Antinuclear

Nuclear and energy issues this week in Australia

Election mania grips the media.  Not a mention of nuclear/uranium issues. But Gem Romuld of International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons- has come up with a nifty little table, to show you where the major parties stand on these issues.

As far as I could tell, the Australian media did not see fit to commemorate Hiroshima Day. However, there were many events around Australia, where people came together for this. –  such as Melbourne’s Hiroshima Day Vigil, Sydney’s Sunday March and Rally.  There will be more, as Nagasaki is remembered, too – August 10  – Melbourne – Hiroshima and Nagasaki Memorial Concert 2013, and  August 9 – Sydney  Nagasaki Day Film screening.

The media is a real worry in Australia.  They have HAD to report on the crisis now at Fukushima, as there seems no workable solution to the escalating problem of radioactive water leaking.    I predict that the nuclear lobby’s next push will be a renewed attack on radiation as a health hazard.   They’ll need this, as radioactive water pours into the ocean, from Fukushima, and enters the marine food chain.  We will be told yet again that “low dose radiation” is OK.   Ionising radiation is  a complex topic, and now that the Australian mainstream press have pretty well sacked all their science writers – just who is going to give the facts to the public?

Renewable energy.  Even though the brakes are on, in the very real fear of an Abbott government destroying Australia’s clean energy laws, still, things are happening.

•  A large scale solar photovoltaic plant to go ahead in New South Wales.
• Work started on the Ararat (Victoria) wind farm, today.
• The Zero Carbon Australia Buildings Plan was launched today – a foresighted plan for energy efficiency.
• The  Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems at the Australia National University reports that Australia could be 100% powered by renewable energy by 2040.

Uranium price has sunk to an unsustainable level –   media takes this as proof that it will have a booming future –  a kind of religious belief?

August 8, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews