University of Adelaide pushing the false idea that nuclear power is “zero carbon”
The University of Adelaide has set up The Environment Institute – claiming to tackle some of the most serious environmental challenges facing Australia and the world. What a pity that this wonderful sounding think tank or whatever it is is looking very much like nothing more than a front group for the nuclear lobby.
Led by Barry Brook and Ben Heard, this pro nuke spruikfest is now claiming that nuclear power is “a zero-carbon generation source”
Well – it’s just not true. )and the diagram below doesn’t even include the carbon emissions from digging the burial places for nuclear wastes and dead reactors)
They make the statement on their Facebook page. Brett Stokes challenges them with this comment:
Warning to The University of Adelaide.
“nuclear power, a zero-carbon generation source”
This is a false statement.
The making of this statement amounts to fraud with malfeasance.
Please qualify or retract this statement immediately.
=============================
So it has now been 29 days that this false statement has been published here.
So it has now been 29 days that I have been requesting immediate retraction or qualification of this false statement.
This is unacceptable behaviour by The University of Adelaide.
The persons responsible need to be identified and dismissed.
The false statement needs to be retracted and repudiated by The University of Adelaide.
This fraud must stop. Corrective action is needed now.
I now warn The University of Adelaide.
Former Prime Minister Howard aimed to take away any real land rights from Aboriginal people
In his endeavours to protect country for non-Aboriginal people, John
Howard was unclear and ambiguous as to “which land areas should be
classified in the ‘national interest’, but (this) was done with a
clear desire to take away any rights for Aboriginal people”
Australia: Howard Knew Aborigines Had A Sovereignty Based Land Right
Indigenous Peoples Issues and Resources, 2012, 3 Jan 2013,
A prominent Aboriginal sovereignty campaigner argues that former prime
minister, John Howard, amended the Native Title Act in 1998 because he
was fully aware of the inherent power of Aboriginal peoples based on
their continuing sovereignty.
“With the passage of time it is now painfully obvious that former
Prime Minister, John Howard, fully realised that Aboriginal peoples
maintain a very powerful position in Australia,” Michael Anderson
writes. Continue reading
The grim costs of delaying action on climate change
Delay climate action – and pay: report, SMH, January 3, 2013 An
agreement by almost 200 nations to curb rising greenhouse gas
emissions from 2020 will be far more costly than taking action now to
tackle climate change, according to research published on Wednesday.
Quick measures to cut emissions would give a far better chance of
keeping global warming within an agreed U.N. limit of 2 degrees
Celsius (3.6F) above pre-industrial times to avert more floods,
heatwaves, droughts and rising sea levels.
“If you delay action by 10, 20 years you significantly reduce the
chances of meeting the 2 degree target,” said Keywan Riahi, one of the
authors of the report at the International Institute for Applied
Systems Analysis in Austria. Continue reading
An examination of USA’s Nuclear “Waste Confidence Rule”
The only reasonable and logical solution is to stop making more. But this “Waste Confidence” decision isn’t based on reason or logic. It’s based on keeping the reactors OPERATING for the next hundred years.
So why are we burdening our future generations with an ever-growing, unsolvable problem?
The Eternal Problem – Nuclear Waste Confidence, Counter Punch by RUSSELL D. HOFFMAN, JANUARY 03, 2013“………The pro-nuker preferred to call it “spent fuel confidence.” I, on the other hand, didn’t like the word “confidence” since there’s nothing that warrants ANY confidence in this discussion, whatsoever. ”Waste Failure” would be more appropriate. Or “Waste Impasse” might be even better. Or better yet: ”The Intractable, Unsolvable, Filthy, Disgusting Mess We’ve Made” but I guess that would just be too accurate to a group where a “rapid disassembly” is the term for a core explosion that spews radioactive crud for miles around.
But one way or another, it’s obvious that “Waste Confidence” is a misnomer from start to finish…… …… Nuclear waste storage is a huge unsolved problem in every nuclear country. Continue reading
Most people unaware of radiation hazard from CT scans
Many people unaware of radiation risk from CT scans By Genevra Pittman | Reuters, 4 Jan 13, NEW YORK–One-third of people getting a CT scan didn’t know the test exposed their body to radiation, in a new study from a single U.S. medical center.
Researchers found the majority of patients also underestimated the amount of radiation delivered by a CT scan, and just one in 20 believed the scan would increase their chance of ever getting cancer.
The study’s lead researcher, , Janet Busey, , said doctors need to do a better job of talking to patients about the risks and benefits of the tests, including about radiation exposure.
One challenge is that there is still debate within the medical community about just how much long term cancer risk the scans carry, she said. That risk also depends on how many scans a patient gets and which organs are exposed to radiation.
“There’s no doubt, CT saves lives,” Busey, from the University of Washington in Seattle, told Reuters Health. And their benefits usually outweigh their risks, she added.
Still, even if the radiation risk is small, patients “definitely should be aware of it.”
CT scans are high-powered X-rays that provide clearer images but expose patients to between ten and 100 times more radiation than a normal head or chest X-ray, for example…. http://news.yahoo.com/many-people-unaware-radiation-risk-ct-scans-213236978.html
Dementia due to ionising radiation – another danger for astronoauts
Space travel may accelerate Alzheimer’s
http://www.skynews.com.au/health/article.aspx?id=831812 January 1,
2013 Long journeys into deep space, including a mission to Mars, may
expose astronauts to levels of cosmic radiation harmful to the brain
and accelerate Alzheimer’s disease, US research has shown. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 