Australian uranium industry has some responsibility for results of its industry
it’s actually possible that it is Australian uranium that has derived the nuclear material that may be leaking and exploding in those reactors in Japan. “The uranium-mining companies should have to bear responsibility for what can go wrong with their uranium.
Japan’s nuclear crisis causes reaction in Australia – ABC Newcastle NSW – Australian Broadcasting Corporation 16 March, 2011 By Jeannette McMahon “…….. in Australia questions are being asked, not just about the safety of nuclear reactors but our export of the uranium that fuels them….…David Noonan, nuclear-free campaigner with the Australian Conservation Foundation, told 1233’s Paul Bevan the nuclear industry has lost control of a number of Japanese reactors.
“The nuclear industry has lost control of multiple nuclear reactors in Japan, they are exploding, they are leaking, they are causing, according to the Prime Minister, harmful effects to health and dangerous exposure levels.
“Nuclear reactors are supposed to produce electricity but when you disconnect them from the electricity grid, when you pull the plug on a nuclear reactor, then the evidence is here that they do potentially lose control and the secondary and back-up systems may simply not work.”
As for Australia’s response, Prime Minister Julia Gillard stated on ABC TV this week that ALP policy was opposed to nuclear power.
“What the Prime Minister wasn’t willing to answer was the uranium question,” David says…….
“Australia is directily involved in this nuclear emergency in Japan.
“The Tokyo Electric Power Company buy and burn Australian uranium, both Rio Tinto and BHP sell significant amounts of uranium to Japan, it’s some two to 3000 tonnes of uranium a year in total.
“And it’s actually possible that it is Australian uranium that has derived the nuclear material that may be leaking and exploding in those reactors in Japan.
“The uranium-mining companies should have to bear responsibility for what can go wrong with their uranium……
David says uranium can easily be dispensed with as an Australian export.
“Our cheese exports are actually worth much more than our uranium exports,” he says…….According to David all of the serious problems of the nuclear industry, including disposal of waste, remain unresolved and new ones have arisen such as the threat of nuclear terrorism.
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of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 
You must be kidding. “The uranium-mining companies should have to bear responsibility….” Following this logic the operator of an oil well should be held responsible for passenger vehicle deaths and pollution due to a bridge collapse resulting from an earthquake.
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You do have a point there, Larry Hough. I must concede.
However, in other issues around uranium mining, the analogy with the oil well operator does not apply.
Oil wells certainly have their environmental and health bad results, but nothing to compare with uranium’s.
Australia piously claims that its uranium does not get into nuclear weapons. But the truth is, nobody knows if it does, and anyway, it would free up other uranium for weapons.
Uranium mining’s toxic effects on health and environment are serious and long-lasting. Yet the mining companies escape responsibility for these effects. A relatively quick profit – then out, leaving the community to deal with the mess.
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