting nuclear weapons – thestar.com, 22 Dec 10, Arms control advocates were singing Hallelujah as a new U.S.-Russia nuclear treaty moved toward endorsement by the United States Senate on Tuesday: A Christmas present for the Obama administration and those who pray that a nuclear weapons-free world would come sooner rather than later. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 