Dick Smith got his nuclear energy costs wrong
Nuclear is the most expensive option when you take into account the external factors, followed by coal and coal seam gas. These external factors include devastating effects on health, agricultural output, land degradation, acid rain and the ability for us to feed ourselves, and of course in the case of the fossil fuels, climate change.
Already, in India and China renewables are either the cheapest form of new generation, wind is beating fossil fuels in Brazil and elsewhere. Even in Australia, wind and solar are considered the cheapest option for new capacity.
Dick Smith wrong on energy costs – renewables are cheapest http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/dick-smith-wrong-on-energy-costs-renewables-are-cheapest-34249 By Matthew Wright on 2 August 2013
I am from Energy security think-tank Zero Emissions and I wrote the Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan which is briefly showcased during the film.
The stationary energy plan, the first of its kind to show that Australia could run on 100% renewable energy a combination of wind power, rooftop solar photovoltaic, and solar thermal with storage (featured in the film), along with a huge “mining” effort to find energy efficiency in housing, commerce and industry. It was a landmark that helped caused the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), the organisation that runs Australia’s electricity supply, to write and publish this year its own plan and validate much of our work.
Whether you care about climate change or not, we’re moving rapidly away from coal because domestic and international banks, including the World Bank, will no longer invest in coal fired power. And a shift to gas would involve the burning of coal seam gas, due to a massive upswing in demand in Asia especially Japan the cost of gas here is becoming prohibitive. Continue reading
Fear the Military Industrial Complex, warns Edward Snowden
Daniel Guerin warned in his 1936 book Fascism and Big Business warned to be vigilant against ”an informal and changing coalition of groups
with vested psychological, moral, and material interests in the continuous development and maintenance of high levels of weaponry, in
preservation of colonial markets and in military-strategic conceptions of internal affairs.”
President Eisenhower updated this message with a similar warning to fear the rise of the “military-industrial complex.” Edward Snowden has updated the message that Americans must fear the rise of the “military-intelligence complex.”
Snowden Warns Americans: Fear The Military-Intelligence Complex The Testosterone Pit, By Chriss Street 2 Aug 13, : “….. the latest
depressing revelations about the rise of the military-industrial complex from whistleblower/traitor Edward Snowden as he accepted
political asylum in Russia today.
Snowden’s latest bombshell is the outing of the NSA’s XKeyscore software that is vacuuming up “nearly everything a typical user does
on the internet.” The top secret program allows civilian contractors in the U.S. to troll vast databases containing emails, online chats
and the browsing histories of millions of individuals around the world. The NSA boasts in training materials that XKeyscore is its
“widest-reaching” system for developing intelligence from the internet.
Snowden was already the “most wanted person on earth”, but after today’s disclosures, he must be on the Obama Administration’s secret
double most wanted man in the universe list. With his newly-awarded legal status in Russia, Snowden cannot be legally handed over or
kidnapped by the CIA. Snowden remains a very “marked man” and will need to stay in the public eye to avoid accidentally being
assassinated in some lonely hideout. Consequently, I believe that he will continue to talk to the international press………… Continue reading
Paladin uranium miner’s troubles in Africa – near to going down the gurgler?
Paladin shares plummet after mine sale cancelled Proactive Investors, by Fiona MacDonald 2 August 13, Paladin Energy’ s (TSE:PDN) (ASX:PDN) stock lost 15 cents on the Toronto Stock Exchange Friday from prior close of 92 cents to fall more than 16 per cent on the back of the news that the uranium miner had terminated negotiations with all parties for the sale of a minority interest in the Langer Heinrich Mine.
The announcement, released after the close of North American trading Thursday night, sparked intraday trading that saw share prices dip as low as 65 cents, marking a new bottom for the Subiaco, Australia-headquartered miner’s 52 week range.
The mine, located in Malawi in southern Africa, is owned 100 per cent by Paladin and was taken off the table as a result of low uranium prices – a legacy of the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima-Daiichi atomic power plant after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami — undercutting the company’s chances of collecting the pay day it had in mind….. It is a long fall for the miner, which was trading at $1.00 per share as recently as a week ago. http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/companies/news/46789/paladin-shares-plummet-after-mine-sale-cancelled-46789.html
Deeper radioactivity 40 feet below Fukushima nuclear plant
Revealed: The deeper they check underneath Fukushima plant, the higher contamination levels get http://enenews.com/revealed-the-deeper-they-check-underneath-fukushima-plant-the-higher-contamination-levels-get-now-sampling-over-40-feet-below-surface
Source: JIJI, Kyodo
Date: Aug 1, 2013
Cesium levels in water under Fukushima No. 1 plant soar the deeper it gets, Tepco reveals […]
Tepco found 950 million becquerels of cesium and 520 million becquerels of beta ray-emitting radioactive substances, including strontium, in the water from 13 meters [~43 feet] underground.Water from 1 meter down contained 340 million becquerels, and a sample from 7 meters down contained 350 million becquerels.
[…] Cesium, a metallic element, is subject to gravity. […]
Japanese island under pressure to accept “nuclear money”
it is unfair to push the islanders against their will into something they have strived so hard all these years to steer well clear of.
Japanese island that has refused nuclear money for 31 years pushed into a compromising situation http://
en.rocketnews24.com/2013/08/03/japanese-island-that-has-refused-nuclear-money-for-31-years-pushed-into-a-compromising-situation/ After the explosion at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant back in 2011, the subject of nuclear power has become a very delicate and complicated issue for the Japanese. While there is an element of danger associated with the creation of nuclear energy, many towns have also benefited from the large sums of compensation, known as “nuclear money”, that have gone into creating jobs and strengthening the prosperity of areas that have agreed to home such power plants.
Despite pressure from surrounding groups and the mainland, a small island off the coast of Yamaguchi Prefecture has for years refused to have anything to do with nuclear money, and has firmly opposed plans to build nuclear power stations in the area. But all that may be about to change.
Iwai island is a Japanese island that lies out to sea opposite the site where Kaminoseki Nuclear Power Plant is expected to be built in the Yamaguchi Prefecture, and home to around 500 people. What makes this island markedly different from mainland Yamaguchi Prefecture is the determination with which the islanders have fought off “nuclear money” for over 31 years in attempt to preserve a safe, clean environment. While the prefecture’s local government has been accepting nuclear money for many years and pushing for the completion of Kaminoseki power plant, a staggering 90 percent of Iwai islanders are against plans for the power plant being built so close to where they live. Continue reading
Trading of Paladin uranium stock halted as its share price nosedives
Shares of uranium miner Paladin dive after cancelled sale Reuters, Aug. 02 2013, Shares of Australian uranium miner Paladin Energy Ltd. fell as much as 29 per cent in Toronto on Friday after the company cancelled plans for now to sell a minority interest in an African mine, and instead raised funds through a private placement of shares. Paladin said it ended negotiations with a potential investor on Thursday and all other parties for a stake in its Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia. The company said it was unlikely to get the price it wanted because of low uranium prices….. Trading of Paladin stock was halted in both Canada and Australia on Thursday, pending news.
Paladin’s stock was down 28 per cent, or 26 Canadian cents to 66 Canadian cents in early trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/shares-of-uranium-miner-paladin-dive-after-cancelled-sale/article13572589/
Uranium glut piles up, as japan’s nuclear reactors not restarting soon
.All but two of Japan’s 50 reactors remain idle due to the Fukushima disaster and must meet stricter safety standards set by the NRA before they can be restarted………The reactor review process is likely to take six months for each one, Deutsche Bank said in a July 15 note, citing NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka. An evaluation of all of Japan’s reactors may take more than three years
Slow reactor restart process rattles energy markets as uranium piles up, Japan Times, BLOOMBERG AUG 2, 2013 MELBOURNE – Uranium prices are showing little sign of recovery after sinking to their lowest levels in more than seven years amid a glut of the radioactive metal and speculation Japan will delay restarting its reactors……….. Uranium has averaged $40.94 so far in 2013 after sliding to $34.50 in July, the lowest price since November 2005. Continue reading
Bad news for Paladin Energy in drastically low uranium price
Paladin cancels uranium mine sale Yahoo 7 Finance, 2 Aug 13 Paladin Energy has scrapped the sale of a stake in its flagship African uranium mine after it failed to attract a high enough bid.
The Australian listed company instead will use a shareholder diluting $88 million capital raising to reduce about $US670 million ($A753.95 million) of debt.Paladin had been negotiating with two nuclear power companies to sell a 15 to 20 per cent stake in its Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia.
In late June, managing director John Borshoff maintained a sale would go ahead.
But the global uranium market is still depressed more than two years since Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, and the spot price is at seven-and-a-half-year lows of about $US35 a pound……….
It said it would wait until prices lifted before going to the market to sell again. A uranium price of at least $US70 a pound was needed, it said.
In other bad news for Paladin, the company said it expected to have to write down the value of assets including its other producing mine, Kayelekera in Malawi, by $US180 million ($A202.55 million).
The capital raising involves the equivalent of 15 per cent of its stock being issued to private institutions.
The company’s shares went into a trading halt on Thursday at $1. http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/paladin-cancels-uranium-mine-sale-023213073.html
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 