The nuclear week that was, in Australia
First of all, thank you to all those supportive people who have sent messages, following my legal threat from Ashurst. I am grateful to investigative journalist Michael West. His knowledge of the law, and his passion for freedom of speech have helped me, and others, to be more secure in stating what we think, and what we believe in. http://www.theage.com.au/business/antinuke-campaigner-braces-for-legal-blast-20121219-2bm74.html
- Politics: Michael Angwin, of the Australian Uranium Association, is leading the charge, lobbying to get rid of Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act .
- Renewable Energy Target (RET) The government is standing firm on the RET, in spite of heavy pressure from the fossil fuel industries.This means that solar and wind energy still have that incentive needed to get these industries going strong in this country. But Bernie Fraser, former Governor of the Reserve Bank, warns that if Tony Abbott wins power, and is not able to get rid of the carbon tax, he will turn his attack on renewable energy, and close down the Climate Change Authority.
- The Coalition is now backing the anti wind energy Bill which Senators Nick Xenophon and John Madigan(DLP) are introducing in Parliament
- Julian Assange will start a Wikileaks political party in 2013, and stand for election to the Australian Senate.
The Lynas rare earths saga in Malaysia continues. There’s been a lot of propaganda saying that rare earths processing produces no radioactive waste Wendy Bacon has discussed the Lynas saga comprehensively http://aliran.com/11005.html
Uranium mining companies were jubilant about the (pro nuclear) result of Japan’s elections, but safety considerations and new regulatory system mean that it will be a long time before Japan restarts its nuclear industry, if it does at all.
Western Australia. Aboriginal groups in Western Australian Nuclear free Alliance were heartened by Minister Tony Burke’s refusal yet to approve Toro’s Wiluna uranium project. Toro’s newly appointed CEO Vanessa Guthrie is left to sort out the mess of Toro’s environmental plans.
Victoria. Two days after the USA’s school shooting massacre, Ballarat High School sent kids off to Beaufort Gun Club for shooting lessons. Great timing, doncha think?
Northern Territory. Mining exploration has dropped considerably, over 2012, with the poor market prospects for uranium.
Ashurst, Lawyers for the global nuclear industry
Ashurst is a big global law firm, which does lots of stuff. However they do specialise in resources and in the nuclear industry
From Ashurst’s website:
- Ashurst: Nuclear – Our Nuclear Group advises on the unique issues that affect stakeholders on nuclear projects and transactions across the globe http://www.ashurst.com/expertise-detail.aspx?id_Content=6596
- Ashurst: 2013 – a year of opportunity All up, 2012 has had its ups and downs in SA but with a Government which is, in its own words, “unashamedly pro-mining” [see: www.pir.sa.gov. au/minerals/press_and_events/ news_releases/marathon_accepts compensation_for_arkaroola], http://www.ashurst.com/publication-list.aspx?id_content=1361&expandExpertiseList=true&id_queryContent=6596
- Nov 15 2012 Australia Grid Australia used Ashurst to shut up an outspoken farmer –http://www.smh.com.au/business/grid-australia-and-the-campaign-to-gag-outspoken-farmer-20121114-29cfc.html#ixzz2F1k8McI7
- Dec 13 2012 Ashurst firm has recently initiated a number of redundancies, with the firm’s energy & resources practice being particularly badly hit.
- 2009 Ashurst advised Babcock International on acquisition of UK Government’s atomic commercial operations
- Ashurst – curiously they describe the parlous state of UK’s nuclear industry – Failed Technologies http://www.ashurst.eu.org/download/grpprj/nuclear.txt
Australia’s year of selling uranium to to dictatorships, crooks, murderers and proliferators
A Year Of Nuclear Bungles, New Matilda, By Jim Green, 19 Dec 12, “……Australia fuels proliferation tensions in North Asia by allowing Japan open ended permission to separate and stockpile weapons-useable plutonium produced from Australian uranium. The issue has resurfaced in recent months thanks to Japan’s nuclear hawks. Former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba put it bluntly: “Having nuclear plants shows to other nations that Japan can make nuclear weapons.”
Last year, US President Obama told a nuclear security summit: “We simply can’t go on accumulating huge amounts of the very material, like separated plutonium, that we are trying to keep away from terrorists.” Yet Australia gives open ended permission to Japan to separate plutonium from spent nuclear fuel and to stockpile it.
India’s comptroller and auditor-general, Vinod Rai, has found that the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board is ineffective and negligent. He found that 60 per cent of regulatory inspections for operating nuclear power reactors were either delayed or not undertaken at all. Smaller radiation facilities operate with no oversight at all. Existing legislation gives the board almost no punitive power.
Meanwhile, the Indian government continues to attack and murder citizens opposing nuclear power plants; to expand its nuclear weapons arsenal and its missile capabilities; and to thumb its nose at the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Nuclear security remains very poor and corruption is widespread.s…….
The first consignment of uranium from Australia has arrived in Russia following the 2010 ratification of a uranium supply agreement. Unfortunately, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards inspections of Australian uranium (and its by-products) will be rare if indeed any inspections take place at all. In 2008, Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Treaties concluded that: “It is essential that actual physical inspection by the IAEA occurs at any Russian sites that may handle [Australian Obligated Nuclear Materials]. Further, the supply of uranium to Russia should be contingent upon such inspections being carried out.” The Gillard Government ignored the recommendation and ratified the agreement. ….
Selling WMD feedstock (in the form of uranium) to dictatorships, crooks, murderers and proliferators is a mug’s game. Just ask BHP Billiton — the world’s largest mining company has disbanded its Uranium Division, cancelled the Olympic Dam mine expansion (citing the depressed uranium price), and sold the Yeelirrie uranium deposit in WA for less than 7 per cent of the nominal value of the uranium resource…….. http://newmatilda.com/2012/12/19/year-nuclear-bungle
Lynas rare earths company DOES have a radioactive waste problem
Lynas was attracted to Malaysia because it was offered tax free status for 10 years.
there was little mention of the waste — or “residue”, as Lynas prefers to call it.
Lynas and its supporters assert its operations are completely safe, but as NM reported on Monday, others — including scientists — are less confident.
The IAEA also recommended that Lynas proceed no further until it had filed comprehensive plans for the permanent disposal of waste, decommissioning of the plant and remediation of the site at the end of its life.
Lynas’ waste plans a toxic pipe dream Aliran, 19 December 2012 Scientists and community leaders are concerned about radioactive waste from Lynas’ Malaysian plant but the company representative who took Wendy Bacon’s questions brushed off the criticism. This is the second of two articles about Lynas by Wendy Bacon. Read the first here.http://aliran.com/11005.html Australian rare earth company Lynas has always known it had a waste problem.
It plans to process rare earth concentrate, imported from its mine at Mount Weld in Western Australia, at its Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (Lamp) in Malaysia. It will not only produce rare earths for export but also a huge amount of waste, including more than a million cubic metres of low level radioactive material.
Lynas was originally going to build its Lamp plant in China, which produces more than 90 per cent of global rare earths. But according to its 2007 annual report, it decided to move to Malaysia, because the Chinese government was increasing its control over production, including applying environmental standards more strictly. Continue reading
Bernie Fraser worried about Liberal Party’s subservience to fossil fuel lobby
In a separate interview with the AFR, Fraser said the Coalition’s vow to repeal the carbon tax “flies in the face of
science”.
Fraser fears Abbott at mercy of fossil fuel lobby on renewables http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/fraser-fears-abbott-at-mercy-of-fossil-fuel-lobby-on-renewables-30017#comment-30119 By Giles Parkinson 20 December 2012 The certainty that the renewable energy industry craves from government policy making may be short-lived – even if Climate Change Minister Greg Combet rubber stamps the Climate Change Authority’s recommendations for a steady course on the renewable energy target.
The CCA chairman, Bernie Fraser, told RenewEconomy in an interview last night that he feared a Coalition government would be swayed by the intense lobbying of the fossil fuel industry – despite the apparent bipartisan support for renewables
“I think that that lobbying that is being made to us, and the views being expressed by the fossil fuel generators and some other groups will be pretty powerfully directed towards the Coalition,” Fraser said. Continue reading
Julian Assange’s Wikileaks Party to enter Australian politics in 2013
Julian Assange confirms bid for Australian Senate, news.com.au 20 Dec 12 PLANS to set up an Australian WikiLeaks party are “significantly advanced”, the whistleblowing organisation’s most visible member says.
Julian Assange has told Australian media he intends to run for a Senate seat in the next election, adding that “a number of very worthy people admired by the Australian public” have expressed interest in standing for a yet-to-be registered Australian WikiLeaks party.
A draft party constitution has been prepared and is being subjected to legal review, Fairfax reports. Party registration with the Australian Electoral Commission would require confirmation of at least 500 members listed on the electoral roll.
Mr Assange told Fairfax he had not yet registered to vote but believes he will be able to register in either NSW or Victoria as an overseas voter.A “strategic decision” would determine which state he would run to represent, he said…..
http://www.news.com.au/national/julian-assange-confirms-bid-for-australian-senate/story-fncynjr2-1226535741180
Uranium lobbyist Michael Angwin attacks Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act
Uranium industry calls for reform, Mining Weekly, By: Esmarie Swanepoel 19th December 2012JOHANNESBURG – The Australian Uranium Association (AUA) has called for a reform of the environmental assessment and approvals process in Australia, after federal Environment Minister Tony Burke delayed a decision on a new uranium mine in Western Australia.
Burke on Tuesday extended his decision deadline until March 31 next year, and requested more information on the project from projectdeveloper Toro Energy.
The AUA’s CEO Michael Angwin said on Wednesday that the best way to reform the environmental assessment and approvals process was to cease the “discriminatory treatment” that the industry received under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act….
Australia’s Liberal Party supporting Senate attack on wind farms
Research program required into potential health effects of wind farms BY: ANNABEL HEPWORTH The Australian December 20, THE federal Coalition yesterday revealed it would back a proposed crackdown on noise from wind farms.
In a surprise development, the opposition’s energy spokesman Ian Macfarlane confirmed broad support for a bill introduced by independent senator Nick Xenophon and Democratic Labor Party counterpart John Madigan that would stop wind farms that exceeded normal background noise by more than 10 decibels. subscribers only
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/research-program-required-into-potential-health-effects-of-wind-farms/story-e6frg6xf-1226540720864
Emergency cleanup in Navajo land – the land of uranium widows
Uranium cleanup on Navajo Nation complicated by scope, history of problem 19, 2012 By MARYANN BATLLE Cronkite News WASHINGTON – For seven weeks this fall, workers and scientists labored from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., six days a week, digging up and hauling off thousands of cubic yards of uranium-tainted soil in Cove, Ariz., and sealing what remained.
The $1.5 million project by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was an emergency measure to 
clean up two former uranium transfer stations because of their proximity to a day school, a house – which sat on top of one station – and a highway on the Navajo Nation. The goal was to remove the immediate threat of uranium contamination, stabilize the soil and keep uranium from becoming windborne.
It’s a stopgap measure on two tainted sites among at least 500 – possibly more than 2,000 – that pose a threat to people on the Navajo reservation that spans parts of Utah, New Mexico and Northern Arizona.
More than six decades after the first mines opened on Navajo lands, it is still unclear how many sites need to be cleaned up, how many people may be suffering from the effects of uranium exposure and what can be done to contain all the hazardous material in these communities – if that’s even possible.
What everyone can agree on is that overcoming the legacy of uranium mining will take a long, long time.
“They say it’s a widow community,” Eugene Esplain said of Cove, where this fall’s cleanup took place. “So many men have died from the impacts of uranium mining.”….. http://cronkitenewsonline.com/2012/12/uranium-cleanup-on-navajo-nation-complicated-by-scope-history-of-problem/
The Year of Nuclear Fools: the nuke industry was its own worst enemy
A Year Of Nuclear Bungles, New Matilda, By Jim Green, 20 Dec 12, The nuclear industry’s biggest enemy in 2012 was itself. Security breaches, leaks, illegal dumping and poor oversight – anything that could go wrong, did. Jim Green rounds up this year’s nuclear hijinks
The nuclear industry inflicts far more damage on itself than its opponents could ever hope to. The mere mention of the easily-preventable Fukushima disaster probably suffices to establish that point, but there are many more examples. To make the task manageable, this snapshot of recent nuclear shenanigans, jiggery-pokery, goings-on and own-goals is restricted to countries that Australia sells uranium to (or plans to sell uranium to). Continue reading
Surprise, surprise, the Murdoch press pushes Climate Change Denialism
Biased newspaper reporting on the carbon pricing mechanism, The Conversation, By David Karoly, Christian Slattery, Kathryn Townley and Kerrie Haria Adams from University of Melbourne.) 18 Dec 12,
The Australian print media have been criticised for inaccurately reporting the carbon pricing mechanism (CPM), and in some instances for actively campaigning against the Gillard government. Research from the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, before the start of the carbon price, reinforced these claims. It found an overwhelmingly negative coverage of the carbon price by News Limited papers in a study of ten national newspapers.
Following the introduction of the carbon price, an undergraduate research team from the University of Melbourne has confirmed these findings in an analysis of The Age, Herald Sun and The Australian.
We found that these newspapers are contributing to an uninformed and inadequate public debate on the carbon price and Australian climate change policy…….
The carbon price follows logic set out in the Stern Review. It advocates for investment in climate change mitigation now, to ensure continued economic prosperity and minimise later economic costs from climate change impacts or delayed climate change mitigation.
Not only was this fundamental argument barely mentioned, discussion of climate science was almost non-existent. This is critical to public perceptions of the carbon price, as without reinforcing the motivations for introducing such a policy, readers are less likely to believe it is necessary….
the overall media coverage does not discuss the need for action on climate change, nor does it balance the short-term economic costs against long-term gains. http://theconversation.edu.au/biased-newspaper-reporting-on-the-carbon-pricing-mechanism-11373
Mixed reactions to Climate Change Authority’s Renewable Energy Target review report
Even given these major issues, Australia’s solar trade bodies have generally welcomed the final report; perhaps taking a “it could have been worse” approach – particularly given the coal lobby reportedly pushed to gut the Renewable Energy Target right up until the last possible moment.
Australia’s Solar Coaster To Continue? http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3521 20 Dec 12, by Energy Matters It appears the spiel ‘the best time to buy solar is always now’ could remain true for prospective home solar power system purchasers in the time ahead.
As mentioned yesterday, the Climate Change Authority’s Renewable Energy Target review report contained recommendations for commercial and residential solar that if implemented will ensure a degree of uncertainty for the sector for years to come.
A gradual phase-out of the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) and also what the CCA refers to as an “emergency brake”; whereby the level of subsidisation can be further reduced, have been suggested.
The suggested phase-out aspect wouldn’t kick in until 2017, but if Australia’s solar subsidy history has demonstrated anything, it’s that when tools are in place to remove support for small-scale solar, they are used – and often prematurely. Continue reading
Last ditch effort by coal industry to destroy Australia’s Renewable Energy Target (RET)
“Without the RET you wouldn’t really see wind development …or any renewable energy being developed,”
Coal industry in last-minute push against renewable energy goal, SMH December 19, 2012 Peter Hannam
Carbon economy editor Coal miners have launched a last-minute lobbying bid against the extension of the Renewable Energy Target (RET), releasing a study challenging the policy’s effectiveness.
The independent Climate Change Authority is due to reveal its final recommendations on the RET review at 10am AEDT this morning, in a decision likely to be closely watched by the electricity industry.
The authority’s draft report in October backed the retention of the current settings even though renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power are on course to exceed the goal of 20 per cent of total generation by 2020, arguing changes to the policy would create uncertainty for investors in the sector…… The ACA earlier called for the RET to be removed, with existing rights to be “grandfathered” or compensated, in its submission to the CCA’s review.
The coal industry’s complaint echoes calls from large fossil-fuel based electricity generators, many of which are struggling to remain profitable as weaker-than-expected power demand has sent wholesale electricity prices tumbling.
RET backing The renewable energy industry, meanwhile, remains confident the CCA will recommend leaving the key goals of the RET unchanged, particularly the target of sourcing 41,000 gigawatt hours a year by 2020 from large-scale sources.
“Given what CCA said in the draft report, we’re not expecting significant changes” to the large-scale renewable energy target, said Russell Marsh, policy director of the Clean Energy Council. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 