Nuclear power and HEALTH – theme for April 2012
What are the health effects of ionising radiation?
Very high doses of radiation: death within hours or days, due to damage to brain and nerves
High doses: death within weeks, due to damage to the gastrointestinal tract, to the bone marrow, where blood cells are formed.
Lower doses: less severe:radiation sickness (nausea, fatigue and vomiting). Sterility. Some years later – cancer, (especially of thyroid), diseases of digestive organs, bone, & muscle.
Genetic effects: cell damage passed on to later generations
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Fact Sheet on Biological Effects of Radiation – Cancers associated with high dose exposure (greater than 50,000 mrem) include leukemia, breast, bladder, colon, liver, lung, esophagus, ovarian, multiple myeloma, and stomach cancers. Department of Health and Human Services literature also suggests a possible association between ionizing radiation exposure and prostate, nasal cavity/sinuses, pharyngeal and laryngeal, and pancreatic cancer.
Japan and Germany could bring the death blow to the nuclear industry
Australia’s geographic isolation probably combines with its Murdoch media monopoly to keep Australians pretty much ignorant of what’s going on in the world.
This website tries to focus on Australian news. But we do need to give the odd glance to international developments.
While the Australian media gives coverage to glowing praise of uranium investing, and even of a nuclear future for Australia – there’s a lack of information on big trends overseas.
JAPAN. What’s going on there now is critical for the nuclear industry. With the one remaining nuclear reactor soon to shut down, the Japanese government is urgently wanting to restart others. Why? Because it could be shown that Japan can manage without nuclear power.
GERMANY. What’s going on there now is critical for the nuclear industry. Renewable energy, solar, wind, biomass is proving to be successful, and Germany’s economy is doing well, with thousands of jobs provided. It’s showing that nuclear power is not necessary.
If these 2 highly developed industrialised nations can do without nuclear power – then worldwide precedents are set – and this could be the final death blow for the global nuclear industry.
Australia investing in nuclear weapons, while piously preaching against them
The difficulty for the Australian government is that Julia Gillard was just in South Korea at a global Nuclear weapons conference claiming Australia is a leader in global efforts to abolish nuclear weapons. …
for the Australian government’s own Future Fund to be simultaneously investing in nuclear weapons manufacturers surely undermines Australia’s chances of advancing such goals.
Your taxes hard at work making mushroom clouds, The Punch, James Norman, 7 April 12, “…..Following a freedom-of-information (FOI) request from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) the Australian Future Fund disclosed to the Senate last year that it invests Australian taxpayers’ (often pension funds) money in 14 companies involved in the production and maintenance of nuclear weapons.
The total value of these holdings in nuclear weapons-related companies is approximately $133 million, while the overall value of the Future Fund’s investments is $73 billion. The 14 nuclear weapons companies in its portfolio are involved in the design, production and maintenance of nuclear weapons for the US, British, French and Indian governments.
The companies in question that are involved in the manufacture or deployment of nuclear weapons include Babcock International ($127,480), Boeing (over $6 million), Honeywell International ($97 Million), Rockweel Collins (over $15 million) and Rolls Royce (over $1.7 million). Continue reading
Natalie Wasley on Aboriginals, radioactive wastes, uranium mining at Olympic Dam, Ranger and Beverley
http://ifyoulovethisplanet.org/?p=5732#more-5732 30 March 12, This week, we hear a repeat of Dr. Caldicott’s 2010 interview with Australian Natalie Wasley, coordinator of the Beyond Nuclear Initiative based at the Arid Lands Environment Center in the Northern Territory of Australia. Wasley has travelled extensively over the last 10 years, meeting with communities in Australia and overseas who have been impacted by every stage of the nuclear chain, from uranium exploration and mining through to nuclear weapons. The current focus of the Beyond Nuclear Initiative project is working with Aboriginal Traditional Owners who are opposed to the Australian federal government plan to force a radioactive waste dump on their traditional country….
Japanese government fears precedent: zero nuclear energy might be effective
There is something altogether unnerving about safety standards which are admittedly adapted not primarily for safety’s sake, ……but rather to convince host communities and the public of the safety of nuclear plants.
Japanese officials are concerned that if all of the nation’s nuclear power plants are shut down, that the rising sentiment in the island nation will prevent any of the commercial reactors to start once again.
“They want to avoid setting a precedent of the country operating without nuclear power because it will create a huge barrier in terms of restarts,” “People will question why we need it,”
Top Japanese Officials endorse new nuclear safety standards created in less than one week Enformable, Lucas W Hixson, 7 Apr 12, The government is accelerating plans to give it’s the official nod to the restart of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the Ohi plant in Fukui Prefecture after the Japanese Nuclear Safety Commission approved the results of Kansai Electric’s first-stage stress tests on the two reactors in March.
Earlier this week on Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Noda instructed Economy minister Yukio Edano to draft nuclear safety standards before judging whether to restart reactors 3 and 4 of the nuclear plant at Oi in Fukui Prefecture.
Despite having only held their third meeting, as of Thursday the Japanese central government have drafted, adopted, and generally endorsed new nuclear safety standards in record time.
The Japanese government is expected to take action on the new agreement following a meeting on Friday pending some modification on the wording of the draft by the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry. However, there is no need to restart the reactors if the region has sufficient power, or if energy-saving measures can sufficiently reduce power consumption…… Continue reading
Climate denialism book sent to hundreds of Australian schools
Teachers, scientists slam IPA for sending Plimer book to schools Crikey.com, by Matthew Knott, 7 April 12, Scientists and teachers have accused free market think tank The Institute of Public Affairs of spreading scientific disinformation by sending copies of Ian Plimer’s latest book to hundreds of schools around the country.
Plimer’s tome, How to Get Expelled from School: a guide to climate change for pupils, parents and punters, argues that the theory of man-made global warming is a….. http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/04/05/teachers-scientists-slam-ipa-for-sending-plimer-book-to-schools/
More evidence that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is causing global warming
On Wednesday, scientists showed in an article published in the journal Nature that rising CO2 preceded warming at the end of the last ice age
Sceptics’ case melts more, Gerard Wynn, SMH, April 6, 2012 A clutch of recent studies reinforces evidence that people are causing climate change and suggests debate should now move on to a more precise understanding of its impact on humans.
The reports, published in various journals in recent weeks, add new detail to the theory of climate change and by implication cast contrarians in a more desperate light. To be clear: there’s nothing wrong with doubting climate change; but doubts based on ignorance, a political bias or fossil fuel lobbying don’t help.
The basics, well known, are that rising greenhouse gas emissions are almost certainly responsible for raising global average surface temperatures (by about 0.17 degrees Celsius a decade from 1980-2010), in turn leading to sea level rise (of about 2.3 millimetres a year from 2005-2010) and probably causing more frequent bouts of extreme heatwaves and possibly more erratic rainfall. Continue reading
Photovoltaic solar energy boom in Australia benefits rural and low income communities
Love of a sunburnt country a boon for solar set http://www.smh.com.au/environment/energy-smart/love-of-a-sunburnt-country-a-boon-for-solar-set-20120406-1wgtn.html#ixzz1rNtGo1ee 7 April 12, THE humble city of Dubbo has emerged as the solar power capital of Australia, with more than a quarter of the houses in one postcode generating their own electricity from rooftop panels.
Even as subsidies are slashed, data shows the boom in photovoltaic solar panel continues.
The breakdown of solar use by postcode shows a clear bias towards regional Australia and city suburbs with lower-than-average incomes, industry body the Clean Energy Council says. ”Solar panels are fast becoming the Hills Hoist of the 21st century,” the council’s acting chief executive, Kane Thornton, said. Continue reading
REneweconomy lists Australia’s top solar energy postcodes for 5 States
The top solar postcodes, and Australia’s solar capital, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson 6 April 2012
The top 10 NSW solar postcodes:
1. 2830 Dubbo and surrounds 28.0%…….
The top 10 Queensland solar postcodes
1 4551 Caloundra, Pelican Waters, Golden Beach 27.3% of houses have solar power systems……
The top 10 West Australian solar postcodes:
1. 6208 Pinjarra, Oakley, Blythewood, Ravenswood 24.7% of houses have solar power systems…..
The top 10 South Australian solar postcodes:
1. 5211 Victor Harbor, McCracken, Hindmarsh Valley 25.9% of houses have solar power systems….
The top 10 Victoria solar postcodes:
1. 3564 Echuca 13.3% of houses have solar power systems…..
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/the-top-solar-postcodes-and-australias-solar-capital-28344
USA’s government renewable energy program created many thousands of jobs
DOE: Renewable grant program was a big jobs creator Politico, By ALEX GUILLEN | 4/6/12 A $9 billion Obama administration grant program for renewable energy projects has created tens of thousands of jobs, an Energy Department report out Friday concludes.
The report comes just one week after Speaker John Boehner slammed Energy Secretary Steven Chu over the claim and challenged him to provide proof of the jobs creation. The report — conducted by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory — concludes that the program supported 52,000 to 75,000 construction and installation jobs on average over the three years it was in effect. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 