Anti nuclear Sister Megan Rice may face the rest of her life in prison
Rice, an 82-year old vowed sister of the Society of the Holy Child of Jesus, was much calmer than the average person facing up to 16 years in federal prison for pulling off what has been dubbed by some legal experts as the biggest security breach in the history of the nation’s atomic complex.
A decision on both the dismissal and the admission of evidence will be made by Judge Shirley within the next 30 days. A trial in the U.S. District Court is scheduled for late February 2013.
82 year old nun ready to go to prison for nuclear breach (uncludes video) By Jo Piazza / current.com , 22 Nov 12, With her fingers pointed in a steeple supporting her chin, Sister Megan Rice made a small but formidable presence in the East Tennessee District Court this week. Continue reading
Some more good questions in Senate, about Yeelirrie and Angela Pamela uranium projects
(a) what is the current status of this project;
(b) what assessment and approvals are needed to further advance development;
(c) have there been any formal or informal application or discussions between the department and the project proponent around this issue; and
(d) what implications does the recent change of government in the Northern Territory have for this project.
Earthquake zone all too close to proposed Muckaty nuclear dump site
Earthquake map shows Tennant Creek hot spot, ABC News Darwin, By Clare Rawlinson, 20 Nov 12, A new earthquake hazards map released by Geoscience Australia has revealed Tennant Creek is among the locations most likely to be affected by an earthquake.The map shows a hot spot under Tennant Creek, along with Moe in Victoria and York and Kirwan in
Western Australia.
The Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson, says the new information should help communities to plan for the possibility of earthquakes…
.. the information reinforces fears that Muckaty station, around 100km from Tennant Creek, is not a suitable location
for the Federal Government’s proposed nuclear waste site. Seismologists from Geoscience Australia developed the map according to the history of earthquakes in Australia.
They said Australia has experienced 168 earthquakes above magnitude 5.0 since 1950, and last year alone, 82 earthquakes were recorded at a magnitude 3.0 or above.
In 1988, Tennant Creek was struck by a 6.7 magnitude earthquake, causing around $2.5m damage.
AUDIO: weak argument against wind farms – but investment uncertainty is a problem
There’s thousands of megawatts of wind farm projects that are already permitted and just waiting for the market to proceed, and it’s uncertainty that’s being created that’s stopping that happening. So the industry can easily deliver it.
We released a poll earlier this year that showed that about 80 per cent of people, and that was both people in country areas near wind farms and in city areas supported wind farms. While we were there we saw tremendous acceptance of wind farms and the need to build wind farms across Australia
AUDIO Energy Australia says opposition to wind farms could derail renewable energy target http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2012/s3636528.htmTimothy McDonald reported this story , November 20, 2012
Listen to MP3 of this story ELEANOR HALL: One of Australia’s major electricity retailers, Energy
Australia, has told the Climate Change Authority that it has concerns about community opposition to wind power because it might make Australia’s renewable energy target difficult to achieve.
The company says that to meet the target, wind power would have to be dramatically expanded, and that many communities are likely to oppose that.
But others dispute the company’s claims, and say the greatest threat to renewables comes not from community opposition, but from an uncertain investment climate.
Timothy McDonald has our report. Continue reading
Radiation accumulating in Japan’s second largest lake
Japan Times: Time bomb in Tokyo metropolitan area — Experts warn of accumulating Fukushima contamination http://enenews.com/japan-times-time-bomb-tokyo-metropolitan-area-experts-warn-accumulating-fukushima-contamination
Title: The muddy issue of cesium in a lake
Source: Japan Times
Author: By TOMOKO OTAKE
Date: Nov 18, 2012
Lake Kasumigaura in Ibaraki Prefecture is facing an environmental threat that has essentially turned it into a time bomb ticking away 60 km northeast of Tokyo.
Experts warn that Japan’s second largest lake with a surface area of 220 sq. km is quietly but steadfastly accumulating radioactive cesium […]
[It] is not only rich with fishery resources but whose water is used for irrigation, industrial purposes, and even for consumption as drinking water for 960,000 people in Ibaraki Prefecture. Furthermore, no one knows how and by how much the problem has worsened over the months, except for one obvious thing: it hasn’t gone away. […]
[Atsunobu Hamada, former director of the government-affiliated Ibaraki Freshwater Fisheries Research Institute maintains] that the inevitable solution would be to release Kasumigaura’s cesium into the Pacific Ocean via the Tone River […]
“We have a potential disaster waiting to happen,” [Hiroshi Iijima, director general of the nonprofit organization Asaza Fund in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture] said. “This is a lake in the Tokyo metropolitan area and the second-largest lake in Japan, and we are sitting idly by, letting it get contaminated.”
Katsuhiko Sato, official at the Environment Ministry’s water environment section: The current levels of contamination pose no health risk for the area’s residents, because radiation in the lake and the rivers is shielded by water – (Shielding? See above: “Water is used for irrigation, industrial purposes, and even for consumption as drinking water for 960,000 people in Ibaraki Prefecture”)
Asahi Source: Locations in Chiba came under heavy nuclear fallout; Borders Tokyo — Contamination has potential to affect ecosystems
Solar electric system kept power going during Hurricane Sandy
Solar System Backs Up Generator, Keeps Power On in Face of Sandy’s Fury Phoenix Rising: Renewable Energy Good News Comes to Light After Hurricane Sandy By Jennifer Runyon, Managing Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com November 20, 2012
When Sandy slammed into Bayonne, NJ, a one-of-a-kind solar electric system developed byAdvanced Solar Products of Flemington, NJ helped keep the power on at Midtown Community School, where 50 to 75 residents of this historic Hudson Riverfront city spent the night sleeping on cots in the warm, dry and well-lit community room.
Power from the grid was lost to all of Bayonne, including Midtown Community School (left), which also serves as a community emergency evacuation center, at about 9:00 on the evening of October 29. The lights at the school stayed on, however, because of its backup system. The large commercial-scale solar system, at the time part of the largest solar power project on the east coast, was designed and built with assistance from Advanced Solar Products (ASP) and installed in 2004.
The 272-kW PV array was designed to operate in conjunction with an uninterruptible power supply. The one at the school is a diesel generator according to Lyle Rawlings who has served as president of ASP since 1991. The generator is large enough to meet the electricity needs of the school during a power failure, but uses huge quantities of diesel fuel, which must be delivered by truck if supplies can be located at all during and after an emergency such as Sandy.
“Without our solar system on the roof of the school, we would have needed even more fuel, which would have been difficult to find because it was needed for all the repair trucks operating around the state,” said Rawlings.
In order to provide this capability, the school’s solar power system was specially modified with new controls, sensors and innovative software to enable it to automatically detect a power outage. When it does, it immediately shifts its output from circuitry powering the school’s ordinary heating, cooling and lighting systems to the building’s emergency circuits. “Storms such as Sandy will become more frequent if we do not stem greenhouse gas induced climate change,” says Rawlings. “Widespread adoption of solar power is an economically beneficial way to reduce greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.” http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/11/phoenix-rising-renewable-energy-good-news-comes-to-light-after-hurricane-sandy?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-November21-2012
Wind turbines coped very well with Hurricane Sandy
Caribbean and Southeastern Coastal Wind Turbines Fare Well During Sandy Phoenix Rising: Renewable Energy Good News Comes to Light After Hurricane Sandy By Jennifer Runyon, Managing Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com November 20, 2012
Just about a week after Hurricane Sandy,Northern Power Systems announced that 74 of its wind turbines, including three in the Caribbean, had been in the path of Hurricane Sandy and were undamaged by the high winds. Following Irene, a category 3 hurricane that hit in 2011, Sandy was the second powerful Atlantic storm to hit Northern Power turbines within a year and all turbines that were impacted performed safely as expected.
“The losses experienced from Hurricane Sandy are a tragic reminder of how powerful nature can be,” said Troy Patton, Northern Power Systems President and CEO. “Many of our turbines, from the Caribbean to the eastern seaboard of the U.S., were directly in the path of Hurricane Sandy, but none were damaged by the high winds. At Northern Power Systems, we have the experience and commitment to continue to make products that are safe and reliable.”
As a testament to the design of Northern Power’s turbines, as soon as each turbine detected Sandy’s hurricane force winds, it automatically entered safe mode. Once conditions returned to normal, each turbine started generating electricity again, said the company. http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/11/phoenix-rising-renewable-energy-good-news-comes-to-light-after-hurricane-sandy?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-November21-2012
Israel’s bombing of occupied Palestine
“It is very hard to think about Israel calling what it is doing defending itself when it is occupying Palestinian territory. It’s collective punishment.
The answer is simple, and increases the chances of security on all sides: End the occupation.
In Gaza, It’s the Occupation, Stupid, http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/in_gaza_its_the_occupationg_stupid_20121121/? Nov 21, 2012 By Amy Goodman “The Palestinian people want to be free of the occupation,” award-winning Israeli journalist Gideon Levy summed up this week. It is that simple. This latest Israeli military assault on the people of Gaza is not an isolated event, but part of a 45-year occupation of the sliver of land wedged between Israel and the Mediterranean Sea, where 1.6 million people live under a brutal Israeli blockade that denies them most of the basic necessities of life.
Without the unwavering bipartisan support of the United States for the Israeli military, the occupation of Palestine could not exist. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 