The best nuclear waste action: Lucas Heights interim storage plus Independent Inquiry
The government’s newly-announced “Sydney solution” is not ideal but, if coupled with an independent inquiry, it is sensible.
Interim storage at Lucas Heights could be the spur for a genuine and credible independent inquiry into how best to manage our radioactive waste.
Proactive debate could cool radioactive waste http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/proactive-debate-could-cool-radioactive-waste/story-e6frezz0-1226355138854 Ian Lowe The Daily Telegraph May 15, 2012 ALL nuclear activities generate radioactive waste. As a younger man I worked on the physical problems of nuclear fuel and for more than 40 years I have watched the technical problems of waste management and deepening community concern.
Australia generates radioactive waste. If you include the massive amounts of radioactive tailings produced by uranium mining, the volume is staggering. The proposed Roxby Downs expansion will, if it goes ahead, create a vast toxic legacy and pollute a huge area.
If you ignore uranium mining, the volume of radioactive waste is more modest but the threat posed by the material is not. It remains hazardous to people and the environment for thousands of years.
Recently the federal government announced some of Australia’s long-lived radioactive waste currently being treated in Europe would return to Australia in a few years. Continue reading
Western Australia’s inadequate laws on uranium tailings
WA’s uranium tailings laws fall short: independent review, SMH, May 14, 2012 Western Australia needs to completely revise its ageing laws governing the storage of uranium tailings and update its regulations to allow greater transparency of the uranium approvals process, an independent review into the state’s uranium regulations has found.
The review comes as Toro Energy braces for final approvals to mine uranium in the Northern Goldfields, after the WA Government removed the state’s ban on uranium mining in 2009. The Uranium Advisory Group led by University of Western Australia and CSIRO researchers, made nine recommendations to the Department of Mines and Petroleum targeted at ensuring more transparent and safer guidelines for the fledgling industry in a report…….
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/was-uranium-tailings-laws-fall-short-independent-review-20120514-1ymqu.html#ixzz1v5miLFpI
Tony Abbott and the split in the Liberal Party about science and conspiracy theories
In the past, the Liberal Party was the party of business. When I talk to energy and technology companies, it is surprising that many of the smartest companies and people in business are concerned by the rise of irrational extremism in the Liberal Party.
But as PM, Mr Abbott will be making decisions every day. This will force him to decide, does he put his faith in science, engineering and economics, or conspiracy theories Will he protect the interests of the whole Australian economy and society, or just the interests of the mining billionaires?
Is Mr Abbott’s vision for Australia future-proof? The Drum, Dan Cass, 16 May 12, Opposition leader Tony Abbott is confident that he is going to be our next prime minister. If he wins, he might well be PM all the way through the rest of this decade. Before that happens, we need to know, is Mr Abbott’s vision for Australia future-proof. Based on the opposition leader’s budget reply speech last week, we have reason to be concerned.
The fossil fuel age is drawing to a close, driven both by the threat of climate change and the opportunity of technological progress. Exciting new technologies are changing how we run the grid, power the factories, chill the beer and burn the toast.
Over the next several years the price of solar electricity will beat the price of conventional electricity (from gas and coal) around the world. Solar’s competitive advantage is caused by the progress of the technology, whether or not there is a price on carbon.
This fact is welcomed by every mainstream figure in the energy industry globally (it is not accepted by Energy Minister Martin Ferguson, but that is another issue ).
Clever countries are embracing solar (and wind and other clean tech)……. Continue reading
Australia does a poor job, (no job?) of monitoring radiation levels
Less Than 1% Of Base Stations In Australia Have Been Radiation Tested LOGAN BOOKERGIZMODO AU MAY16, 2012 For something that has been a massive source of concern for general public for decades, it doesn’t appear the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), responsible for “protecting the health and safety of people … from the harmful effects of ionising and non-ionising radiation”, is in much of a hurry to allay anyone’s fears…..
The Australian reported the news earlier this week and managed to get a follow-up from ARPANSA yesterday , which said it’s organising a “panel of experts” to help it review the body of new information on mobile radiation published in the last 10 or so years.
The Australian’s beef seems to be with the fact that Australia’s limits, while in line with those of the European Union, are much, much more generous than those of Russia, Switzerland and Belgium. …. http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/05/less-than-one-percent-of-base-stations-in-australia-have-been-radiation-tested/
Immense costs now stalling nuclear power development
Nuclear industry finds new plants are not so cheap REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson on 15 May 2012 The thin veneer supporting the nuclear industry’s claims of being the lowest-cost clean energy source is being rapidly eroded by a series of cost blow-outs and cancellations in the UK, Europe and the US.
The latest blow to the industry came in the UK, where earthworks for the Hinkley Point nuclear project in Somerset – the first to be built in the country for two decades – have been delayed amid reports of a huge cost blowout. And in the US, the country’s first nuclear plant to be built in three decades has also revealed significant cost over-runs. Continue reading
Carbon Capture and Storage- a tax-payer funded fantasy
the collapse of CCS projects overseas and in Australia shows the technology is commercially unviable
Greenpeace rejects carbon capture funding, ABC News, By Gus Goswell May 16, 2012 Environment group Greenpeace says governments are wasting public money on carbon capture and storage (CCS) research.
Carbon capture and storage is the process through which emissions from power stations would be captured and then stored underground to reduce carbon pollution. The Victorian and federal governments have invested millions of
dollars into CCS research. Continue reading
Coal on the decline for new electricity generation,- renewables on the rise
Australia is not leading the charge on the adoption of clean energy, but it is certainly part of a global movement that will be seen in history as one of the great shifts in economic change.
Bloomberg found the data is clear here as well: in 2011 coal attracted just 17 per cent of value of completed electricity generation projects, gas attracted 36 per cent, and renewables 41 per cent (of this 41 per cent was wind and solar was 6 per cent).
King coal dethroned, CLIMATE SPECTATOR, Peter Newman & Ray Wills, 15 May 2012 “King coal still reigns” was the headline emblazoned across a full page article in The Weekend Australian on the 28-29 April 2012, by environment editor Graham Lloyd. The article’s subtitle was, “The world is in the grip of a fossil fuel boom that shows no sign of fading.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. The latest data on global investment in new power production shows the dramatic decline in fossil fuel investment, and an astonishing increase in renewables investment. Continue reading
Video – community owned solar farm – and more renewable energy news
http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3209 Energy Matters Video News – Episode 67 – May 16, 2012, 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.
Virginia reports on REC’s 5 millionth solar panel, Victoria’s Yarra Climate Action Now pursuing a community-owned solar farm and solar soon to be an even better deal for small businesses in Australia…..
Share price downward spiral for Paladin uranium miner
Paladin slumps on big loss, The West Australian May 16, 2012, Shares in Paladin Energy slumped to a near seven-year low after the uranium miner reported a $137.6 million loss for the nine months to the end of March because of a $133 million writedown on its Kayelekera mine.
The company also reported a $17.5 million loss for the three months to the end of March, compared to a $13.5 million loss over the previous corresponding period…… Paladin’s share price has been under pressure since last year’s Fukushima nuclear emergency in Japan, which significantly weakened sentiment towards the uranium sector.
Investors have also been concerned by Paladin’s high debt levels.
Aborignal protestors in Brisbane face police crackdown
Police move in on Aboriginal protestors, Sky News, May 16, 2012 Police have moved in on Brisbane park where Aboriginal protesters were involved in a standoff with more than 100 police sent in to evict them.
Rows of police earlier faced off against a similar number of protesters, who say they are exercising their sovereign right to occupy indigenous land that’s home to a sacred site….. http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=750772&vId=3256173
Pope’s ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ the basis for land grabbing from indigenous peoples
Papal bull that granted those European monarchs the right to claim sovereignty over these newly “discovered” lands occupied by non-Christian “barbarous nations.”
the Doctrine of Discovery is the basis for all Indian land law in this country, and it has imposed similar burdens on indigenous peoples all over the world — in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, in Africa, in Latin America and in the island nations of the Caribbean and Oceania.
Stand for Human Rights for Indigenous Peoples and Renounce the ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ HUFFINGTON POST, Tadodaho Sid HillSpiritual Leader, Haudenosaunee (Six Nations/Iroquois Confederacy), 15 May 12,
When the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues convened on May 7th in New York, native peoples
around the world turned their eyes to the most important effort to renounce the Doctrine of Discovery, a 15th century Papal bull that has been exploited for five centuries to deny the human rights of hundreds of millions of people who continue to be subject to its power. Continue reading
French nuclear company AREVA moving into more uranium exploration in Australia
AREVA : Australia: a New Partnership Between AREVA and Mitsubishi Corporation in Mining Exploration 4 Traders, 05/15/2012 AREVA (Paris:AREVA) and Mitsubishi Corporation, through their respective subsidiaries Afmeco Mining and Exploration Pty Ltd (AFMEX) and Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd (MDP), have decided to work together in a uranium exploration program in Australia.
Exploration will be conducted for several years across tens of thousands of square kilometers of Australia where little or no previous exploration has yet been undertaken….. http://www.4-traders.com/AREVA-8084917/news/AREVA-Australia-a-New-Partnership-Between-AREVA-and-Mitsubishi-Corporation-in-Mining-Exploration-14328584/
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 