AUDIO: Fall of worker into Ranger uranium mine radioactive slurry pit
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UDIO Worker ‘fell in’ to radioactive slurry pit, ABC Radio AM Michael Coggan reported this story on Saturday, December 14, 2013
SIMON SANTOW: The operators of the Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory are facing fresh allegations they are cutting corners on safety.
A worker told his union he sunk up to his armpits into radioactive slurry while helping to clean up a massive toxic spill caused by the collapse of part of the mine’s processing plant last weekend.
The company that runs the mine, Energy Resources of Australia, says it can’t confirm the workplace accident and is checking the validity of the claim. Michael Coggan reports from Darwin.
MICHAEL COGGAN: When a 1,400 cubic metre leach tank at the Ranger uranium mine fell apart last Saturday, workers had to evacuate to avoid being hit by the mixture of sulphuric acid and uranium it was holding…….
MICHAEL COGGAN: What does that say about the safety of the mine site?
BRYAN WILKINS: I think this is fairly typical of safety on that mine site. And it goes to show when the minister said the mine was safe the other day, he obviously wasn’t right. There still are safety issues on that site, and there needs to be that full independent inquiry that we called for…….http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2013/s3911651.htm
Tony Abbott’s meaningless blather about jobs and Olympic Dam uranium expansion
South Australian jobs creation is focus of Council of Australian Governments following Holden closure NEWS.COM.AU DECEMBER 14, 2013 “……..Prime Minister Tony Abbott is set to make an announcement about the Federal Government’s response to the situation as early as Monday, but yesterday he made the surprising claim that BHP Billiton could reverse its decision to shelve the Olympic Dam expansion within months.
“The atmospherics and the economics and the decision will be substantially different I believe in a few months’ time,” he told the Australian Financial Review, adding that he was “moderately optimistic” that it was “doable”.
State Opposition Leader Steven Marshall spoke to the Prime Minister about Olympic Dam this week as part of discussions over how to strengthen the state’s economy.
The Advertiser yesterday revealed the State Government’s wishlist for infrastructure spending and a speeding-up of Defence spending to help the state survive Holden’s demise…….http://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/south-australian-jobs-creation-is-focus-of-council-of-australian-governments-following-holden-closure/story-fnii5yv4-1226782915941
Australia’s Coalition government to crack down on political protest
New law to expand police powers to ‘move on’ protester, THE AGE December 12, 2013, Jane Lee Legal Affairs Reporter Unions say a plan to enable police to order people in picket lines and blockades to “move on”, and arrest those who do not, erodes the right to political protest.
The Coalition introduced reforms on Wednesday extending police powers to issue “move on” orders to people who prevent access to buildings, commit offences in public places, cause others to have a “reasonable fear of violence” or who behave in ways “likely to cause damage to property.”
Police would be able to ask such people for their names and addresses, and arrest and fine those who do not comply $720 under the new law. They could also apply to the Magistrates’ Court for an exclusion order, banning protesters from entering certain places if they have been given more than one “move on” order in the same place.
ACTU President Ged Kearney said the proposed changes were excessive and unnecessary: “Current legislative provisions governing industrial action are comprehensive and effective for unions and employers.”……
Liberty Victoria president Jane Dixon, SC, similarly opposed the reforms: “The anti-war demonstrations in the City of Melbourne may well have impacted on shops and businesses in the vicinity but Liberty [Victoria] believes that political protests in public places are an important feature of a functioning democracy……
The reforms follow long-running protests, including against the east-west link and builder Grocon.
They come a month after the Abbott government announced it would re-introduce the Australian Building and Construction Commission, which could fine people picketing building sites up to $34,000. The reforms follow long-running protests, including against the east-west link and builder Grocon. http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/new-law-to-expand-police-powers-to-move-on-protesters-20131212-2z8ip.html#ixzz2nP5F4ucS
In secrecy, Australian government about to sign up to Trans Pacific Partnership
Australia ‘stumbling block’ on tobacco law ,The Age, Peter Martin, Economics correspondent , 14 Dec 13, “…….Australia’s Trade Minister Andrew Robb has indicated he is prepared to trade Australia’s previous opposition to investor state dispute settlement clauses in exchange for greater access to markets for commodities such as sugar. He returned from the talks on Tuesday.
An Australia Institute survey released on Friday finds only 11 per cent of Australians ‘‘definitely know’’ about the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.
Almost 90 per cent think the details of such deals should be made public before they are signed.
Told that the US wants the right for its corporations to sue governments, 75 per cent are opposed.
Asked whether they trust the Australian government when it says it will not sign an agreement which will push up the price of prescription drugs, 67 per cent say no.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/australia-stumbling-block-on-tobacco-law-20131212-2zae7.html#ixzz2nP2JxdzM
December 13: new record radiation levels at Fukushima nuclear reactor No.1
Record radiation levels detected in well at Fukushima nuke plant Ranger uranium mine accident worst than originally thought
Environmentalists Say The Toxic Uranium Spill In Kakadu Is Much Worse Than First Thought,Business Insider, SARAH KIMMORLEY 14 Dec 13,The Ranger Hill uranium mine, which last week leaked 1 million litres of highly acidic uranium slurry into the Kakadu National Park, has been identified as a much bigger mess than first reported.
Melanie Impey, environmental officer for the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation, toldFairfax the spill covered a 100 metre by 200 metre area and was up to 3 centimetres thick……..Dave Sweeney from the Australian Conservation Foundation has said the mine is unreliable.
“This mine has a clear history of underperformance and non-compliance with regulations.
“There is a revolving radioactive door between territory and federal regulators and the mining company, with roles being routinely swapped, all of which reduces rigour, compromises credibility and produces complacency,” Sweeney told The SMH. http://www.businessinsider.com.au/environmentalists-say-the-toxic-uranium-spill-in-kakadu-is-much-worse-than-first-thought-2013-12
Shock of Ranger radiation spill in “sickness country”
Kakadu uranium leak: ‘I’ve never seen anything like it’ SMH,December 14, 2013 Tim Elliott To the Jawoyn people, of southern Kakadu, it’s known as buladjang, or ”sickness country”, pockets of land not fit for regular habitation.
It was here, they believed, that the creation ancestor Bula ended his travels and left his spirit underground. Only recently have scientists found a correlation between mineral deposits such as uranium and the location of major Bula sites.
Ranger uranium mine, north of the Jawoyn, unleashed its own kind of sickness last Saturday when a leach tank burst, spilling 1 million litres of highly acidic uranium slurry that engulfed the mine and breached containment lines. The mine’s operator, Energy Resources Australia, said no one was hurt, and that the spill had no effect on the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, which surrounds the site.
But photos obtained by Fairfax Media for the first time show the extent of the damage. ”I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Melanie Impey, environmental officer for the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation, which represents the local Mirarr people. ”The tank was just a mangled mass of metal.”…..
Ranger has experienced more than 200 spills, leaks and breaches since opening in 1979. In 2002, ERA detected high uranium levels downstream from Ranger but failed to inform the traditional owners for five weeks. In 2004, 28 Ranger workers were found to have drank and showered in water containing 400 times the legal limit of uranium. Later, an excavator covered in radioactive mud was taken to the town of Jabiru for cleaning, contaminating a mechanic and his children.
Ranger’s chief regulator is the Northern Territory government, which takes advice from the Supervising Scientists Division, a Commonwealth agency that oversees environmental standards within Kakadu. ERA says its record is good, pointing out the SSD has always given the mine a clean bill of health …. http://www.smh.com.au/national/kakadu-uranium-leak-ive-never-seen-anything-like-it-20131213-2zcy5.html#ixzz2nU8DGzF
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/kakadu-uraniu
UK’s subsidy to French nuclear company under investigation as illegal
In the wider context the deal is important because the nuclear industry’s revival in democracies depends on it being classed as a low carbon generator, which can benefit from carbon credits and other subsidies in the same way as renewables. This has already been ruled out in most democratic countries outside Europe.
Without state aid the large capital expenditure needed to build nuclear plants is hard to find from the private sector, and the time it takes to build reactors makes the return on capital long-term. Two stations being built in Finland and France are both up to seven years late and construction budgets have already doubled. They are the same design as the reactors intended for Britain.
‘Illegal UK state aid’ probe hits nuclear plans Eco Business, 14 Dec 13, An EU investigation into the UK’s financial support for new nuclear power stations is dividing Europe, with critics saying London is flouting EU rules by offering illegal subsidies.A full-scale investigation is being launched into whether Britain’s deal with French nuclear giant EDF, backed with money from Chinese nuclear generators, to build new stations at Hinkley Point in the west of England, is illegal state aid.
The investigation by the European Commission is a serious blow to the nuclear industry in Europe and across the western world, because it delays any expansion of the industry for at least a year and may possibly permanently damage its prospects. Continue reading
Call to close uranium mine afte worker injured
Ranger uranium mine spill: worker injured in clean-up, union says http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-13/worker-injured-in-clean-up-of-spill-at-ranger-uranium-mine/5156292 A worker has been injured during the clean-up of a toxic spill at the Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory, the ABC has been told.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) says a fitter was injured this morning while cleaning up slurry that spilt out of a tank that collapsed last weekend.Brian Wilkins from the AMWU says the man fell through the crust of the radioactive material up to his armpits.
It is understood the man was cleaned up and asked to return to work, but he refused.
Mine operator Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) says it will look into the validity of the claims.
A tank containing up to a million litres of uranium ore and acid split early on Saturday, damaging the crane that was trying to repair it and surrounding infrastructure at the mine near Kakadu National Park.ERA said at the weekend the spill had been contained and there was no risk to the surrounding area and national park.
Meanwhile the Federal and Northern Territory governments have released the terms of reference for their joint investigation into the spill.
The investigation will identify why the leach tank collapsed, examine the integrity of broader processing operations and identify any gaps in maintenance procedures.
A representative of the traditional owners of the mine site will be asked to participate on the taskforce that is carrying out the investigation.
The Greens have called for a permanent end to operations at the mine.
West Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam has said: “I think this latest disaster doesn’t improve anyone’s confidence that the mine is capable of running for another 10 or 15 years.”
$27 Billion rise in costs of USA’s nuclear weapons arsenal
U.S. Nuclear-Arms Cost Estimate Jumps Up $27 Billion GLOBAL SECURITY NEWSWIRE, 13 Dec 13 National Journal, An 18-year spending outlook for U.S. nuclear arms has shot up by $27.1 billion, and costs could rise further still, congressional auditors said this week.
Investigators found the increase by comparing the Obama administration’s latest cost estimate for maintaining and updating U.S. nuclear weapons over a set period — fiscal years 2014 through 2031 — to the U.S. estimate from two years ago for the same timeframe, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday……http://www.nationaljournal.com/global-security-newswire/u-s-nuclear-arms-cost-estimate-jumps-up-27-billion-20131213
Ranger uranium mine: greying, fraying and needing more review than its getting
13 Dec 13, ACF has called for a widening of the scope of the planned review into safety at Energy Resources of Australia’s Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu following last weekend’s equipment failure and spill of a million litres of highly acidic uranium slurry.
Today the federal and NT Mines Ministers have outlined the terms of reference for a joint investigation but many questions remain unclear, including:
· Details on the ‘independent expert’ who has the key role to ‘review the broader integrity of the processing plant’
- · How stakeholders including environmental NGO’s and trade unions will engage with this process and whether there will be a public hearing and submission process
- · Whether operations at Ranger mine will remain halted pending the outcome plant integrity assessment
- · How the adequacy of the remediation and clean up works and related OHS response will be assessed
- · The extent of dependence of company supplied – as opposed to independently obtained – data and monitoring results Continue reading
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