Australian government’s planned nuclear waste dump breaks international safety standards
The government’s policy on the most hazardous radioactive waste is to store it in a large above-ground warehouse — indefinitely!
Contrary to the government spin therefore, the Federal Government’s policy on radioactive waste management is not a disposal solution to the most hazardous form of radioactive waste in Australia. This places the Australian Government in breach of its international treaty obligations, but, more importantly, does not eliminate the risks to humans and the environment.
Australia’s lazy plan to dump nuclear wastes – `Solution’ brings more problems By DR PETER KARAMOSKOS Northern Territory News 10 Dec 11 THE proposed radioactive waste repository at Muckaty was determined less on scientific and public health criteria and more on opportunity. Indeed, Muckaty was not even identified as a preferred site in the NT in the original site selection process.
But the contention that is most in error is that the radioactive waste to be disposed of there is largely nuclear medicine waste. Nearly all such waste is actually short-lived and decays in local storage, and is subsequently disposed of safely without need for a repository.
While some medical-related radioactive waste requires appropriate disposal, it is only a very small proportion of the waste intended for the repository. The vast bulk of the waste that is intended to be disposed of at Muckaty is Lucas Heights nuclear reactor operational waste, and contaminated soil (10,000 drums) from CSIRO research on ore processing in the 1950s and 1960s. This waste requires isolation from the environment for up to 300 years (deemed low-level waste).
More hazardous waste (deemed intermediate level waste) arises from further Lucas Heights reactor operational waste, reprocessed spent fuel rods and residues from mineral sands processing. Intermediate-level waste requires isolation from the environment for thousands of years, most usually in an engineered disposal site up to a few hundred metres underground, as specified by the “Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of
Radioactive Waste Management” a legally binding treaty of which Australia is a signatory. We also participate in the development of these international safety standards. Continue reading
Australia’s Energy Minister subtly sabotages photovolcaic solar energy
Ferguson labeled all clean technologies as expensive and requiring subsidies, however the figures in the white paper, concerning photovoltaics, are more than 12 months old and do not reflect the rapidly falling cost of photovoltaics.
Australian energy “white paper” neglects PV potential, PV Magazine, 14. DECEMBER 
2011, BY: JONATHAN GIFFORD A strategy document released this week, on Australia’s energy future, seems to have 
overlooked the potential of photovoltaics in the country. Instead the report focused on unproven technology, like carbon capture and storage, and leaving the door open for thedevelopment of nuclear power stations.
The Australian Federal Government has released a draft energy “white paper” in an attempt to develop a clearer energy policy direction for the nation. While “accelerating cleaner energy outcomes” is identified as one of the policy priorities, it appears that a major role for photovoltaics has been eschewed in favor of alternative “cleaner” energy technologies, such as carbon capture and storage – forcoal-fired power plants, nuclear and geothermal power. Continue reading
United States very anxious to export its nuclear radioactive waste
U.S. anxious to secure nuclear waste disposal site as China emerges on scene Mainichi Daily News, Japan, By Haruyuki Aikawa, Europe General Bureau, December 14, 2011 As the world shifts away from the business of recycling plutonium-based nuclear fuel, the construction of facilities to handle nuclear waste remains a nagging issue. After plans to construct an international disposal facility in Australia fell through, the United States and Japan moved forward in negotiations to build such a facility in Mongolia, an inland country which is believed to hold rich deposits of uranium…..
After the Mainichi Shimbun reported the plans in May, an opposition campaign was launched in Mongolia, and in September this year, Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj issued an order prohibiting negotiations, effectively putting an end to the plans…… at the end of March that the rise of emerging nations had weakened the United States’ grip. While it still has power, it wants to secure a place that will accept spent nuclear fuel. The project previously proposed in Mongolia strongly highlights the United States’ anxiousness. http://mdn.mainichi.jp/features/news/20111214p2a00m0na013000c.html
Venture Capital Fund launched by Australian Government
Australian Government Launches A$200 Million Venture Capital Fund, WSJ, DECEMBER 15, 2011, By Gillian Tan The Australian Government has appointed Southern Cross Venture Partners as fund manager of the nation’s largest renewable energy venture capital fund, valued at 200 million Australian dollars (US$198 million).
Softbank China Venture Capital will match the Government’s A$100 million commitment and the pooled funds will assist high potential Australian renewable energy start-up companies by making early-stage, critical equity investments beginning in 2012.
Southern Cross Venture Partners has offices in Sydney as well as Palo Alto and Shanghai and according to its website, a typical initial investment will be between A$2 million and A$5 million with additional cash injections in later rounds……The Southern Cross Renewable Energy Fund forms part of the Australian Government’s $3.2 billion Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
http://blogs.wsj.com/dealjournalaustralia/2011/12/15/australian-government-launches-a200-million-venture-capital-fund/?mod=google_news_blog
Martin Ferguson’s Energy Paper overestimates cost of solar power, and savings made through solar
Energy Matters Video News – Episode 52 – December 14, 2011 Presented by Energy Matters team member Virginia, we take a look at some of the stories from Australia and around the world recently added to our renewable energy news section.
In this episode, Virginia covers the release of the Australian Government’s Draft Energy White Paper, the cost of solar power often overestimated, major electricity price increases loom for Australian households and how a solar panel system can knock four years off a mortgage.
– A report from the Australian Energy Market Commission estimates national residential electricity prices are projected to jump by 37 per cent on average by 2014. Less than 5% of the national average price hike is likely to come from small scale solar power. Read more.
– The Sustainable Energy Association of Australia has suggested that one way to cut a mortgage by four years is to go solar. The Association’s Professor Ray Wills based his calculations on a 25 year $100,000 mortgage with a 1.5kw solar power system. Read more.
Russia aims to control the global nuclear fuel cycle
A new ARMZ race, Asia Times, 14 Dec 11 By Peter Lee The people who brought about Chernobyl are pressing to become the world’s leading source for nuclear power equipment, materials, and services.
Russia’s quasi-state nuclear power authority, Rosatom, has ambitions of becoming the world’s one-stop shop for nuclear plants, uranium fuel and spent fuel services. Currently accounting for 20% of the world’s nuclear power stations and 17% of global nuclear fuel fabrication, Rosatom wants to double in size and become the dominant player in uranium ore and spent fuel in the process.
In places like Kazakhstan, Canada, Niger, Australia, the United States and Mongolia, Rosatom’s (AtomRedMetZoloto) Uranium Holding Co, or ARMZ, is seeking to dominate worldwide uranium production. Over the past two decades, Russia has aggressively leveraged the nuclear legacy of the Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. In the nuclear arms race with the United States, the USSR always opted for quantity and size rather than quality….
Given the West’s eagerness to use the supply of nuclear technology and equipment as a diplomatic wedge to win favor in developing countries, the decision to let Russia handle the spent fuel back-end looks a lot like moral abdication. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/ML15Cb01.html .
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 