Julia Gillard should think again, about selling uranium to India
India is pursuing an unreliable technology. The DAE’s plans involve constructing hundreds of fast breeder reactors.
there are reasons to be worried about the risk of severe accidents at Indian nuclear facilities.
there are ongoing protests at all new sites selected for nuclear plants. The protracted and intense protests over commissioning of the Koodankulam reactors in Tamil Nadu is just the most spectacular of these.
India’s nuclear power failures warn against uranium exports, The Conversation, MV Ramana 16 October 2012, Selling Australian uranium is reportedly at the top of Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s priorities as she travels to India this week. Before she decides to do that, there are three facts she may want to consider.
First, despite all the hoopla about India’s nuclear ambitions, nuclear energy is unlikely to contribute more than a few percent of the country’s electricity capacity in the next several decades, if ever. Continue reading
An Australian visitor to Japan reflects on the impact of Fukushima
If nuclear power was safe, practical and cost-effective, I’d be all for it.
the downsides of the nuclear power industry are both numerous and severe.
It amazes me that we continue to participate in such a dangerous industry, even if only as suppliers of the raw materials.
Japan highlights risks of nuclear energy NT News, KRIS KEOGH | October 16th, 2012 I RECENTLY got back from visiting Japan. It’s an exciting place to be; a land of contrasts, both hi-tech and traditional all at once….. Wherever I travelled, the resulting nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant was something still very clearly in the mind of nearly everyone I met. Continue reading
India’s negligent nuclear safety record
India questions its own nuclear industry, SMH, October 15, 2012 “…….India’s comptroller and auditor-general, Vinod Rai, has found the body that oversees nuclear safety in India, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, is ineffective, mired in bureaucracy and negligent in monitoring safety.
Sixty per cent of regulatory inspection reports for operating nuclear power plants in India were either delayed – up to 153 days late – or not undertaken at all. For power plants under construction, the number of regulatory inspections delayed or not done was 66 per cent.
Smaller radiation facilities operate throughout the country with no licences and no oversight at all. In many cases there are no rules for nuclear operators to follow. Despite an order from the government in 1983, the board has still not developed an overarching nuclear and radiation safety policy for India.
And even when laws do exist and are broken, the existing legislation gives the board almost no punitive power. In some cases, the fines for nuclear safety transgressions are as low as 500 rupees – less than $10.
India has had nuclear scares already. In 2010, a gamma irradiation machine containing Cobalt-60 was sold off by Delhi University for scrap. Pulled apart, it unleashed a massive dose of radiation, killing one person and putting another six in hospital.
The Indian government has legislation before parliament to replace the board with a new body, the proposed Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority.
But Prabir Purkayastha from the Delhi Science Forum said: ”It is a very weak piece of legislation, that makes the regulator subservient to a group of ministers. It is a weakening of the current regulation.” http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/india-questions-its-own-nuclear-industry-20121014-27l0a.html#ixzz29Zt1gRpm
Extreme birth defects in Iraq due to depleted uranium
Depleted Uranium to Blame for Iraqi Birth Defects? http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&entry_id=5425 AMERICA – THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY , OCTOBER 16, 2012 by KEVIN CLARKE The U.S. military has consistently downplayed or denied possible adverse health and environmental effects because of its use of depleted uranium ordnance , yet birth defects and spikes in sometimes odd health problems seem to follow closely behind in communities unfortunate enough to have been the site of the heavy use of such munitions. U.S. and NATO forces used D.U. penetrator munitions in the 1991 Gulf War, the Bosnia war, Serbia and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Now in Fallujah, Iraq, the site of two rounds of intense fighting and bombing raids by U.S. forces in March and April 2004, a University of Michigan study (<-warning: not for faint of heart) funded by the World Health Organization has uncovered “staggering” increases in sometimes bizarre birth defects—babies born with brains and other organs outside their bodies—according to a report in Britain’s Independent . The study found that in Fallujah, more than half of all babies born between 2007 and 2010 suffered some kind of birth defect. “Before the siege, this figure was more like one in 10.” Continue reading
Scientists must not downplay the seriousness of Antarctic ice melting
parts of the Antarctic ice caps were melting at unprecedented rates.
“The role of scientists is not to be alarmists, and not to downplay the data, but simply to report it.”
Antarctic climate facing ‘rapid’ changes: chief scientist, The Age, October 16, 2012 -Australia’s chief Antarctic scientist says claims by climate experts about environmental changes in the southern continent are not alarmist.
The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) told a Senate estimates hearing today “rapid changes” taking place across the icy land mass would have significant impact on global climate.
Changes in ocean flows and shifts in Antarctic ice cap levels were occurring at rates faster than at any other time in history, chief scientist Nick Gales said. “That’s the part that is the most dramatic about the information we’re receiving,” he told the hearing. Continue reading
Legal challenge by Pacific Nations against sale of uranium to India?
Pacific nations could challenge Australian uranium sales to India, ABC News, Stephanie March, Oct 12, 2012 Until last year, the Labor government in Australia had refused to sell uranium to India because it isn’t a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and is a nuclear weapons producing state A move by Australia to allow the export of uranium to India could face a legal challenge from Pacific nations…….International law expert Professor Donald Rothwell has told Radio Australia’s Asia Pacific program that could lead to a challenge under a 1985 treaty which governs nuclear testing and the use of nuclear materials from the region.
“Australia therefore has an obligation to ensure that its sale of uranium mined from within Australia is dealt with consistently with the provisions of the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty,” he said.
“To that end, there’s very much an expectation that any sale would be only to countries that meet the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty obligation and that immediately raises an issue, because India, of course, is not a party to the NPT.”
The South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, or the Treaty of Rarotonga was signed in 1985 by 12 nations in the Pacific and Australia.
Any objection under the Treaty of Rarotonga would have to be brought by one of the Pacific Nations that are signatories to the agreement.
Mr Rothwell says due to its history, the South Pacific does have a very strong record of being anti-nuclear
“The region fiercely contested France’s nuclear weapons testing program in the 1970s and as recently as the 1990s,” he said.
“So any concerns that might be raised by Australia’s conduct could well come from within the region and given the history of the region, it shouldn’t be completely ruled out…… http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-12/an-australian-uranium-sales-to-india-could-face-pacific-challen/4311024?section=business
Canada rejects radioactive kitchenware from India
Radioactive kitchenware shipment ordered out of Canada -Global problem? CBC – , 13 Oct, 2012 The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) ordered that a small shipment of radioactive kitchenware, that found its way to the Port of Montreal, be taken out of the country.
The CNSC issued an order on Oct. 5, demanding that the contaminated container be sent back to India by Hanjin Shipping Canada — the company that delivered the cargo to Montreal’s port last May.
The Canadian Borders Services Agency (CBSA) found the merchandise during routine scans performed on incoming cargo.
“There could have been a source that is used in medical devices,” he said. “[Devices] to treat cancer, are very high-level sources and thereplacement and disposal…is extremely regulated and it is possible that the source was inadvertently misplaced or misdisposed and found its way in the recycling industry, was melted with other metals and the metal was used to produce all sorts of manufactured goods.”
According to the commission, the CBSA has intercepted about 15 shipments with radiation levels, above the permitted threshold since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant meltdown in Japan. Most of these cargos were sent to Vancouver.
“We had a few cases like that but the Japanese authorities dealt with it and dealt with the problem,” he said.
Hanjin Shipping Canada has until 12 p.m. on Oct. 26 to remove the container from Canada.
Gordon Edwards, spokesman for the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility said “I think it shows that our regulator is really lax, that they don’t act very quickly and also act with a lot of due deliberation because simply sending it back to where it came from, there’s no guarantee that it won’t be sent to some other consumer somewhere else in the world.”
Prominent Indian citizens appeal to Australian Prime Minister against selling uranium to India
CNDP Appeals To The Australian PM Against Uranium Export to India http://www.countercurrents.org/cndp161012.htm 16 October, 2012
Dear Prime Minister,
We urge you to reconsider the decision to supply uranium to India. This uranium will fuel the massive expansion of nuclear power programme that the Indian government is undemocratically pushing on poor people of India, criminally overlooking the concerns of safety, environment, livelihoods of surrounding populations and the financial implications.
Supplying uranium to India also amounts to legitimizing its status as a nuclear weapons state. Continue reading
In 1950s Australian government set scene for USA missile bases here
Australia’s untold reaction to the Cuban Missile Crisis, The Conversation, Laura Stanley, 16 Oct 12 Fifty years ago, the United States and the Soviet Union stood on the brink of nuclear war over Soviet missiles in Cuba. Since then, the Cuban Missile Crisis has been recognised as one of the most definitive moments of the 20th Century.
In the past twenty years, declassified government records have revealed indeed how close the parties came to nuclear conflict. More records continue to be declassified…….. What has not been greatly explored to this point, however, is Australia’s reaction to this crisis. Continue reading
Australia’s first utility scale solar energy plant – but we lag behind USA
Australia lags US by four years in solar roll-out, First Solar says. SMH, October 16, 2012 First Solar, the biggest maker of thin-film panels, said Australia is four years behind the US in building large solar farms and expects its
project with General Electric to help spur the industry’s expansion.
First Solar is supplying panels to the 10-megawatt Greenough River project in Western Australia, the nation’s first large-scale solar plant. The GE- and Verve Energy-owned solar project, which started this month, may increase capacity to as much as 40 megawatts, the companies said Oct. 10.
“This is less about the size and more about the fact that we now have a utility-scale solar project in Australia,” Jack Curtis, First Solar’s Sydney-based vice president of business development, said . “The local industry can now look to this project and see they can be developed, that they can be executed. It will provide local operational data that can be used to bring the rest of the industry along.” ….. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/australia-lags-us-by-four-years-in-solar-rollout-first-solar-says-20121016-27pih.html#ixzz29ZyKNn6y
South Australian Elders set the record straight on land rights National Indigenous Times , Gerry Georgatos, 10 Oct 12, South Australia’s Aboriginal Alliance Coalition Movement (AACM) wants “the Aboriginal record set straight” in reference to the State’s official acknowledgment of the State’s colony, proclamation and the Letters Patent because it goes to the heart of Aboriginal legal
rights….. subscribers only http://www.nit.com.au/news/2021-south-australian-elders-set-the-record-straight-on-land-rights.html
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 