This week’s nuclear news in Australia
Federal politics. Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop joins in the growing chorus of Liberal, and some Labor politicians urging for nuclear power for Australia. Much Liberal-Labor wrangling going on about the carbon tax, the the Clean Energy Future legislation, renewable energy promotion and demotion. And I’m sorry, but I haven’t kept up with it too well.
Western Australia. Intrepid Traditional owners and international protesters are already on their way in their 250 Km walk from Yeelirrie to Leonora in protest against uranium mining. In addition to this strong local opposition, there are still many hurdles for the uranium industry to overcome, before Wiluna, or Yeelirrie uranium projects ever become operational. The most significant hurdle is the persistent fall in uranium prices.
Which brings me to the Australian media. The business pages continue to hype the marker forecast for uranium mining. They must be relying on handouts from the uranium lobby, as the reality for the uranium market is quite the opposite – as demonstrated by the spectacular fall in earnings and share prices of leading uranium miner Cameco.
Northern Territory govt is bringing in a levy on mining companies, to raise money to clean up defunct old mines, like the still radioactive Rum Jungle uranium mine. It’s not going to be enough money – but this is still a welcome recognition that uranium mining companies should not get away scotfree, leaving their radioactive mess.
Victorian Health Department finds that wind turbines do not cause illness, but Premier Napthine and the Victorian Liberal govt apparently do not believe this, and are retaining the restrictions on wind farm development. However, a big global fund, Denham Capital Management, is joining with others to create OneWind Australia – investing in wind energy in New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania.
9 May: antidote to uranium lobby’s lies about its high taxes and royalties
AUSTRALIA’S URANIUM EXPORT REVENUE IN PERSPECTIVE YELLOWCAKE FEVER Exposing the Uranium Industry’s Economic Myths , Australian Conservation Foundation “……BHP Billiton enjoys extensive subsidies in the form of fuel-tax credits (formerly known as diesel fuel rebates). Under the mine expansion plan, the company would have enjoyed $350 million in diesel fuel rebates over five years – more than was to be paid to the State in royalties from the existing underground mine over the same period – and an effective subsidy of $85 million annually to 2050.
A 2012 Australia Institute report found that at a time when the mining industry is earning record profits, it received subsidies and concessions worth more than $4 billion per year from the Federal Government alone. The biggest single subsidy comes in the form
of fuel-tax credits, valued at $1.9 billion in 2009/10
Uranium mining companies – and the Australian Uranium Association – fought the proposed Resources Super Profits Tax in 2010. Ross Gittins wrote in The Age in February 2013: “Last year the mining industry accounted for more than a fifth of all the profit made in Australia, even though it had a much smaller share of the economy. This was mainly because the royalties charged by the state governments failed to capture enough of the market value of the minerals the largely foreign-owned miners were being permitted to extract.
When the Rudd government tried to correct this with a resource super profits tax, the industry set out to bring about its electoral defeat.”
Uranium was to be included in the proposed Resource Super Profit Tax, but it was subsequently excluded from the Minerals Resource Rent Tax. A 2011 report by the Australia Institute notes that the average rate of corporate tax paid by the mining industry in 2008/09 was 13.9% – substantially below the theoretical 30%…..”http://www.acfonline.org.au/sites/default/files/resources/ACF_Yellowcake_Fever.pdf
Western Australia: 250 km walk against uranium mining
VIDEO: Indigenous and international protesters have begun a 250 km-long walk to campaign against uranium mining in Western Australia http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1764182/WA-uranium-protesters-to-walk-250km
A month-long anti-uranium walk has begun in the gold fields of Western Australia.
Traditional owners and international protesters are walking 250 kilometres from Yellirrie to Leonora campaigning against uranium mining in the resource-rich state.
But their march comes less than a month after the federal government approved a proposed uranium mine about 100 kilometres away.
Watch the video for the full story
The psychological pain for Fukushima’s children, like the hibakusha
Fukushima activist fights fear and discrimination based on radiation, Japan Times, BY MIZUHO AOKI MAY 9, 2013 Sachiko Banba aches for children in Fukushima Prefecture, who worry whether they can lead a normal life.
“Three frequently asked questions from children are whether they are OK to live in Fukushima after they get married, whether they can give birth to a baby, and whether their baby will be healthy,” said Banba, 52, who runs a cram school in Minamisoma, Fukushima, less than 30 km from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Although tens of thousands of people fled their homes in Fukushima Prefecture following the March 2011 reactor meltdowns, many, including children, still remain. Most heartbreaking to Banba is the discrimination they face based on ignorance, and the likelihood it will follow them the rest of their lives. Continue reading
Julian Assange’s Senate campaign for transparency in poltics
A bid for freedom: Why Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is running for a seat in the Australian Senate, TNT. 7th May 2013 By Carol Driver Honesty. That’s what Julian Assange’s campaign manager claims is driving the WikiLeaks founder’s bid for the Australian Senate in September’s election.
Greg Barnes, ex-head of the Australian Republican Movement, was last week announced as Assange’s main man for the WikiLeaks Party campaign for a seat in Victoria.
According to Barnes, who lives in Hobart, the “sorts of values” Assange brings to the political landscape include “greater transparency in decision making” and “an examination of the way that the state in Australia is encroaching on the rights of individuals”.
He added: “These are the sorts of issues which do concern Australians. And the current political parties in Australia don’t address either of those issues. Julian Assange certainly does. And he’s got runs on the board when it comes to walking the walk and talking the talk through WikiLeaks.“ http://www.tntmagazine.com/news/features/a-bid-for-freedom-why-julian-assange-is-running-for-a-seat-in-the-australian-senate
A terrible silent tragedy is happening in Fukushima! The lone horseman of Itate speaks out!
“I would like to welcome anybody who is concerned to contact me. I request vets and radiation specialists to come and investigate my horses.”
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/rainbowgarnet1/e/6d51ec6ae9dd6c4314d2175bb18e4005
(Abstract)
(Translated by Mia) 7 May 2013
Iitate village (In Fukushima Prefecture) is surrounded by beautiful mountains and forests. And the village and setting still looks beautiful, even after being heavily contaminated by the fallout from the Fukushima disaster.
Mr. Tokuei Hosokawa (60 years old), a third-generation livestock dealer working in the family business, is one of a few who has remained at this village since the disaster.
He has kept quiet about the condition of his horses up until now, but as the condition of his horses has been deteriorating, he has decided to warn others that there is something terribly wrong going on, by making people aware of what has been happening to his horses. Continue reading
Good news from Victoria: a Good Samaritan story about solar energy
Donated Solar Power System Lights Up A Life http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3730 9 May 13, Julie Wood is the good Samaritan neighbour we all wish we had and some of us aspire to be. Julie recently donated an Energy Matters solar power system to her struggling next door neighbour.
A single mum, Julie currently works three jobs so she can put her son through college. A battler herself; Julie reached out to help her neighbour Joe, who is fighting cancer as well as dealing with multiple sclerosis.
Julie decided to go solar to help save for retirement and after much research and word-of-mouth referrals, she chose Energy Matters to install her system – the company had installed other solar arrays in her town of Katamatite in Victoria, situated halfway between Cobram and Shepparton. At the time of her purchase, Energy Matters was running a competition with a $2,000 cash prize that asked the question: ‘What would you do with the savings you will make by installing solar?’. Julie’s entry, which stated she would use the money to help her neighbour by installing solar to slash his electricity bill, was chosen as the winner by Energy Matters.
Julie has known Joe for around 7 years and she’s been aware he’s had mounting bills. For example, recent radiation treatment cost Joe $6,000. With cold weather rapidly approaching, Joe was concerned about heating his house this winter. Previously, Joe would chop wood to heat his home but he now understandably has no energy for the task – and his electricity bills have doubled over the past 5 years.
The 1.75kW system recently installed by Energy Matters will save Joe approximately $500 a year.
Even though the high-efficiency system was valued at more than the $2,000 Julie won, Energy Matters was more than happy to donate the difference so Joe’s life could be made a little more comfortable.
“For people who are hurting due to out of control electricity costs, solar can make a real difference,” says Nick Brass, co-founder of Energy Matters. “These days the biggest interest in solar is coming from Aussie battlers like Julie and Joe who are fed up with paying crazy electricity prices.” Both Julie and Joe will be saving on their bills for many years to come in a way that has also strengthened their friendship. While solar is certainly a good news element of this story; the more important aspect is the kindness and selflessness shown by Julie – something that Energy Matters applauds.
Australian Energy Market Operator’s report shows that 100% renewable energy for Australia is achievable
Decarbonising Australia , May 7th, 2013 John Quiggin I’ve been meaning to post about the Australian Energy Market Operator’s report on the feasibility of a 100 per cent renewable electricity supply system for Australia . In the meantime, Brian Bahnisch at LP has done a detailed summary, so I’ll refer you there and make a few points of my own.
First, this study should kill off, once and for all, claims made here and in many other places (notably, at Brave New Climate) that the intermittency of renewable electricity is an insuperable problem.[1] The AEMO is the body that manages the electricity market on a minute-to-minute basis, so it has the expertise to assess this claim, unlike the many amateurs who have tried their hands. And, since it might have to do the job, it has no reason to understate the difficulties of a renewables-based system.
Second, the estimate cost of $111 to $133 per megawatt-hour represents an increase of $60-80/MwH on current wholesale prices, or 6-8c/Kwh on retail prices. That’s much less than the increase we’ve seen thanks to the mishandling of electricity market reform. If we wound back those costs, we could actually end up with both 100 per cent renewables and cheaper electricity.
Third, although the study envisages a role for electric vehicles, it doesn’t present a full-scale program for decarbonization. But once you have a scalable, fully renewable electricity supply, everything else is comparatively easy.
Finally, if we take Tony Abbott at his word in wanting direct action to deal with climate change, this report provides him with a blueprint. If we want to, we can eliminate the great majority of domestic CO2 emissions simply by mandating renewable technology and electric vehicles. The cost would be substantial in dollar terms ($250 billion for the electricity component). But, over a couple of decades, it would be a barely detectable deduction from growth in national income…… http://johnquiggin.com/2013/05/07/decarbonising-australia/
USA’s hunt for Assange – part of global assault on freedom of speech
Assange, Manning and WikiLeaks, by making public in 2010 half a million internal documents from the Pentagon and the State Department, along with the 2007 video of US helicopter pilots nonchalantly gunning down Iraqi civilians, including children, and two Reuters journalists, effectively exposed the empire’s hypocrisy, indiscriminate violence and its use of torture, lies, bribery and crude tactics of intimidation
US government officials quoted in Australian diplomatic cables obtained by The Saturday Age described the campaign against Assange and WikiLeaks as “unprecedented both in its scale and nature.”
The global assault—which saw Australia threaten to revoke Assange’s passport—is part of the terrifying metamorphosis of the “war on terror” into a wider war on civil liberties. It has become a hunt not for actual terrorists but a hunt for all those with the ability to expose the mounting crimes of the power elite
An Interview With Julian Assange, The Nation, 8 May 13 Corporate totalitarianism is spreading rapidly, and it’s not just Assange or Manning they want. It is all who dare to defy the official narrative. Chris Hedges May 8, 2013 London—A tiny tip of the vast subterranean network of governmental and intelligence agencies from around the world dedicated to destroying WikiLeaks and arresting its founder, Julian Assange, appears outside the red-brick building on Hans Crescent Street that houses the Ecuadorean Embassy. Assange, the world’s best-known political refugee, has been in the embassy since he was offered sanctuary there last June. British police in black Kevlar vests are perched night and day on the steps leading up to the building, and others wait in the lobby directly in front of the embassy door. An officer stands on the corner of a side street facing the iconic department store Harrods, half a block away on Brompton Road. Another officer peers out the window of a neighboring building a few feet from Assange’s bedroom at the back of the embassy. Police sit round-the-clock in a communications van topped with an array of antennas that presumably captures all electronic forms of communication from Assange’s ground-floor suite. Continue reading
83 year old peace activist nun found guilty
their intention was quite the opposite
Nun, 83, and two other activists guilty of intent to injure national security at nuclear complexhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/nun-83-and-two-other-activists-guilty-of-intrusion-at-nuclear-complex/2013/05/08/9ae9d57a-b82f-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html By Dan Zak, : May 8 KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — An 83-year-old Catholic nun and two of her fellow peace activists were found guilty Wednesday of intending to injure the national defense for intruding last July onto the Y-12 National Security Complex, a nuclear weapons production facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
After hearing two days of testimony and arguments, and then deliberating for nearly 2½ hours, the jury also found the defendants guilty of damaging more than $1,000 of government property at the Y-12 site, where they cut through four chain-link fences and spray-painted biblical messages on a building that warehouses an estimated 400 tons of highly enriched uranium, the radioactive material used to fuel a nuclear bomb.
During the trial about 100 spectators filled two courtrooms to support Sister Megan Rice and 64-year-old Vietnam veteran Michael Walli, both of whom live in the District, and Greg Boertje-Obed, 57, a house painter who lives in Duluth, Minn.
As the jury of nine men and three women left the courtroom, supporters sang softly: “Love, love, love, love. People, we are made for love.”
In the pre-dawn hours of July 28, 2012, the three defendants hiked over a wooded ridge and were able to enter the site unimpeded because of a series of deficient security measures, including inoperable security cameras and an alarm system inundated by routine false alarms. The intrusion triggered a two-week shutdown of operations at Y-12 — a Department of Energy site that is overseen by the National Nuclear Security Administration and operated and managed by private contractors — and prompted four congressional hearings on nuclear security and a shake up in the U.S. nuclear security enterprise.
After the verdict the defendants were taken into custody and a hearing was scheduled for Thursday morning to determine the merits of detention. Sentencing will be held at a later date. Together, the two felonies carry a maximum 30 years in prison.
For more on the defendants, the intrusion and the fallout, visit wapo.st/prophets.
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 