Jim Green exposes the pro nuclear bias of Australia’s “independent think tank” Lowy Insitute
Despite its claim to champion “open debate” and to “encourage the widest range of opinions”, the Lowy Institute refused to publish a critique of Medcalf’s propaganda. Friends of the Earth will soon be writing to the Institute’s sponsors suggesting they redirect funding to organisations upholding reasonable intellectual standards and promoting peace instead of militarism and WMD proliferation. We don’t expect a positive response from at least two of those sponsors − uranium miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.
The Lowy Institute’s dangerous nuclear propaganda, Online Opinion, Jim Green, 28 December 12m “….. The Lowy Institute, a well-resourced think-tank with considerable foreign policy experience, ought to have played a constructive, educational role. Executive Director Michael Fullilove claims the Institute is “independent, non-partisan and evidence-driven; that we encourage the widest range of opinions but are the advocate of none.” Bollocks. The Institute − led by staff member Rory Medcalf − has run a disgraceful propaganda campaign in support of uranium sales to India. Continue reading
Inquiry into Australia’s fig leaf on the nuclear industry – Lucas Heights nuclear reactor
Nuclear facilities under scrutiny St George and Sutherland Shire
Leader, By Murray Trembath Dec. 28, 2012 A PARLIAMENTARY committee
inquiry into ANSTO’s proposed new nuclear medicine and Synroc waste
treatment plants is routine.
The Standing Committee on Public Works has begun a consultation
process into the $168million project, which will include a public
hearing in February.
A spokeswoman for the committee said the inquiry was ‘‘standard
procedure’’, required by law.
She said the committee had to be notified of all government works with
a proposed cost of more than $2million, and hold a public inquiry into
those valued at more than $15million to ensure they were fit for the
purpose and represented value for money. The committee comprises three
members from the Senate and six from the House of Representatives.
Under the proposal, the new nuclear medicine manufacturing plant would
be completed by 2016.
It would produce molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), used for the diagnosis of
heart disease, cancers, and kidney and gastrointestinal tract
disorders…..
For details of the proposal, or to make a submission to the inquiry,
visit: aph.gov.au/pwc.
Submissions close on January 24, and a public hearing is due to be
held in February, with details yet to be
announced.http://www.theleader.com.au/story/1200232/nuclear-facilities-under-scrutiny/?cs=12
Japan sued by US Navy men for deception over Fukushima’s radiation danger
Navy rescue workers sue Japan over Fukushima cover-up — “Irreparable harm to life expectancy” — Gov’t and Tepco conspired http://enenews.com/navy-rescue-workers-sue-japan-over-fukushima-cover-up-irreparable-harm-to-their-life-expectancy-govt-and-tepco-conspired
Title: U.S. Sailors Sue Japan Over Fukushima
Source: Courthouse News Service
Author: By ELIZABETH WARMERDAM
Date: Dec 26, 2012
[…] Eight crew members of the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, whose home port is San Diego, sued the Tokyo Electric Power Co. in Federal Court. […]
Lead plaintiff Lindsay R. Cooper claims Tokyo Electric (TEPCO) intentionally concealed the dangerous levels of radiation in the environment from U.S. Navy rescue crews working off the coast of Japan […]
The complaint states: “Defendant TEPCO and the government of Japan, conspired and acted in concert, among other things, to create an illusory impression that the extent of the radiation that had leaked from the site of the FNPP was at levels that would not pose a threat to the plaintiffs, in order to promote its interests and those of the government of Japan, knowing that the information it disseminated was defective, incomplete and untrue, while omitting to disclose the extraordinary risks posed to the plaintiffs who were carrying out their assigned duties aboard the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan.” […]
And, they say: “Defendants had actual and/or constructive knowledge of the properties of radiation that would ensure that, once released into the environment, radiation would spread further and in concentrations that would cause injury to the plaintiffs.” […]
The sailors say they “face additional and irreparable harm to their life expectancy, which has been shortened and cannot be restored to its prior condition.”
New fossil fuel plant shelved, as Victorians use less electricity, (and more from solar power)
Solar Helps Delay Power Station Construction http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3532 28 Dec 12, In another example of solar power helping to stave off construction of fossil fuel based power plants, Energy Australia has decided to put the brakes on what was originally to be a 1GW gas fired power station. According to The Age, Energy Australia had applied to build the station at Yallourn in Victoria, but then revised plans to construct a smaller peaking power plant – which it has now also shelved due to suppressed wholesale electricity prices and demand for electricity less than expected.
The company says there is no need to build the facility until much later this decade.
The Australian Energy Market Operator stated earlier this year weakening demand was due to a number of factors, including uptake of rooftop solar panel systems and households and businesses stepping up energy efficiency efforts. Continue reading
Background to Australia’s story of uranium sales to India
The Lowy Institute’s dangerous nuclear propaganda, Online Opinion, Jim Green, 28 December 12 The Lowy Institute portrays itself as an independent think-tank. But a close looks at the Institute’s work in relation to uranium sales to India suggests it is a dangerous, reactionary propaganda outfit.
First to briefly recap the debate over uranium sales to India (as discussed in Online Opinion earlier this year). India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea are the four nuclear weapons states outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Five countries are ‘declared’ nuclear weapons states within the NPT − the USA, Russia, UK, France and China. The declared weapons states are obliged under the NPT to seriously pursue nuclear disarmament, though none of them do so and nothing is done to hold them to account.
For many years it was bipartisan policy in Australia to permit uranium sales to NPT states (including declared weapons states) but not to countries outside the NPT. The Howard government reversed that policy in 2007, the Rudd Labor government held firm on the principle of refusing uranium sales to non-NPT states, but Julia Gillard orchestrated a policy reversal at the 2011 ALP National Conference. Bilateral uranium export negotiations are slowly progressing between Australia and India. Continue reading
Australia and China to join in war games
Report: Australia Plans War Games with China, Defense News,
Dec. 27, 201 By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE SYDNEY — Australia and China
are planning joint military exercises that may also include the United
States as the nations work to ensure stability in the region,
Canberra’s defense chief said Dec. 27.
Gen. David Hurley told The Australian newspaper that the war games
were “on the short-term horizon.”
“We’re working our way towards that,” he said.
The planned exercises come as Washington pushes to bolster its
military might in the strategically vital Asia-Pacific amid concerns
about China’s increasing assertiveness and territorial tensions with
its neighbors.
This includes an enhanced U.S. naval presence in the region and the
deployment of up to 2,500 Marines to a barracks near the northern
Australian city of Darwin.
The Marines contingent has irked Beijing, which has described its
presence as proof of a “Cold-War mentality”.
Hurley revealed that Australian and Chinese military leaders had
discussed joint exercises “in principle.”…. “When, where and in what
form would be the next iteration of the discussion.”…. Hurley said
he wanted to see strong military-to-military links throughout the
region, including with Beijing…..
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20121227/DEFREG03/312270002/Report-Australia-Plans-War-Games-China?odyssey=nav%7Chead
Fukushima’s flimsy tanks holding radioactive water
(Subscription Only)Title: Flimsy waste tanks cause new delay in Fukushima plant decontamination
Source: THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Date: December 26, 2012
Tanks designed to hold radioactive filtrate at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant are proving too fragile to be used, and the operator has announced a further delay in starting up machinery that cleans contaminated water.
[… It was] to begin operation at the plant in September.
[…] they are unable to predict when the equipment may finally come online.
The vessels are hoisted and lowered as they are filled and replaced by empty containers. In the event of an accident, they need to be strong enough to withstand a fall without releasing their radioactive contents.
TEPCO confirmed that the vessels could sustain a fall from a height of 6 meters in an upright position. But tests found the tanks were breaking and spilling their contents when dropped on from a height of only 3 meters in an upside-down position. […]
USA: Indian tribe raising objections to nuclear waste site
Tribe to get hearing on Prairie Island nuclear waste concerns
http://www.startribune.com/business/184841971.html?refer=y
by: DAVID SHAFFER , Star Tribune December 26, 2012 –
A federal panel will consider some of the issues raised by the nuclear
plant’s neighbors. Xcel Energy Inc. faces more scrutiny from a federal
panel reviewing the utility’s requested 40-year extension of its
license to store high-level nuclear waste at its power plant in Red
Wing, Minn.
The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, in a ruling released Friday,
said the Indian tribe living next to Xcel’s Prairie Island nuclear
power plant and waste-storage site has raised several contentions
about the license extension that warrant a hearing before the board’s
three-judge panel. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 