Nuclear submarines in our ports, a new target for terrorism?
NUCLEAR SUBMARINES NOT WELCOME IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA , 1 feb 2012, Plans to host American nuclear submarines at Garden Island should be rejected, Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam said. Senator Ludlam said the Australian Defence Force posture review – an inquiry into Australian defence bases – was off target with the suggestion that US nuclear submarines should be serviced at Garden Island. The risks of routinely floating nuclear reactors in and out of Cockburn sound shouldn’t be underestimated. Western Australian police and emergency services personnel are completely under-resourced to cope with even a minor reactor leak.
Call for more US nuclear sub facilities Canberra Times, BY DAVID ELLERY, DEFENCE REPORTER, 31 Jan, 2012 American nuclear submarines could call Australia home if a proposal by two of Australia’s leading Defence experts is included in the 2014 Defence White Paper. Former Defence Department secretaries Allan Hawke and Ric Smith have called for billions of dollars to be spent to protect Australia’s approaches and keep the fast emerging ”energy belt” safe from attack.
One of their suggestions, released in the interim report of the Force Posture Review, is for the submarine facilities at Fleetbase West – Perth’s HMAS Stirling – to be upgraded so they can be used to support US nuclear submarines….
Current Labor policy rules out any consideration of a nuclear option in $36billion replacement of the Collins fleet. Continue reading
Aboriginal tent embassy – its purpose as relevant today as 40 years ago
Why did she not speak with them, and why did she run away in fear?
It was not because there was a ‘riot’ or any great threat of violence, as the corporate media would later falsely claim.
It was Labor that reneged twice on promises (in 1972 and 1983) to enact national land rights law, to meet the just demands
of the traditional owners. This, of course, had been the main demand of the Tent Embassy in 1972. Yet land rights are today enjoyed by far less than 10% of the Aboriginal population.
In place of land rights, Labor offered ‘reconciliation’ and a stinking piece of hypocrisy called ‘native title’, the weakest land title imaginable and which firmly denies (by ‘extinguishment’) any land rights to the vast majority of traditional owners….
Julia Gillard’s words of respect to Aboriginal Australia, Green Left, January 30, 2012 By Tim Anderson Moments before Julia Gillard was whisked away from the angry crowd, losing her shoe in the process, she began an awards ceremony speech with these words: “Can I start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and in the spirit of reconciliation pay my respects to elders past and present.” Continue reading
Hanford nuclear weapons waste – the costliest, slowest, environmental cleanup ever attempted
Hanford Site: Radiation Levels High, Plant Progress Slow, Care 2, by Joel Boyce January 30, 2012 “…..At the Hanford nuclear waste site in Washington, a 10-year project to create a functioning treatment plant has already tripled its expected budget, and at $12.3 billion so far, the costs are still continuing to grow. According to USA Today, the project is both the most costly and the most complicated environmental cleanup ever attempted. Continue reading
Quiet discussions between Australia and Russia on nuclear technology
Lavrov to discuss space, nuclear cooperation in Australia, Ria Novosti 30 Jan 12 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will discuss bilateral cooperation in high-tech industries, including space and nuclear power, during his one-day working visit to Australia on Tuesday. The talks with Australian officials will focus on bilateral cooperation in nuclear power, space and mining industries, information technologies and agriculture, the ministry said……
Russia and Australia signed a peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement in September 2007. Australia, the global leader in uranium production, agreed to supply fuel to Russia for conversion and use in its nuclear reactors. http://en.ria.ru/russia/20120131/171037702.html
Slow move to sell Australian uranium to India
Australia to soon start talks with India on uranium supply IBN Live, 2012 New Delhi, Jan 30 (PTI) Australia 
will embark on commercial discussions with India on the nuclear commerce, a senior Australian High Commission officer said here today but did not give any time frame for it. Terming as “positive” the proposed move of 46th national
conference of the ruling Labour Party to export uranium to India, a resolution for which was moved by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Counsellor-Commercial in the High Commission Grayson Perry, said “robust discussions (political and commercial) will take place between India and Australia. “It is a positive move because earlier there were no discussions”, … http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/australia-to-soon-start-talks-with-india-on-uranium-supply/958007.html
Nuclear Power and WATER – theme for February 2012
Australia is at the forefront of the world’s nuclear fuel cycle. The world’s media seems to cover nuclear issues at the back end – nuclear reactor accidents, used nuclear fuel wastes.
But – at the very front end is the destruction of precious natural resources. Above all, there’s the guzzling of Australia’s fresh water. There is also the degradation of rivers, creeks and groundwater, through radioactive leakage.
Water intake. No mines are more water intensive this the uranium mines. Of these, BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam is the prime guzzler, with its massive daily draught from the Great Artesian Basin
Over recent months, large areas of Australia have experienced extraordinarily large rainfall. This might have lulled Australians in the Eastern States into thinking that we have plenty of fresh water. Australians are amongst the highest consumers of water in the world.
We don’t. Australia is the driest inhabited continent, with one of the lowest rainfalls in the world. Three quarters of Australia is arid or semi-arid. We depend on the Murray River system for 50% of our water use. While surface water systems provide most of Australia’s water intake, undergoud bores alos play a significant role.
The Great Artesian Basin provides the only reliable source of fresh water through much of inland Australia. Water extraction from the GAB is essentially a mining operation, with recharge much less than current extraction rates. Australia’s extraction of water from the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) is estimated to be greater than the inflow to the GAB
Water radioactive pollution. There have been numerous spills and leaks, and seepage from Australian uranium mines, into creeks, river systems and groundwater. (from Nabarlek, Ranger, Olympic Dam. Beverly, Rum Jungle, Radium Hill, Mary Kathleen. League of Individuals for the Environment, Inc.: Uranium Mining: Australia and Globally)
In South Australia, there have been over 20 spills at the Beverley In Situ Leach mine (http://uranium-news.com/category/processes/in-situ-leach/)
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 