Victorian govt leads the way from renewable energy, towards brown coal, then nuclear
the massive 3,700 sq km lease EL4416 to Dr. John White’s Ignite Energy Resources. Cutting a swathe right across southern Gippsland’s prime coastal and tourism region, it runs the entire length of the spectacular 90 Mile Beach from the top of Wilsons Promontory to the Gippsland Lakes, half circling the towns of Bairnsdale, Sale and Traralgon.
when action on global warming can no longer be delayed, what will the Victorian government’s exit strategy be for brown coal? How will it placate community concern over food security and energy in a warming planet? In the absence of any willing investors left for wind or solar, are Victorians the first to be softened up for the nuclear debate we’re yet to have?
White is more than just a valued friend of the Liberal Party and former head of Prime Minister John Howard’s Uranium Industry Framework. White is a serious player in the international nuclear stakes and was the brainchild behind the “cradle to grave” business plan for President George Bush’s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.
Victoria goes dirty brown, Independent Australia, 25 Nov 11 IA INVESTIGATION: The new Victorian Government has abandoned any concerns for the environment in a rush to turn Victoria into a big, dirty, brown coal mine. Environment editorSandi Keane reports “…. Under recent legislation, new coal-fired power stations can be built 1km from the nearest residence (or just over 1km in the case of the Anglesea Primary School) – but not for a windfarm, which needs to be at least 2km away from the nearest complaining resident….the grab for arable land is on…..Over 40 per cent of Victoria is now under licence — a “ticking time bomb” according to Environment Victoria’s Make Wakeham. Its new website, CoalWatch, allows users to see at a glance which areas of Victorian have been leased to mining companies for the mining of brown coal….. Continue reading
Global poll shows public becoming more opposed to nuclear power
Opposition to Nuclear Energy grows: Global Poll
Online News, w25 Nov 11 LONDON: Public opinion in many countries with nuclear power programmes has become more opposed to the technology since 2005, with most people believing conservation and renewable energy can meet future needs without nuclear power, a new multi-country poll for the BBC indicates.
Most of those polled in countries with operational nuclear plants are opposed to building new reactors, saying either that their country should “use the nuclear power stations we already have, but not build new ones” (39%), or that “nuclear power is dangerous and we should close down all operating nuclear plants as soon as possible” (30%)…..
Just over one in five respondents (22%) agrees that “nuclear power is relatively safe and an important source of electricity, and we should build more nuclear power plants.” Eight of these countries were also polled in 2005 by Globe Scan about their views, and the results suggest that there has been a sharp increase in opposition to nuclear power in five of them.
The proportion opposing the building of new nuclear power stations has grown to near-unanimity in Germany (from 73% to 90%), but also increased significantly in Mexico (51% to 82%), Japan (76% to 84%), France (66% to 83%), and Russia (from 61% to 80%).[i][i]
In contrast, while still a minority view, support for building new nuclear plants has grown in the UK (from 33% to 37%), is stable in the USA (40% to 39%), and is also high in China (42%) and Pakistan (39%)…….
The poll also indicates that the belief that conservation and renewable energy can fill the gap left, if there is a move away from fossil fuels and nuclear energy, is now the consensus view.
Respondents were asked to say whether they thought that their country “could almost entirely replace coal and nuclear energy within 20 years by becoming highly energy-efficient and focusing on generating energy from the sun and wind,” and more than seven in ten (71%) agree that it could.
The results are drawn from a survey of 23,231 adult citizens across 23 countries. It was conducted for BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan. GlobeScan coordinated fieldwork between July 3, 2011 and September 16, 2011. Within-country results are considered accurate within +/- 3.1 to 4.4 per cent, 19 times out of 20. http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=186243
In Australia Liberal and Labor follow G.W. Bush in fostering spread of nuclear technology and weapons
How Labor finished Bush’s uranium script The debate over uranium exports to India has ignored the most important argument of all, writesAndy Butfoy Inside Story, 23 November 2011 THE biggest threat facing humanity is the uncontrolled spread of nuclear weapons. Because it is the custodian of the world’s largest reserves of uranium, Australia has a special responsibility to help protect the global rules containing this danger. But you wouldn’t know this from reading Julia Gillard’s announcement backing the sale of uranium to India, or from listening to the subsequent comments from the opposition’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop. Continue reading
Uranium market – heading towards a glut, as prices decline?
Uranium Stocks Build Momentum but Prices Remain Weak, Equity Research on Cameco Corp & Denison Mines NEW YORK, NY, Nov 24, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — “………While uranium stocks are on the upswing on long term optimism and takeover speculation, the spot price for uranium remains low. The spot uranium price dropped to slightly below $53 a pound U3O8, according to price publishers TradeTech and Ux Consulting, as little new buying interest emerged over the past week in the spot uranium market. Ux noted in its Monday report that a number of buyers and sellers already have met their volume expectations for the year — not surprising given volume levels posted since July…..
Britain’s atomic test veterans continue their campaign for justice
Last year, the Court of Appeal ruled that a group of more than 1,000 veterans’ claims against the Ministry of Defence over illnesses including various cancers and infertility were “statute-barred” because they had been made too late.
“Thousands of people want a court to consider whether their health, and that of their unborn children, was damaged by attending the detonation of nuclear bombs but your government – the latest in a long line of administrations of every political party to do so – is spending millions of taxpayers’ money to deny us this right.
“Your government has enshrined the Military Covenant to honour the sacrifices of all our veterans but we survivors of the nuclear tests are still being denied a fair hearing.”
Christmas Island veterans’ court struggle carries on, Nov 24 2011 by Lynn Jolly, Paisley Daily Express A DETERMINED nuclear testing campaigner has written to the Prime Minister in a bid to highlight the plight of 22,000 men who were forced to watch atomic bomb blasts. Thousands of soldiers claim they were used as guinea pigs on Christmas Island, in the Pacific Ocean, half a century ago as Britain and America carried out a series of nuclear tests.
These include Johnstone man Ken McGinley, 72, who went to Christmas Island as a young sapper with the Royal Engineers and remembers – at the age of just 19 – seeing the bones through his skin as he raised his hands to protect his eyes from the dazzling glare of the test blast. Continue reading
Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) – a new approach to management
ARENA: A new approach to renewables, Climate Spectator, Scott Bouvier, 25 Nov 11 The Bills that set up the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (known as ARENA) quietly passed through Parliament this month. ARENA has been broadly welcomed as consolidating the management of multiple funding programs with greater independence. To date, ARENA has been promoted as business as usual, but with a new approach to management Continue reading
Need for independent analysis of economics of BHP’s planned new Olympic Dam uranium mine
It was reported in The Advertiser today, that the South Australian Parliament has adjourned debate on the Roxby Downs Indenture Bill until Tuesday 29 November
Greens pursue BHP ore processing plan ABC News 24 Nov 11 The South Australian Government says it has accepted at face value BHP Billiton’s assertion that processing all ore locally from an expanded Olympic Dam mine would not be viable.
Legislation to enable an expansion has passed State Parliament’s Lower House and is being debated in the Legislative Council, where the Greens are proposing dozens of amendments. Greens leader Mark Parnell has questioned in Parliament why the Government did not make an independent analysis, to verify that local processing would be too costly to pursue.
“The company has said they don’t want to process locally, the Government hasn’t asked them to justify it,” he said.
“They’ve simply accepted that most of this ore will go to China along with most of the jobs.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-24/olympic-dam-indenture-legislation-ore-processing/3691796
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 