‘Pandora’s Promise’ – film that is stinking its way around Australia
The nuclear advertising film ‘ Pandora’s Promise’ will be showing around Australia, and in Edinburgh and London in the next couple of weeks. It is largely funded by people from the pro nuclear Breakthrough Institute, including people like Bill Gates, who has his own nuclear power company Terra Power. It is directed by passionate nuclear enthusiast, Robert Stone, who does Q and A afterwards, and over-talks any critical questioners.
Weaknesses of this film include the way that it:
- mocks anti nuclear opinions as a bunch extremists and zealots. It makes no effort to portray any sensible opposing opinion.
- minimises the health effects of ionising radaiation with downright untruths, for instance, telling us only that Chernobyl killed 56 people. It leaves out that a United Nations World Health Organization agency predicts 16,000 more will die from Chernobyl cancers and that the European Environment Agency estimates 34,000 more. It omits that non-fatal thyroid cancer struck another 6,000, mostly children
- does not mention the crippling economics that is now closing nuclear plants in USA (Florida, Wisconsin and California), nor the imperative for tax-payer subsidy
- does not mention insurance: the nuclear industry, alone among industries is exempt from risk through USA’s Price Anderson Act, as well as every home owner’s insurance policy stating that this policy does not compensate you for any radiation damage from a nuclear power plant.
- avoids the economics of Small Nuclear reactors (SMRs) Even under the best of circumstances, there will be no SMR prototype for as long as a decade or more. There are serious questions over the economics of mass producing these, over their safety, and the huge costs of maintaining security over thousands of little nuclear reactors scattered around the land. None of this is discussed in the film.
- promotes Integral Fast Reactors (IFRs) – fast breeder reactors. but doesn’t mention the past failure of these, in USA , France (Super Phoenix) Japan (Monju), and their enormous cost.
- Dishonestly minimises the nuclear waste problems of IFR’s. Film does not explain that the final wastes, while smaller in volume, are far more radioactive and dangerous than existing nuclear wastes, and therefore require the same amount of storage space and security.
The end of the line for Australian uranium company Paladin Energy?
the fact remains that it has not had a profitable annual result since commencing operations. Our modelling forecasts continued negative cash flow and the company running out of cash in early 2014 and consequently [being] unable to service its substantial debt position.
Uranium price slumps, Paladin Energy in trouble Jim Green WISE/NIRS Nuclear Monitor #768, 27 Sept 2013 ” Paladin Energy ……….Australian-based Paladin Energy operates two uranium mines in Africa − Langer Heinrich in Namibia and Kayelekera in Malawi. CEO John Borshoff told a mining conference in Western Australia in July that the uranium industry faces a number of “major problems” such as the lack of greenfields development, dwindling investment capital and the sickly uranium price.[12]
Borshoff said: “[T]he uranium industry is definitely in crisis, I believe, and is showing all the symptoms of a mid-term paralysis if this situation does not demonstrably change. How can there not be a problem when you have an effective moratorium with nearly all major companies making no commitment to greenfields development until the price gets about US$70 and it is believed it can stay above that level. And how can there not be a problem when you have a strong chance that some of the more expensive, smaller operations will be mothballed − putting more pressure on current production. … Only at this price level [US$70/ lb] − and above − can sufficient capital for new products be raised and returns on investment be justified to finally give some risk reward to the shareholder. And this appears to be a long way away.” Continue reading
Never mind the latest climate change report, the Abbott government will dismantle carbon pricing
The Climate Institute said the government should retain the current carbon laws until it can demonstrate through independent analysis that its policy can achieve emission reductions of up to 25 per cent by 2020.
The Australian Conservation Foundation said the IPCC report finds Australia could get hotter and this should be acknowledged when parliament resumes in October or November.
“In the first week of Parliament, we urge all politicians to treat climate change as a serious threat needing serious action, and not a device for cheap political point scoring,” the ACF said.
Abbott govt keen to repeal carbon tax http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/abbott-govt-keen-to-repeal-carbon-tax/story-fni0xqi4-1226728812968 AAP SEPTEMBER 27, THE federal government says it will push ahead with plans to dismantle Australia’s carbon pricing mechanism despite a key report on climate change declaring it “extremely likely” that human activity was the dominant cause of global warming.
That’s the strongest statement so far from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which said on Friday a human footprint could be found in the warming of the atmosphere and oceans, rising sea levels, melting snow and ice, and changes in some climate extremes.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt said the coalition government would go ahead with repealing the market-based carbon-pricing mechanism set up by the former Labor government despite some calls for a rethink. Continue reading
Quality evidence for Victoria- that wind farms do not damage health
Our own Victorian Department of Health published its findings on the matter in Wind farms, sound and health in April 2013. It rules out the potential for wind farms to have damaging effects…..Wind farm infrasound is at levels well below the hearing threshold, and evidence does not support claims that inaudible sounds can have direct physiological effects. Put simply: what we can’t hear can’t harm us.
Wind farms: What we can’t hear, can’t harm http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/wind-farms-what-we-cant-hear-cant-harm-34870 By Sarah Durrant on 27 September 2013 In a new analysis, the Australian Energy Market Operator estimates Victoria will have 4,090 MW of new wind energy capacity installed by 2020. Those who support more renewables in the energy mix will welcome the forecast, yet it may be optimistic.
Today (Friday September 27), the Victorian Civil Administration Tribunal (VCAT) will resume the decision making process on the Cherry Tree Range wind farm proposed for central Victoria. Despite meeting the world’s strictest wind farm planning laws and laying outside the multitude of no-go zones imposed by the Baillieu government, the project could be thwarted. By what? The self interest and pseudo-science trumpeted by anti-wind farm groups.
The fate of the Cherry Tree Range wind farm is a test case for wind energy in Victoria. If it’s approved then there’s hope Victoria will achieve the high-penetration of wind energy AEMO predict by the end of the decade.
VCAT adjourned with an interim determination in April, finding the permit application was in accordance with all the planning considerations that the Mitchell Shire had contested. However the Tribunal decided it would await the outcome of an EPA SA study into alleged noise complaints at Waterloo wind farm, and also a newreview by the National Health and Medical Research Council.
VCAT left us to ponder the question: whether there is a causal link between sound pressure emissions from wind turbines and adverse health effects of a physiological nature.
BEAM Mitchell Environment Group – a local community group of which I’m a member – has taken a look at some of the most recent Australia/NZ sourced evidence to demonstrate that our support for the Cherry Tree project is backed up by quality evidence. Continue reading
Bridging the news gap on what is actually happening at Fukushima nuclear power plant
Nuclear Industry Report: ‘Reduced stability’ of fuel pool in Fukushima Unit 4; Admits there’s damaged fuel inside? — Gundersen: Fuel racks moved and damaged; Fallen debris distorted tops (AUDIO) http://enenews.com/nuclear-industry-report-reduced-stability-of-unit-4-fuel-pool-at-fukushima-admits-some-fuel-inside-is-damaged-gundersen-fuel-racks-moved-from-quake-fallen-debris-distorted-tops-audio
World Nuclear News,Sept. 26, 2013 (Emphasis Added): […] Underwater inspections in the [Unit 4] pond have shown most of the fuel to be undamaged, but the pond contains a lot of dust and debris which will complicate operations. […] Its full core load of fuel, plus used fuel from previous operation, was being stored in a fuel pool at the top of the reactor building. […] The stability of the pool was then reduced by major structural damage to the building caused by the ignition of hydrogen […]
World Nuclear News is funded by the World Nuclear Association. The WNA represents the interests of the international nuclear industry. -Source
Bridging the News Gap, with Professor Matt Noyes
Fairewinds Energy Education Podcast, Sept.. 26, 2013 (at 21:15 in) – Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds Chief Engineer: These racks [in the Unit 4 fuel pool] have moved, they’ve been distorted by the earthquake, there’s junk that’s fallen on top of them and distorted the tops. […] One of two things is going to happen. They’re either going to pull too hard and snap the bundle, or they’re going to be unable to pull all of the fuel out of the pool. Full podcast available here
Japan needs a real national comparative study on birth defects, post Fukushima
Reporters in Japan write about rise in birth defects for 2011 — University won’t publish data on malformed babies after many years of doing so; Not releasing figures for Fukushima, other prefectures — Expert: This is ridiculous http://enenews.com/reporters-in-japan-write-about-birth-defects-after-nuclear-disaster-university-no-longer-publishing-data-on-malformed-babies-refuses-to-release-figures-for-fukushima-or-other-prefectures-expe
Title: The Fukushima Generation: New Data on Birth Defects in Post-Meltdown Japan
Source: Daily Beast
Author: Jake Adelstein, Nathalie Kyoko Stucky
Date: Sept. 26, 2013
Emphasis Added
The Daily Beast recently obtained unpublished data on birth defects in Japan, which showed a small increase in prevalence rates for 2011 […] The university that conducted the study will not release regional figures. However, several nuclear experts in and outside of the country assert that Japan needs to seriously measure the health impact of its nuclear problems, including birth defects, “with not just annual data but monthly data and broken down by prefecture.”
[…] Yokohama City University […] has been doing studies of birth defects in Japan for over a decade. The 2011 Report on Congenital Malformations notes the prevalence of malformed infants as 2.43 percent, the highest figure since 1999 (1.48 percent). However, the figures for 2010 were 2.31 percent, indicating only a small increase between 2010 and 2011. […]
Since 1999, the Yokohama City University has been releasing the statistical report regularly around the month of May, but did not publish the data this year. After repeated requests, it finally provided the 2011 data, which is still currently unavailable to the public. Continue reading
The uranium industry in deep trouble
The industry hopes that reactor restarts in Japan will improve the situation − but restarts will be slow and in many cases strongly contested. The industry hopes that new build in China will improve the situation − but pre-Fukushima nuclear growth projections have been sharply reduced and China now plans to approve a “small number” of new reactors projects each year.
Uranium price slumps, Paladin Energy in trouble Jim Green WISE/NIRS Nuclear Monitor #768, 27 Sept 2013 The spot uranium price fell to US$34.50 / lb U3O8 in late July, a price not seen since December 2005 during the upswing of a spectacular price bubble which peaked in June 2007 at US$138 / lb. The 12% price slump in July was the biggest monthly loss since March 2011. Since September 2, the spot price has been still lower, at US$34.00. Those prices are just over half the spot price of US$66.50 / lb on 11 March 2011, the first day of the triple-disaster in north-east Japan.[1]
The long-term contract price has been reasonably stable in recent months at US$57 / lb. At that price, the value of annual global uranium requirements for power reactors is around US$10 billion.
FNArena wrote on September 17: “The issue of low uranium prices discouraging new supply is not just one of the spot price itself but one of the marginal cost of new supply. Producers suggested to Ux that the average marginal cost of production of operating mines is around where the spot price is now, but the marginal cost of developing a new mine is more like US$65-70/lb. From the nuclear energy prospective, respondents rated the most significant demand-side influences as, in descending order of influence, Japanese reactor restarts, Chinese reactor build, the premature shutdown of older US reactors and the emergence of newcomer countries to nuclear energy (about equal), and the upcoming French nuclear licence renewals.”[19]
Raymond James analyst David Sadowski expects an average spot price of $40 per pound this year, $52 in 2014, and $70 in both 2015 and 2016.[2] Michael Angwin from the Australian Uranium Association expects low prices until about 2017/18, and a nasdaq.com article states that “the road to recovery for this battered commodity will be a long haul”.[3,4] Rob Atkinson, outgoing CEO of Energy Resources of Australia, says the uranium spot price is woeful, making it extremely difficult to make the case for developing a new mine, and the market will remain difficult for at least another two years.[21] Continue reading
Seymour Hersh in praise of journalists who are trouble makers
He says investigative journalism in the US is being killed by the crisis of confidence, lack of resources and a misguided notion of what the job entails…….
“Our job is to find out ourselves, our job is not just to say – here’s a debate’ our job is to go beyond the debate and find out who’s right and who’s wrong about issues. That doesn’t happen enough.
Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the ‘pathetic’ American media by Lisa O’Carroll Friday 27 September 2013 theguardian.com Pulitzer Prize winner explains how to fix journalism, saying press should ‘fire 90% of editors and promote ones you can’t control’
Seymour Hersh has got some extreme ideas on how to fix journalism – close down the news bureaus of NBC and ABC, sack 90% of editors in publishing and get back to the fundamental job of journalists which, he says, is to be an outsider. It doesn’t take much to fire up Hersh, the investigative journalist who has been the nemesis of US presidents since the 1960s and who was once described by the Republican party as “the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist”.
He is angry about the timidity of journalists in America, their failure to challenge the White House and be an unpopular messenger of truth……..
Snowden changed the debate on surveillance Continue reading
Imagine how it feels – the dispossession of Aboriginal land
MY LIFE: THIS LAND IS MINE / THIS LAND IS ME QAGOMA BRUCE MCLEAN 26 SEPTEMBER 2013 “………One of the most important social movements toward positive change in recent decades has been the Reconciliation Movement, which gained momentum in the wake of then prime minister Paul Keating’s 1992 ‘Redfern Address’, perhaps the most significant and stirring oration concerning Indigenous people and issues by any Australian politician. In the address he asked Australians to imagine themselves in the shoes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in a particularly poignant passage:
. . . it might help us if we non-Aboriginal Australians imagined ourselves dispossessed of land we have lived on for 50 000 years — and then imagined ourselves told that it had never been ours . . . Imagine if ours was the oldest culture in the world and we were told that it was worthless. Imagine if we had resisted this settlement, suffered and died in the defence of our land, and then were told in history books that we had given up without a fight . . . Imagine if we had suffered the injustice and then were blamed for it . . . It seems to me that if we can imagine the injustice then we can imagine its opposite. And we can have justice.13…….http://blog.qag.qld.gov.au/my-life-this-land-is-mine-this-land-is-me/
Nuclear power companies pose a catastrophic threat
Latest Fukushima Crisis Shows Catastrophic Threat of Nuclear Power Companies http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/18219-fukushima-shows-catastrophic-potential-of-privatizing-nuclear-power MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT 27 Sept 13, The possibility of a global nuclear catastrophe as a result of the ongoing crisis at Fukushima is not only a real threat to untold lives in Japan and around the world, it is a model example of why nuclear power of any sort should not be privatized — and should only have limited uses within governmental programs.
As reported on Monday on BuzzFlash at Truthout, the potential nuclear radiation release from “repairs” at Fukushima threaten the globe. “Nuclear Crisis at Fukushima Could Spew Out More Than 15,000 Times as Much Radiation as Hiroshima Bombing,”Harvey Wasserman, a longtime anti-nuclear advocate, wrote on BuzzFlash. Truthout posted a follow-up story today that states, “We’re in very apocalyptic territory, with a wide and unknown range of outcomes.”
It’s hard to analyze the nuclear industry rationally when the private company, TEPCO, in Japan has just thrown up its hands and admitted it does not have a full-proof plan to prevent a nuclear disaster of proportions not yet seen. You can bet the Japanese government which has been assuring the world that everything was under control had a role in inviting international assistance in keeping Fukushima from creating a nuclear nightmare.
What is a private power company, TEPCO, doing in charge of “repairing” Fukushima anyway? How did we turn over an energy source that can threaten the survival of life on earth to private companies? Continue reading
Warren Mundine by no means the real voice of Australia’s Aborigines
Mundine not the only voice: indigenous leader PATRICIA KARVELAS THE AUSTRALIANSEPTEMBER 27, THE leader of the nation’s peak Aboriginal body has declared the Abbott government must listen to her organisation and not just rely on advice from the Prime Minister’s new indigenous council led by Warren Mundine. -(registered readers only)t: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/mundine-not-the-only-voice-indigenous-leader/story-fn9hm1pm-1226727901973#sthash.TYsbjJKq.dpuf
Investors warming to Western Australia’s Wave Energy Project
Wave Energy wins over wary investors CRITERION THE AUSTRALIAN SEPTEMBER 27, 2013: “……….a jack-up rig is being towed from the North West Shelf to Perth’s naval base, to put in place Carnegie’s wave-power installation at Perth’s Garden Island naval base.
The 720-kilowatt plant will be the first manifestation of Carnegie’s CETO wave technology, which employs bulbous sub-sea structures anchored to the sea floor.
With the funding, an offtake deal and pesky state approvals in place, Carnegie is winning over hitherto wary investors.
While the construction aspect is not new — it’s akin to installing an oil rig — CETO technology is novel.
Carnegie so far has sunk $70 million into the technology, $50m sourced from its 7000-odd holders (whose patience and passion exceeds that of even the Dockers’ member base).
French utility EDF has chipped in $10m and is funding a joint pilot plant at Reunion Island, where power is generated from expensive diesel.
Carnegie has drawn down only $4m of $22m of federal and WA government grants. The federal money is sourced from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, which the Coalition has no plans to gut (unlike the Clean Energy Finance Corporation). http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/wave-energy-wins-over-wary-investors/story-e6frg9lo-1226727885953#sthash.yuNFQiqh.dpuf
That other Petrov – the one who saved the world from nuclear holocaust
on September 26, 1983, a soviet officer named Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov very probably avoided a nuclear conflict
What if someone else than Petrov had been on duty that night? Someone with a bit more zeal to follow procedures, or less brains to make a judgement call?
Petrov decided that, all else being equal, he would prefer not to destroy the world. He sent messages declaring the launch detection a false alarm, based solely on his personal belief that the US did not seem likely to start an attack using only five missiles.
Happy Petrov Day! (How we narrowly avoided nuclear war on this day in 1983) http://www.treehugger.com/endangered-species/happy-petrov-day-how-we-narrowly-avoided-nuclear-war-day-1983.html Michael Graham Richard 27 Sept 13 The best kind of holiday Most of us alive today owe a debt to those who avoided nuclear war in years past, and sadly, there were many occasions when that was necessary. The Cuban Missile Crisis is a well-known example, with John F. Kennedy, Robert McNamara, Nikita Khrushchev, Fidel Castro, and various other government officials on all sides playing a game of poker with the lives of hundreds of millions of people (if not billions, who knows how far things would’ve gone). We came so very close to the edge of the abyss before stepping back…
That’s why anyone even a little bit concerned with the future of humanity – leaving a better world for their children – and about all other living creatures on the planet should be against nuclear weapons and in favor of taking concrete steps to reduce the chances of them ever being used. This can’t be swept under the rug. After all, what’s the point of building a better society and protecting the environment if, during a moment of folly, a few people in positions of power can kill us all?
Giving us a second chance Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 