Australian uranium companies in Namibia – uranium turning into a “lame duck”
After Fukushima, suddenly the expected darling of local mining investment, has turned into a pariah. Both the Areva and Marenica statements refer to events after Fukushima, highlighting the uncertainty that has entered the industry since the nuclear disaster in Japan……
Perhaps it is a case of both Kalahari Mineral and Extract Resources taking what they can get and opting out of an industry that is fast turning into a lame duck. [or a dead cat – I haven’t got a picture of a lame duck]
Namibia Economist 16 Dec 11 When three major players in one industry, all announce substantial shifts in strategy and/or focus in a very short span, it signals a fundamental change in the underlying assumptions. These past two weeks saw one surprise after another as first Extract Resources, then Marenica, and finally Areva announced a dramatic turn in their strategies which probably points to a change of heart and a significant reappraisal of prospects and strategies. Continue reading
Fukushima nuclear plants too radioactive to be measured properly
TEPCO has not been able to take direct measurements of the temperatures at the bottoms of the containment vessels, and the site is still too radioactive for the fuel rods’ status to be visually confirmed.
Radiation levels are too high for people to get close to the reactors, leaving engineers and scientists to make important judgments using computer simulations, scattered bits of data and guesses.
Skeptics cast doubt on Fukushima status, even as Japan declares nuclear reactors ‘stable’ Christian Science Monitor, By Arthur Bright, December 16, 2011 Japan’s government declared that the damaged reactors from the Fukushima disaster were ‘stable.’ Not everyone is convinced. The Japanese government announced that the Fukushima nuclear complex,
heavily damaged by the March 11 tsunami in the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, is now stable. But serious doubts remain about Fukushima’s status, as officials remain unable to confirm the status of the reactors’ fuel and an undercover report impugns the clean-up efforts’ efficacy. Continue reading
Nuclear lobby has media and Japan’s govt under control, but not Fukushima
The nuclear power lobbyists are the ones who can claim credit for stabilizing their own situation and getting the government under control.
Fukushima power plant is far from ‘cold’, Deutsche Welle, Alexander Freund , 16 Dec 11 http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6682457,00.htm The Japanese government has claimed to have reached a cold shutdown in
Fukushima. But experts are skeptical and believe it could take another 40 years to get the situation under control. Headlines from Japan surely sound good: Fukushima is under control, the dilapidated nuclear power plant is stable.
But these headlines are nothing more than a euphemism. The situation at Fukushima is nowhere near under control. Continue reading
Asian investor gives financial boost to Australia’s renewable energy fund
Renewable energy fund launched in Sydney, SMH, December 15, 2011 An Asian investor will match the federal government dollar for dollar as part of a $200 million scheme to help local renewable energy companies get started. The commonwealth earlier this year pledged to pump $100 million into Australia’s largest renewable energy venture capital fund….. http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/renewable-energy-fund-launched-in-sydney-20111215-1ow1i.html
Climate denialist adopts creationist tactics to “educate” children
Plimer does very nicely from the mining industry which has set him up for a very comfortable retirement. He is a director of mining companies Ivanhoe Australia, Silver City Minerals and the UK-listed Kefi Minerals, , and is chairman of TNT Mines. He is reputed to earn more than $350,000 in director’s fees and shares — a lot more than he receives from the University of Adelaide where his fellow academics have written him off as a joke. He is also closely in cahoots with Australia’s richest miner, and individual, Gina Rinehart.
The launch of the book is funded by the notorious “cash for comment” right-wing skeptic group, the Institute of Public Affairs. . The IPA is run by ultra-right Liberals and funded by organisations which include BHP Billiton, Western Mining, Caltex, Esso Australia (subsidiary of Exxon), Shell, Woodside Petroleum, News Ltd, Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, to name a few. Rio Tinto was a sponsor.
Plimer and Howard ape creationists, Independent Australia, 14 Dec 11, http://www.independentaustralia.net/2011/politics/plimer-and-howard-ape-creationists/ The mining lobby, with a helping hand from long-time chief climate change action roadblock, former Prime Minister John Howard, has taken a leaf out of the creationists playbook and is now trying to inculcate children with their unscientific nonsense. Environment editor
Sandi Keane reports. Oh my goodness, what next? The mining lobby, desperate to stop any regulation on Co2 and having failed to convert the grownups to climate skepticism, are now taking aim at our children! Climate skeptic, Ian Plimer, has really lost it this time. His new book is called “How to Get Expelled from School”, and it targets school children and teachers. According to Plimer:
“…these children are being fed environmental propaganda and these children are too young to be fed ideology.”
Does the book’s name ring a bell? The anti-scientific film entitled “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” was trotted by those crazies, the creationists, in the U.S. to try to stop the teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution in American schools. Continue reading
Government of Australia’s URANIUM STATE, South Australia doing its best to kill renewable energy
Green energy fund gets the chop BY: MICHAEL OWEN The Australian, December 16, 2011 A FUND to create a green energy industry will be axed in a cost-cutting measure by the South Australian government….. One of the most significant programs to be cut will be the Renewable Energy Fund, to deliver savings of more than $10 million a year. The
move will threaten the future of the five-member RenewablesSA board, chaired by prominent businessman Bruce Carter, and the role of the Commissioner for Renewable Energy, Tim O’Loughlin…..
Ousted premier Mike Rann launched the South Australian fund with an initial $20m in 2009 as the centrepiece of state Labor’s plan to become Australia’s green energy powerhouse.
It was to help the government reach its target of 33 per cent of renewable electricity generation by 2020 using wind, solar, geothermal and wave power. According to its website, the latest big announcement from the fund was a joint plan with new federal Industry Minister Greg Combet to use the fund to “create significant new job opportunities in
SA’s manufacturing sector”.
Mr Snelling refused to comment last night. Labor sources said cabinet chose to abolish the fund as it was hoped federal moves to invest in renewable energy because of the carbon tax would help reduce any political backlash.
Budget figures show that of the $10m allocated in 2009-10, just $2.7m had been spent by the fund, while last financial year just $2.9m of another $10m allocation had been
used…..http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/green-energy-fund-gets-the-chop/story-e6frg6xf-1226223413572
OCCUPY TOLEDO fights plan for nuclear power plant
Occupy Toledo’s forceful presence at the community meeting on nuclear power at Toledo. – a third Fermi nuclear reactor plant in Monroe County won’t happen without a fight. below is the OCCUPY STATEMENT AGAINST PROPOSED NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
THIS WAS OUR MIC CHECK AT THE NRC’S DOG AND PONY MEETING ON THEIR DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR THE PROPOSED FERMI 3 NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN MONROE MICHIGAN TONIGHT WHERE WE SUCCESSFULLY HALTED THEIR SHOW:
MIC CHECK
Where AS the Nuclear Regulatory commission Region 3 has a clear record of putting profit and production ahead of health and safety.
Where AS there is no way to dispose of high level radioactive waste Safely.
Where AS the worst nuclear disaster in history at Fukushima has reminded the world of the dangers that Nuclear Energy poses to us all.
Where as the NRC is attempting to play a manipulative numbers game using grossly exaggerated and fraudulent projections for Michigan Electric Usage in this Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
Whereas The NRC cannot be trusted to protect the citizens of the Great Lakes and the Lake Erie Basin.
We denounce this ridiculous public meeting as nothing but a DOG and Pony Show prioritizing the profits of Detroit Edison over the health and safety of the citizens of this region and the natural environment.
Furthermore we find you, the representatives of the NRC, criminally responsible for endangering the citizens of this region with your ridiculous Environmental Impact Statement.
We will do everything in our power to stop this plant from being built.
We are the 99 percent https://www.facebook.com/FOXToledo/posts/10150475413249700
Australia’s fossil fuel industries determined to kill the Large Scale Renewable Energy Target (LRET)
what really scares the fossil fuel generators is the potential impact of a widespread deployment of solar, which some analysts predict could dominate the LRET rollout post 2015, as the cost of large-scale solar PV matches that of wind.
It is clear that there is a big push from industry and from the established generators to remove all “complementary measures” now that a carbon price has been implemented, and this includes the LRET – which, incidentally, is up for review next year.
Why big energy wants to kill the Large Scale Renewable Energy Target (LRET) Climate Spectator, Giles Parkinson, , 16 Dec 2011 Ever heard of the merit order effect? Readers of this column may be familiar with it, because it is emerging as a key issue in the Australian electricity sector, and a flashpoint between the established fossil fuel generators and the new wave of renewable energy technologies, and a conflict between short term profits and long term gains.
The National Electricity Market, like many around in the world, is based on a merit order, where the plants with the cheapest marginal cost of fuel get preference. They bid into an energy stack until demand is filled. The price of electricity for that period is set by the bid of the last generator into the stack.
For decades, this has meant that the brown coal generators in Victoria, shoveling in cheap and dirty coal from their doorstep, go first, followed by black coal, gas, and then gas peaking stations when demand is really high. But the rollout of renewables has changed those dynamics, because their marginal cost of generation is next to nil, so they go first, forcing other generators further up the stack, meaning prices are pushed down, and some fossil fuel generators miss out altogether.
This has been a well documented effect in Europe and elsewhere, and is considered a virtue by the International Energy Agency, which says the merit order effect has meant that cost savings on wholesale energy prices have, in some cases, more than compensated for the cost of the subsidies that got the renewables built in the first place. Continue reading
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
No more bombs’ says anti-nuclear advocate Smart Planet By Lieu Thi Pham | December 15, 2011, MELBOURNE — Australian Tim Wright is the Director for the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a global grassroots movement for the total elimination of nuclear weapons through a legally binding, verifiable Nuclear Weapons Convention.
Wright, a 26-year-old law graduate, was employed by ICAN in New York in 2010 to implement its global strategy in the lead-up to, and during, the historic Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. He was instrumental in coordinating the first day of action for a treaty to abolish nuclear weapons, with more than 80 demonstrations taking place in 30 countries.
SmartPlanet catches up with Wright to get an update on the campaign.
SmartPlanet: Please tell us more about ICAN’s mission and who your supporters are.
Tim Wright: Our campaign’s central objective is a treaty banning nuclear weapons. Last year we helped to persuade more than 130 governments to call for negotiations to begin on such a treaty at the United Nations (UN). We expect work to start within the next few years. Most governments support a treaty to ban nuclear weapons — 145 out of 193 UN-represented countries — along with the Red Cross and UN Secretary-General. There are already treaties that outlaw other weapons that the international community has deemed inhumane such as chemical weapons, land mines, biological weapons and cluster bombs. At the height of the Cold War there were more than 70,000 nuclear weapons. Today there are about 20,000, but that’s still 20,000 too many. http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/global-observer/-8216no-more-bombs-says-anti-nuclear-advocate/1225
1 This month
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