Adelaide to Darwin rail line to be a military transport every fifth day?
Defence bid to control section of the Adelaide to Darwin rail line on one in every five days of the year MILES KEMP THE ADVERTISER SEPTEMBER 11, 2013 http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/defence-bid-to-control-section-of-the-adelaide-to-darwin-rail-line-on-one-in-every-five-days-of-the-year/story-fnii5yv5-1226717271710 SOUTH Australia’s iconic Ghan rail journey is under threat by a Defence Department bid to control a section of the Adelaide to Darwin rail line on one in every five days of the year. Continue reading
Tony Abbott about to make the mistake of signing Australia up to the Trans Pacific Partnership
PM-elect Tony Abbott speaks with US president Barack Obama about Syria conflict ABC News By political correspondent ABC News, Simon Cullen, 12 Sept 13 US president Barack Obama has phoned Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott to congratulate him on the Coalition’s election win.A spokesman for Mr Abbott says the pair reaffirmed the strong relationship between the two countries, …..
The two leaders also discussed the need to improve trade and investment links in the region, and agreed to work cooperatively towards the Trans-Pacific Partnership…. 
.http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-12/tony-abbott-barack-obama-syria-diplomacy/4953584
Trans Pacific Partnership will make copyright laws more restrictive
Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement What is the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP)? Electronic Frontier FoundationThe Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a secretive, multi-national trade agreement that threatens to extend restrictive intellectual property (IP) laws across the globe and rewrite international rules on its enforcement. The main problems are two-fold: Continue reading
Former Japanese ambassador appeals to UN for help on Fukushima crisis
Help Educate Decision Makers About Fukushima Risks! http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=10780
Dear Mr. Secretary-General, I am extremely worried about the lack of the sense of crisis in Japan and abroad,as regards the worsening situation at the Fukushima Daiichi.
The international community is required to prevent the Fukushima accident from developing into the ultimate catastrophe of the world, a possibility the collapse of the Unit 4 by a mega earthquake could turn into a reality. It could happen at any moment! Faced with this unprecedented crisis, the mobilization of human wisdom is required on the widest possible scale. The full assumption of responsibilities by the Japanese Government is urgently needed.
The present abnormal lack of the sense of crisis is due to the fact that inconvenient truth is not disclosed. The international community has the duty, for example, to grasp correctly the precise volume of the continuous release of radiation from Fukushima.
In this connection, the official numbers published by Tepco, 10milliom BQ/H, unchanged for the last year and half, could hardly be trusted. They remain unchanged even after the revelation by Tepco that, since the accident in 2011, 400 tons of contaminated water daily leaked into the sea. Now the Government admits that 300 tons daily [60,000 gallons] flow into the sea.
The situation is worsening. And no solution in sight !
The so called international strategy to consider that Fukushima accident did not happen, as some papers writes, is doomed to failure. This strategy is evidenced by the continued promotion of nuclear reactors worldwide, and their restarting and exporting by Japan..Even if it succeeds to hide the head, it cannot hide the tail that is the contamination of the ocean on a planetary scale.
Conscientious citizens are now calling for the withdrawal of the invitation for Olympic games by Japan. Allow me to count on your understanding and support.Yours truly,
Mitsuhei Murata
Former Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland
Australian Capital Territory Liberals stick their knife into solar energy
Solar plan slammed September 12, 2013 Peter Jean Chief Assembly Reporter for The Canberra Times. The Canberra Liberals have called on the ACT government to abandon a proposal for a 10-megawatt solar farm to be built across the road from Uriarra Village……
Environment and Sustainable Development Minister Simon Corbell denied it was a done deal and said there would be a public consultation process.
Mr Corbell said he had met Uriarra residents on the day it was announced that Elements Energy had won a solar tender auction.
”Any suggestion that there has not been consultation upfront is wrong,” he said.
Three proposed large solar power projects would contribute $100 million to the ACT economy and save 1.4 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, Mr Corbell said. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/solar-plan-slammed-20130911-2tl3d.html#ixzz2ejgd0m8U
Australia’s governing COAL ition’s contradictory postures about COAL
World’s largest carbon capture begins even as Abbott tax repeal looms SMH,September 11, 2013 John Kemp Prime minister-elect Tony Abbott has pledged to repeal the country’s carbon tax to boost economic competitiveness, so it is ironic that Australia is about to host the world’s most ambitious project for capturing carbon dioxide and storing it underground……..
But the federal and WA governments have agreed to accept responsibility for any long-term liabilities.
Commonwealth and state indemnities will protect the joint venture partners from any common law liability arising from third-party claims for loss or damage, suffered after the site closes……
Unlike most other projects, Gorgon will inject CO2 into a saline aquifer rather than a depleted oil and gas field, providing an opportunity to test how CO2 injections into a saline aquifer behave on a large scale.
The U.S. Department of Energy has identified saline aquifers as a vital storage resource if CCS is to be captured on anything like the scale that will make a difference to the climate……
Little is known about how stored CO2 behaves in saline aquifers.
But with Gorgon, Australia’s government will be sponsoring the world’s largest and most ambitious attempt to lock CO2 away safely underground, even as it tries to water down other elements of climate change policy.: http://www.smh.com.au/business/carbon-economy/worlds-largest-carbon-capture-begins-even-as-abbott-tax-repeal-looms-20130911-2tj0c.html#ixzz2ejfmzKJy
Danger in removing Fukushima No. 4 ‘s spent fuel rods
Audio: Gundersen: Spent fuel likely to break when pulled from Fukushima Unit 4 pool — Racks have been distorted; Fuel rods overheated — Suspects some will be stuck there for long, long time (AUDIO) http://enenews.com/gundersen-spent-fuel-rods-break-during-removal-process-fukushima-unit-4-racks-distorted-fuel-overheated-pool-boiled-suspects-will-be-stuck-long-long-time-audio
Title: Fukushima leaking radiation into Pacific
Source: WPFW – Radio Ecoshock
Host: Alex Smith
Date: Sept. 5, 2013
Alex Smith, Host: In a previous Radio Ecoshock interview you said that the Japanese should start unloading nuclear fuel bundles from Reactor 4 as a priority before that building collapses. Are they doing it?
Arnie Gundersen, Nuclear expert with Fairewinds Energy Education: Well, they’re planning as of November to begin to do it, so they’ve made some progress on that. I think they’re belittling the complexity of the task. If you think of a nuclear fuel rack as a pack of cigarettes, if you pull a cigarette straight up it will come out — but these racks have been distorted. Now when they go to pull the cigarette straight out, it’s going to likely break and release radioactive cesium and other gases, xenon and krypton, into the air. I suspect come November, December, January we’re going to hear that the building’s been evacuated, they’ve broke a fuel rod, the fuel rod is off-gassing. […]
I suspect we’ll have more airborne releases as they try to pull the fuel out. If they pull too hard, they’ll snap the fuel. I think the racks have been distorted, the fuel has overheated — the pool boiled – and the net effect is that it’s likely some of the fuel will be stuck in there for a long, long time.
Smith: I should point out to listeners that you were a fuel rack expert in the nuclear industry, so you know what you’re talking about.
Full interview with Gundersen here
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