Antinuclear

This week in Australian nuclear news

Accentuating the Positives  – Right now, Brisbane is hosting Clean Energy Week.  In Fremantle, the clean energy people had  a jolly breakfast, celebrating:  they didn’t bother to protest, while while nuclear lobby held another flop of a conference.  A new Australian invention Flat Pack Solar Buildings . Australia’s Dr Helen Caldicott was a hit, lecturing in Taiwan.

The Negatives:  War Rehearsals – USA-Australia Talisman Sabre war games going on in Shoalhaven N – thousands of troops and military hard-ware – wreckinhg that beautiful environment. You wouldn’t get to hear of it except that two American soldiers were injured – Oh and yes, they dropped two unexploded bombs on the  Great Barrier Reef. Courageously, Peace Convergence protestors Graeme Dunstan and Greg Rolles have broken into the venue

Australian media With the uranium spot price, and the term contract price, very slow, and going lower fast, you might think that the uranium/nuclear story in Australia is dead in the water.

Wrong. First of all the mainstream media continues to give glowing coverage to the fine market situation for uranium – that’s a pack of lies.  Fairfax media did not see fit to publish an article correcting the sloppily written nuclear advertorial, by John Watson, that they published last week.   The ABC is covering a pro nuclear conference in Sydney this week. We wait to see what the ABC does with this.

I am pessimistic about Australian news media.  They have  pretty much sacked all their science journalists. Science writing will now be done by journalists who will call upon the Australian Science Media Centre to provide information.  So far this Centre has toed the corporate/government line on Fukushima –  that’s the line –  “it’s not so bad really: they’re getting it under control” etc. They’re likely to toe the corporate line on matters nuclear – but the generalist journalists might not be able to pick up on the bias.

Australia’s Paladin Energy uranium miner continues to be in trouble in Malawi, getting a  bad report from the UN Human Rights Commission, for its operations there.

USA’s secret military operations in Pine Gap, and influence in dismissing Prime minister Gough Whitlam – after over 30 years, whistleblower Christopher Boyce speaks out.

July 24, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews