The latest Australian nuclear news
It seems as if nothing is happening in the nuclear and uranium scene in Australia. However, a renewed propaganda effort is going on – in both departments. Articles in national and South Australian media have promoted an old, (but never discarded) idea of the Liberal Party, to make Australia the world’s nuclear waste dump. The uranium industry has been strongly promoted by Australia’s new Minister for (Nuclear) Energy, Gary Gray, and of course, by the Australian Uranium Association and their faithful business journalists.
The nuclear waste dump idea, (to enrich a few entrepreneurs like John White of Australian Nuclear Fuels Leasing) comes as the world’s nuclear waste crisis becomes more apparent, and as the Australian nuclear lobby is tantalised at the thought of a Liberal Coalition win on September 14.
The uranium promotion idea looks more like a desperate effort by the uranium industry to jolly itself up, as uranium prices drop below US$40/lb with no prospect of coming up again. This puts the lid on the Western Australian Wiluna uranium mine project – unless there’s a miracle recovery in the market.
Mary Kathleen uranium mine is still a toxically radioactive place, decades after closure. But that hasn’t stopped the Queensland government from deciding to assess opportunities for mining at the site, which contains millions of tonnes of ore tailings. The Mary Kathleen mine is under a Restricted Area 232 status, meaning exploration and production are both prohibited.
Wind energy. Front groups for the fossil fuel and nuclear industry will put on an anti wind energy rally, at Federal Parliament on June 18. Prominent anti climate change sceptics will be there, representing front groups Australian Environment Foundation, Lavoisier Foundation, Galileo Movement, Waubra Foundation – and blessed by the right wing Institute of Public Affarirs (IPA) . The Liberal Colaition if elected, will impose new noise monitoring rules on wind farms – a complicated and tedious requirement that is likely to cripple the industry.
Meanwhile King Island continues to agonise over whether or not to allow a feasibility study for a wind farm there. It seems that at least one golf club is opposed – it is possible that fewer golf tourists would come to King Island if there were a wind farm there. In good old Aussie tradition, sport is having a higher priority than clean energy?
Renewable energy powers on. Regional Australia’s Renewables (IRAR) programs- will halve electricity costs in remote areas where settlements and mining projects have no connection to the grid, and which have relied almost entirely on fossil fuels to date. Households in South Australia are increasingly turning to solar power to alleviate or even obliterate energy bill woes.
Former Liberal leader John Hewson praised the (Greens) plan to push Australia’s $80+ billion Future Fund to cut global warming risk in their portfolio. Former leader Malcolm Fraser tweeted his Twitter followers to vote Green, after a discussion on global warming
Mary Kathleen uranium mine – still toxic decades after closure
Remediation efforts continue at abandoned uranium mine Australian Mining, 11 June, 2013 Vicky Validakis Queensland officials inspected the abandoned uranium mine at Mary Kathleen last week, as part of an ongoing assessment of the site’s remediation status.
Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Andrew Cripps announced last year, the government would assess opportunities for mining at the site, which contains millions of tonnes of ore tailings.……. A spokesperson for the minister said the inspection was not connected to an assessment of opportunities for future mining at the site.
The Mary Kathleen mine is under a Restricted Area 232 status, meaning exploration and production are both prohibited.
“Remediation and environmental management issues are critical factors for the Queensland Government to address prior to any future consideration about whether or not to release land from Restricted Area 232,” Cripps said.
Cripps said Abandoned Mine Lands program officers from the Department and the Geological Survey of Queensland would undertake field assessments later this month, including drilling at the tailings dam.
“This work will enable the Department to gain a better understanding of the current condition of the abandoned mine,” he said.
The Greens North Queensland spokesperson Jenny Stirling, said “toxic” tailings at the mine meant that uranium mining had made the site useless for other purposes.
“They are looking to mine rare earth and, if they had the good sense that God gave them, they would know that they would have to deal with the toxic tailings of uranium mining at Mount Kathleen,” Sterling said.
“It’s just a highly problematic situation.” http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/remediation-efforts-continue-at-uranium-mine
Latest UNSCEAR statement on Fukushima did NOT say radiation was harmless
Fukushima and the nuclear industry’s fight against fear, Independent Australia, 12 June 13, Now that the Fukushima meltdown has faded from public consciousness, says Noel Wauchope, the nuclear industry is trying to persuade the world there is nothing to fear from fission. “…… how come that the World Nuclear Association and the media can be so confident that the main task now is to overturn that unwarranted fear?
They are relying largely on phone interviews with some members of The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) ― notably UNSCEAR chair, Wolfgang Weiss. On 31 May, UNSCEAR released ‒ not an extensive official report ‒ but a brief preliminary report on Fukushima radiation and health ― the full report will be presented at the United Nations in October this year. The world press has been quoting this statement from this unofficial UNSCEAR press release
‘It is unlikely to be able to attribute any health effects in the future among the general public and the vast majority of workers.’ But the World Health Organisation’s comprehensive report (February 2013) concluded that an increased rate of breast cancer is to be expected in future years amongst women who were children when exposed to low level Fukushima radiation. It also predicted increased leukaemia amongst Fukushima clean-up workers.
If you dissect the UNSCEAR statement, you can see how very carefully it is worded so that it does not contradict the World Health Organisation. Continue reading
Australian uranium industry should be aghast at ever lower uranium prices
Sluggish uranium prices put pressure on industry http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/sluggish-uranium-prices-put-pressure-on-industry 11 June, 2013 Vicky Validakis With uranium prices hitting a four-year low last week, analysts predict a resurgence of the rare earth is not expected for 12 months.
The price of uranium fell below $40 a pound for the first time since 2009, to $39.87 a pound. Despite industry claims the demand for uranium would increase, prices have not pushed through the $45/lb mark since December last year. The West Australian reported low uranium prices is causing concern on local uranium juniors such as Toro Energy who are in the bid for partners to help fund the $269 million Wiluna project.
Toro have previously said if financing arrangements went to plan the mine would be in production by the end of 2015.
The $269 million Wiluna mine, is set to become Western Australia’s first uranium mine. With world energy demands increasing, last week Resource Minister Gary said the uranium industry in Australia needs to ramp up. Speaking to the Australian Uranium Association(AUA),Gray said with the demand for uranium set to rise, Australia was in the perfect position to supply them more of the precious metal.
However, some analysts now predict a turn-around in price is still twelve months away, leaving many asking if new projects will get off the ground.
A report commissioned by Greens senator Scott Ludlam into the economic viability of Toro Energy’s proposed Wiluna project, claimed the company may struggle to make the project viable. “The Wiluna project sits very high on the cost curve of global uranium projects,” the report’s author said.
“It’s difficult to see why any of the major uranium players would invest in this project when there’s a lot of cheaper projects out there.”
In 2012, production from Australian mines rose more than 17 per cent to top 8000 tonnes. However, the level is well below the period between 2003 and 2009 when it was 9000 to 11,000 tonnes. http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/sluggish-uranium-prices-put-pressure-on-industry
Drastic drop in spot uranium price
Spot uranium drops below US $40.lb 9 News Finance, 11 June 13 – Uranium spot price falls below US$40/lb – Spot market slow – Activity, but no sales in term markets.. By Andrew Nelson Stubborn uranium sellers have been holding off speculative buyers for a while now, unwilling to drop prices to get deals done. Consumers, on the other hand, have little short term requirement and many are out there cherry picking the market. That has been the way of things for quite a while now, that is until last week.
There were only four sales booked in the spot market last week, which saw 500,000 pounds of U308 change hands. More importantly, sellers finally started to buckle in their resolve and in turn, the spot price fell below what has been key psychological support at US$40/lb. This is the first time we’ve seen sub 40 price since March 2006…..with the price dropping to US$39.75/lb, one wonders whether the drop, at least in psychological terms, will turn into something much greater. US$40 has been tested time and time again, and now it’s finally been broken.
TradeTech reports that current spot demand remains thin and the only way to conclude deals at the moment is to drop prices, grin and bear it. …
no new transactions were concluded, leaving TradeTech’s Mid-Term U3O8 Price Indicator at US$44.00/lb, while the Long-Term Price Indicator was flat at US$57.00/lb.
There are still a number of analysts out there spruiking …. http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newscolumnists/other/8672944/spot-uranium-drops-below-us40-lb
Fukushima cleanup struggles, will take 50 years
Stricken nuke plant struggles on, Yahoo 7 Finance, AAP Jun 10, 2013 “……Experts, including even the most optimistic government officials, say decommissioning Fukushima Dai-ichi will take nearly a half-century.
TEPCO acknowledges that the exact path to decommissioning remains unclear because an assessment of the state of the melted reactor cores has not yet been carried out. Since being brought under control following the disaster, the plant has suffered one setback after another.
A dead rat caused a power blackout, including temporarily shutting down reactor-cooling systems, and leaks required tons of water to be piped into hundreds of tanks and underground storage areas.
The process of permanently shutting down the plant hasn’t gotten started yet and the work up to now has been one makeshift measure after another to keep the reactors from deteriorating.
Thousands of spent nuclear fuel rods that are outside the reactors also have to be removed and safely stored. Taking them out is complex because the explosions at the plant have destroyed parts of the structure used to move the rods under normal conditions. The process of taking out the rods, one by one, hasn’t even begun yet. The spent rods have been used as fuel for the reactors but remain highly radioactive…..” .http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/stricken-nuke-plant-struggles-000105277.html
Akie Abe, wife of Japan’s Prime Minister, is aganst nuclear power
Japan’s first lady says she is ‘anti-nuclear’ Capital News, By AFP | June 11, 2013 TOKYO, – The wife of Japan’s pro-business Prime Minister Shinzo Abe does not like nuclear power and would rather her husband’s government did not try to export it, she said in a speech.
In comments that appear to run against the grain of government thinking, which is increasingly moving towards switching mothballed reactors back on, Akie Abe said Japan should press on instead with renewables. “I feel bad that Japan is trying to sell nuclear power plants overseas because I am anti-nuclear,” she said in a closed-door speech last Thursday at an event organised by a non-profit group that supports farming communities….. despite vocal public opposition, the prime minister has said he wants to restart units when they are proven safe.
And his recently-unveiled bid to treble Japan’s infrastructure exports to 30 trillion yen ($300 billion) a year as part of an effort to boost the economy, will almost certainly have to include nuclear reactors……
After talks in Tokyo on Friday, Abe and French President Francois Hollande said they would cooperate in developing nuclear power technologies and promoting the sector’s exports to emerging economies. http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2013/06/japans-first-lady-says-she-is-anti-nuclear/
Fossil fuel and nuclear front groups rally on June 18 against wind energy industry
Windfarm industry fears consequences of Coalition turbine noise policy, Guardian UK Lenore Taylor, political editor, 12 June 13, “……The Coalition is under intense pressure from the anti-windfarm lobby and also from many of its own MPs to take much tougher action, either banning new windfarms entirely or abolishing the renewable energy target that provides the industry with an effective federal subsidy. It is promising a review of the Renewable Energy Target (RET).
The rally in Canberra on 18 June, which will be compered by radio broadcaster Alan Jones — he also hosted the rallies against the carbon tax — has the specific aim of pushing an incoming Coalition government towards a windfarm ban and scaling back of the RET.
It is the latest step in a six-year campaign against the alleged health impacts of windfarms, where concerns held by local residents have been strongly backed, organised and publicised by groups connected with the climate-sceptic Australian Environment Foundation (AEF).
In a 24 May emailed update to members, the AEF executive director, Max Rheese, reports that “over the last few months AEF has had a number of meetings with Coalition MPs at parliament with regard to windfarm health issues and the provision of renewable energy certificates to windfarms” and urges members to go to the anti-wind rally.
“AEF are assisting, but not organising the rally, however AEF members are urged to attend to join people from four states who are committed to attend,” the newsletter says, adding that “growing community and industry disquiet over the costs and effect of the mandated Renewable Energy Target is leading to calls for the revision or abolition of the RET now gaining political traction.”
AEF directors include prominent climate sceptic Bob Carter, lawyer Tom Bostock, who is also a director of the climate sceptic lobbying organisation The Lavoisier Foundation and Prof Peter Ridd, who acts as a scientific adviser to the climate sceptic Galileo Movement, has lobbied the Australian chief scientist for public funding for scientists seeking to make the case against anthropogenic global warming and has calledwarnings about the impact of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef a “swindle”.
The AEF was set up in 2005 by the Institute of Public Affairs, the free-market thinktank, and in turn, has close links with the Waubra Foundation, named after the Victorian town that hosts Australia’s largest windfarm, and which supports local activists, who call themselves “landscape guardians”, and concerned citizen groups in many places where a windfarm is proposed.
The AEF, the Waubra Foundation and the grassroots “guardian” groups have worked together on many anti-windfarm campaigns, effectively applying pressure to the proponents, local members and state governments, while often passing under the radar of the national media…….http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/11/windfarm-industry-coalition-turbine-noise
Can’t have cheap clean wind energy causing fewer people to play golf, can we now?
King Island’s golf, turbine debate KING Island’s TasWind project is becoming a debate about golfing tourism versus wind energy, Weekly Times Now, Shannon Twomey | June 11, 2013 But the Cape Wickham project, one of the golf courses proposed for the island, is sick of being associated with the anti-wind farm movement.
The TasWind project is a 200-megawatt wind farm proposed for King Island by the state-owned company Hydro Tasmania, with voting on the project’s feasibility study currently taking place. There are two new, world-class golf course projects occurring on the island – Ocean Dunes and the Cape Wickham project.
Oceans Dunes director Graeme Grant stated his concerns over the TasWind project in April and Cape Wickham were labelled as having the same view point. Darius Oliver, a consultant for the Cape Wickham golf project has said that the company are frustrated by the fact that somehow the Cape Wickham project is associated with the anti-wind farm movement……
Mr Oliver’s frustration comes as the results from an independent study conducted by CH2M HILL, comparing growth forecasts for King Island both with and without the wind farm, were released.
The study factored in likely tourist numbers with the development of the two new golf courses and found significant growth would occur under both scenarios. However that growth was likely to be $36 million less with the wind farm in the period until 2044.
Friends of the Earth and Yes 2 Renewables spokesperson Leigh Ewbank said it was important to set the record straight, that only one of the golf courses is opposed to the TasWind project. http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2013/06/11/573268_latest-news.html
San Onofre nuclear plant – 9 years to build- 50 years (and $billions) to demolish
A long cooling-off period for San Onofre nuclear plant http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jun/08/local/la-me-san-onofre-nuclear-20130609 Tearing down San Onofre’s two nuclear reactors will be a technically complex job completed over decades. It’s likely Southern California Edison will first mothball the plant.|By Ralph Vartabedian, Los Angeles Times
Southern California Edison built San Onofre’s two nuclear reactors in about nine years, but tearing them down will be a technically complex, multibillion-dollar job completed over decades. It is likely that Edison first will mothball the plant, which under federal rules could keep its imposing imprint on the Orange-San Diego County coastline for another half-century.
When the plant does come down, it will be a massive job.
Tons of highly radioactive fuel now stored in pools will have to cool before the rods can be moved to concrete pads outdoors. Giant pipes that extend more than a mile into the ocean will have to come out. Pieces of the reactors will have to be cut with special saws and torches that reach 20 feet into the vessels’ cooling water. Continue reading
Caution needed in CT scans for children
more research is urgently needed to determine when CT in pediatrics can lead to improved health outcomes and whether other imaging methods (or no imaging) could be as effective. For now, it is important for both the referring physician and the radiologist to consider whether the risks of CT exceed the diagnostic value it provides over other tests, based on current evidence,”
Study Examines Cancer Risk from Pediatric Radiation Exposure from CT Scans http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130610192536.htm June 10, 2013 — According to a study of seven U.S. healthcare systems, the use of computed tomography (CT) scans of the head, abdomen/pelvis, chest or spine, in children younger than age 14 more than doubled from 1996 to 2005, and this associated radiation is projected to potentially increase the risk of radiation-induced cancer in these children in the future, according to a study published Online First byJAMA Pediatrics. The use of CT in pediatrics has increased over the last two decades. The ionizing radiation doses delivered by the tests are higher than convention radiography and are in ranges that have been linked to an increased risk of cancer. Children are more sensitive to radiation-induced carcinogenesis and have many years of life left for cancer to develop, the authors write in the study background.
“The increased use of CT in pediatrics, combined with the wide variability in radiation doses, has resulted in many children receiving a high-dose examination,” the study notes. Continue reading
Sydney on the road to 100% renewable energy
A Renewables Powered Sydney Achievable http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3789 13 June 13, 100% of central Sydney’s power, heating and cooling requirements could be supplied by renewable sources according to a draft master plan prepared by the City of Sydney. The blueprint details how the city’s energy needs could be met by 30% renewable electricity sources and the remainder from gases derived from waste.
“This plan provides an invaluable road map detailing where all the renewable resources exist, how much it costs to harness them and how we can use them to help deliver a 100 per cent clean renewable energy system for Sydney,” said Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
The City’s research identified ample waste resources within a 250 km radius of Sydney CBD to produce enough gas to meet the targets set out in the Master Plan. Clean Energy Council Chief Executive David Green applauded the City’s initiative and progress to date.
“The City of Sydney has been a pioneer in championing the increased use of cleaner forms of energy such as solar, wind, bioenergy and trigeneration – a very efficient technology that produces power, heating and cooling from the one power source.”
“Local councils are the best equipped of all levels of government to deliver services that directly reflect the wants and needs of the population. Councils such as the City of Sydney are helping harness the enthusiasm of their residents to do things differently,” he said.
Also announced yesterday was an update of an energy efficiency drive by theCity of Sydney; which has seen savings of as much as 50 per cent from power and water efficiency retrofits in City buildings. “These figures show what a major difference can be made by retrofitting buildings. As cities are the greatest emitters of greenhouse gas, we need to make our buildings more energy efficient,” the Lord Mayor said.
The City has set a target to reduce its own energy and water consumption overall by 20 per cent compared to 2006 levels.
UNSCEAR and WHO constrained by their subservience to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Fukushima and the nuclear industry’s fight against fear, Noel Wauchope, Independent Australia, 12 June 13,“……..We should also bear in mind the relationship between both the World Health Organisation and UNSCEAR to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The World Health Organisation is bound by an agreement with the IAEA. A clause of this agreement says the WHO effectively grants the right of prior approval over any research it might undertake or report on to the IAEA
UNSCEAR is also subservient to the IAEA. Every UNSCEAR report must be specifically approved by the IAEA. UNSCEAR’s membership is largely from the nuclear industry. Its chairman, Wolfgang Weiss, is a boss on Euratom which, according to Wikipedia, is
‘… an international organisation founded in 1958 with the purpose of creating a specialist market for nuclear power in Europe, developing nuclear energy and distributing it to its member states while selling the surplus to non-member states.’
The IAEA itself has as its founding brief:
‘The agency shall seek to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity through the world.’……”
Examining rural communities’ attitudes to wind farms, in New South Wales
Wind co-op to study community attitudes http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-11/wind-co-op-to-study-community-attitudes/4745110 Melinda Hayter Jun 11, 2013 The Central New South Wales Renewable Energy Cooperative which wants to buy a turbine at the proposed Flyer’s Creek wind farm near Blayney, says it has a back-up plan if the development is not approved.
The windfarm application was lodged in 2008 and Chairman Pat Bradbery says the group will not be disbanded if the windfarm does not get the go-ahead. “The first is to look at another windfarm that has been approved and preliminary talks have happened about that,” he said.
“But we will then at the same time look at our other goals, which is that we really want to do what we can to increase the amount of renewable energy being used in the central regions of New South Wales.”
He says solar farms and an initiative where businesses can rent solar panels to reduce their energy costs could be considered. “Orange, Bathurst, the Central Tablelands in particular gets a quite a lot of sunlight and so solar energy is very do-able.
“Also this part of the country is high wind territory so it certainly has the natural resources that are required to produce renewable energy.”The co-op has received a $60,000 state government grant to be spent on a study into community attitudes on wind farms, and a series of seminars.
Mr Bradbery says the grant will pay for a study on community attitudes to windfarms being done by the University of Technology Sydney.”They’ve actually almost finished that.
“We’re just waiting on the final report and to run 10 seminars through the region, in which we will present the results of the research and also get feedback about what they think of wind energy.” Seminars will be held in Orange, Bathurst, Lithgow, Cowra, Parkes, Forbes and Mudgee over the next two months.
Liberal Coalition in the grip of front groups opposing wind energy
Windfarm industry fears consequences of Coalition turbine noise policy, Guardian UK Lenore Taylor, political editor, 12 June 13, Firms say they face crippling costs if forced to monitor in ‘real-time’ noise some blame for health problems The Coalition will impose new noise monitoring rules on windfarms that the multibillion dollar industry says will inflict crippling costs, provide no useful information and represent another victory for an anti-noise campaign by concerned citizens backed in part by the climate sceptic lobby.
The yet-to-be-released resources policy is set to require all windfarms to provide “real-time” noise monitoring, with the findings immediately publicly available, so nearby residents concerned about the alleged health impact of windfarms can compare the results with strict state government noise controls. The Coalition resources spokesman, Ian Macfarlane, will also try to introduce the measures before the election with a private members bill.
People living close to windfarms have reported symptoms including headaches, sleeplessness and nausea. Several residents experiencing the symptoms have given evidence at inquiries, but a recent study by Prof Simon Chapman of Sydney University found incidence of the sickness was far more prevalent in communities where anti-windfarm lobbyists had been active and suggested it might be a psychological phenomenon caused by the belief that turbines make people sick. “As anti-windfarm interest groups began to stress health problems in their advocacy, and to target new windfarm developments, complaints grew,” said Chapman. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 