Uranium marketing frenzy, and Australia’s secret deals with China
The uranium lobby is in a bit of a frenzy to try to convince the public that uranium is a good investment. Even as Uranium miner Paladin Energy CEO John Borshoff practically begs people to invest, and forecasts a great future for uranium mining companies – the facts indicate otherwise. Uranium Prices and share continue their inexorable slide downwards.
More interesting this week, however, are the latest revelations from Wikileaks, about China’s nuclear industry.
From Wikileaks we learn that Australia’s uranium sales to China could well be tied to Australia importing nuclear reactors from China. Now Ziggy Switkowski recently lauded China’s the state of the art nuclear technology, and predicted that Australia would be just picking up the phone, and ordering a fleet of China’s new super-safe nuclear reactors.
But Wikileaks now reveals the facts on China’s cheap, out-of-date technology is ‘vastly increasing’ risk of nuclear accident, – ….http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/25/wikileaks-fears-china-nuclear-
Oh dear oh dear – what is Australia getting into – about to authorise the world’s biggest open cut uranium mine, Olympic dam, with the plan to export huge amounts of uranium to China? – Christina Macpherson
China may link Australian uranium imports to Australia importing Chinese nuclear reactors
an “envisioned” bilateral nuclear co-operation agreement with the Chinese would be broad enough to cover “all eventualities” — including a possible deal under which Labor would import nuclear reactors in the future.
Chinese ‘coy’ in talks on importing uranium, MARK SCHLIEBS, The Australian, August 31, 2011 CHINESE officials were “a bit coy” about whether they were still developing weapons-grade fissile material during initial negotiations over the importation of Australian uranium, according to a diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks. Continue reading
Japanese nuclear expert calls for wider evacuation as Fukushima radiation spreads
Mamoru Fujiwara, assistant professor of nuclear physics at Osaka University, said the residents from these locations “need to be relocated permanently.”
Japan Finds Radiation Spread Over a Wide Area, WSJ, By MITSURU OBE, 31 Aug 11, TOKYO—The first comprehensive soil survey from areas around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant showed extensive ground contamination and another report warned of the continued threat to Japan’s food chain, underscoring the major challenges the country still faces in its radioactive cleanup efforts….
Nearly six months after the accident, the education ministry released Tuesday the first comprehensive survey of soil contamination within a 62-mile radius, showing that more than 30 locations spread over a wide area have been contaminated with long-lasting radioactive cesium. Continue reading
Australia plotted with USA against atomic energy chief – Wikileaks
US, Australia ‘schemed against IAEA chief’, SBS World News, 31 August 2011 Source: AAP, The United States and Australia schemed unsuccessfully in 2005 to block Mohamed ElBaradei’s election to a third term as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, a newly leaked US diplomatic cable shows.
Both countries were unhappy with ElBaradei’s “unhelpful” response to Iran’s nuclear program, but the bid to prevent his re-election to the nuclear regulatory agency’s leadership ultimately failed for lack of international support.The February 18, 2005 State Department cable released by WikiLeaks on Tuesday opens a window into the effort, describing a lunch conversation between Australian officials and a US special envoy for nuclear non-proliferation, Jackie Sanders.
The cable spotlights US and Australian concerns over the Egyptian diplomat’s interpretation that Iran had a “right” to civilian nuclear power, and his reluctance to declare Iran in non-compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Australian officials said there weren’t the 12 votes on the IAEA board of governors needed to deny ElBaradei re-election, “but that did not stop them from speculating on ways to try to prevent his re-election,” said the cable.
John Carlson, then head of Australia’s nuclear safeguards agency and one of the officials at the lunch, said Canberra strongly supported limiting IAEA chiefs to two terms, according to the cable…… The cable also included an informal document forwarded by Carlson, who had not yet cleared it with his government, entitled The case against ElBaradei….
1 This month
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