How Australia caved in to Britain, in not properly cleaning up Maralinga bomb sites
Why cabinet sought only a partial clean-up of British nuclear test site Archives give new insight into Hawke government’s response to royal commission on weapons testing in Maralinga region Paul Chadwick theguardian.com, Wednesday 1 January 2014
Gareth Evans, the energy minister at the time, said ‘a non-confrontational approach’ had been adopted in dealing with the Thatcher government.
The complete rehabilitation of areas of Australia used to test British nuclear weapons may not be possible, the Hawke cabinet was advised in 1986.
Cabinet was warned that a full clean-up may have been more expensive than the British government would be willing to contemplate, according to documents released this week by theNational Archives.
They provide new insights into the Hawke government’s response to the recommendations of the McClelland royal commission into British nuclear tests in Australia. Continue reading
Australia’s inadequate decontamination of radioactive nuclear test sites
Cabinet Papers 1986-87: The struggle for indigenous land rights, SMH, Damien Murphy, 28 Dec 13, “……….. Decontaminating radioactive sites The McClelland royal commission on British nuclear tests in Australia had recommended that the Maralinga and Emu test sites should be decontaminated to a standard suitable for unrestricted habitation by the traditional owners.
But a technical assessment group found that even the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars would not achieve complete decontamination.
The Resources and Energy Minister, Senator Gareth Evans, recommended that Cabinet consider the lesser option of decontamination sufficient to allow casual access to a larger area than was currently permissible. This option might cost between $20 and $30 million, “much more within the ball park that the UK Government is likely, on present indications, to be prepared to contemplate”.
Cabinet also decided that compensation claims for diseases that might have been caused by radiation would be resisted if the Commonwealth did not believe that a liability existed……….
Traditional owners had been dispersed to Yalata and the Pitjantjatjara lands in South Australia and Coonana in Western Australia. Cabinet allocated an initial $500,000 for projects of lasting and general community benefit…….. http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/cabinet-papers-198687-the-struggle-for-indigenous-land-rights-20131228-3017r.html
Radioactive trash dumped on the ocean floor
Nuclear Waste Sits on Ocean Floor U.S. Has Few Answers on How to Handle Atomic Waste It Dumped in the Sea By JOHN R. EMSHWILLER and DIONNE SEARCEY WSJ Dec. 31, 2013 More than four decades after the U.S. halted a controversial ocean dumping program, the country is facing a mostly forgotten Cold War legacy in its waters: tens of thousands of steel drums of atomic waste.
From 1946 to 1970, federal records show, 55-gallon drums and other containers of nuclear waste were pitched into the Atlantic and Pacific at dozens of sites off California, Massachusetts and a handful of other states. Much of the trash came from government-related work, ranging from mildly contaminated lab coats to waste from the country’s effort to build nuclear weapons.
Federal officials have long maintained that, despite some leakage from containers, there isn’t evidence of damage to the wider ocean environment or threats to public health through contamination of seafood. But a Wall Street Journal review of decades of federal and other records found unanswered questions about a dumping program once labeled “seriously substandard” by a senior Environmental Protection Agency official: Continue reading
Australia willing to market uranium to Indonesia, despite nuclear weapon worries.
Threats of a nuclear Indonesia and a provocative New Guinea BRENDAN NICHOLSON DEFENCE EDITOR THE AUSTRALIAN JANUARY 01, 2014 AT a time of frosty relations with Jakarta, the Hawke government was warned that Indonesia ultimately might aim to obtain nuclear weapons.
Cabinet also was concerned that Australia might be drawn into conflict in the region as the result of impulsive and unwise behaviour by a poorly led government in Papua New Guinea……..
Despite the concerns raised in the briefing paper about Indonesia’s possible nuclear ambitions, it went on to suggest that Australia might supply Indonesia with uranium to increase its influence with Jakarta and to serve its “commercial, strategic and non-proliferation objectives”.
The paper said the nuclear program should be closely monitored, and it warned that a nuclear accident in Indonesia could have serious effects on areas of northern Australia…….http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/cabinet-papers/threats-of-a-nuclear-indonesia-and-a-provocative-new-guinea/story-fnkuhyre-1226792638737#
France cutting back on nuclear power, but trying to sell it to UK
France, which plans to tax nuclear generation, is pushing the U.K. to subsidize it.
U.K. Builds Nuclear Plants While France Scales Back The British and French have swapped nuclear energy postures IEEE Spectrum, By Peter Fairley 27 Dec 2013 Nations that are considering nuclear energy must grapple with its high capital costs and Fukushima-scale risk. An energy-policy riptide along the English Channel shows how unpredictable the calculations can be: Both France and the United Kingdom have scrapped fundamental planks in their energy policies, with one ramping up and the other dialing down.
In the U.K., where Margaret Thatcher set off a global movement by deregulating the power industry, the current prime minister is offering subsidies to attract financing for new nuclear reactors. Across the water, France, which staked its economic future on nuclear power a generation ago, is now planning that technology’s decline. These policy shifts have been in the works since 2012, but they are coming to a head as both governments put the finishing touches on sweeping energy-reform legislation.
A coalition composed of Socialists and the staunchly antinuclear Greens vows to scale back France’s reliance on nuclear power from more than three-quarters of electricity at present to roughly one-half by 2025, delivering on a 2012 election promise made by President François Hollande.
Legislation to be introduced early in 2014 could include a new nuclear electricity tax, which would help subsidize an accelerated transition toward renewables. Continue reading
Only renewable energy power plants will be set up in Australia to 2020
All New Australian Power Plants Will Be Renewable Through 2020 Clean Technica 1 Jan 14, According to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), all new electricity generation capacity in Australia will be from renewable energy. It will mostly be from wind energy, while 13% of that is expected to be from large-scale solar PV, and 3% from biomass.
After years of hearing very little about Australia’s transition from fossil fuels, there has been Sydney’s plan to go 100% renewable by 2030 and a lot of big news in 2013. But the next several years will be even bigger.
According to an IEEE article about the coming growth of renewables in Australia: ”There are nearly 15 800 megawatts of proposed wind generation projects, according to the AEMO. More than 780 MW of the wind power is expected to come online in 2014-2015.”…..http://cleantechnica.com/2013/12/31/new-australian-power-plants-will-renewable-2020/
Australian government didn’t want to know about Aborigines affected by atomic tests
Cabinet rejected the royal commission’s recommendation for the creation of a new register of persons who may have been exposed to “black mist” or radiation at the tests.
The actions of previous Australian government [sic] in shepherding Aboriginal people from their traditional lands for the purpose of conducting atomic tests were both immoral and appallingly executed.
Why cabinet sought only a partial clean-up of British nuclear test site Paul Chadwick theguardian.com, Wednesday 1 January 2014 “…………An aerial survey of radioactivity around the test sites would be followed by a more detailed ground survey. Five studies would “define the areas – hopefully quite small – which must remain surrounded by fences, and further outer areas in which activities such as food gathering and excavation should not occur”.
A report by technical experts attached to the cabinet submission states: “Aboriginals living and gathering food on the Maralinga lands may be exposed [to contaminants] … in three major ways – by inhalation, by ingestion and by entry of contaminated material through open flesh wounds and abrasions.”
The experts considered options for burial of contaminated soil. They noted that since one of the contaminants had a half life of 24,000 years it was a prerequisite to make a prediction about the sort of changes in the earth expected to occur in the Maralinga area in the timeframe. Continue reading
Earthquakes near wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant
Two Earthquakes Strike Eastern Japan Near Fukushima Nuclear Site International Business Times, By HANNAH OSBORNE | December 31, 2013 Two shallow earthquakes have struck eastern Japan near the Fukushima nuclear disaster site.
A 5.1 magnitude earthquake was recorded 80km southwest of Fukushima and was shortly followed by a 3.6 magnitude earthquake in the same area, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The tremor was 9.9km deep, the US Geological Survey said, adding it took place 13km North West of Takahagi.
There were no reports of any damage but it was strong enough to shake high-rise buildings in the capital, AFP reported…….http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/two-earthquakes-strike-eastern-japan-near-fukushima-nuclear-site-1430706
Australia’s tortuous political struggle over Aboriginal Land Rights
Cabinet Papers 1986-87: The struggle for indigenous land rights, SMH, Damien Murphy, 28 Dec 13, The Hawke Government continued to grapple with the sensitive issue of indigenous land rights. In March 1986 Aboriginal Affairs Minister Clyde Holding told Cabinet that NSW, Queensland and South Australia had enacted legislation and Victoria was preparing to do so, but that Tasmania and Western Australia rejected the concept of land rights legislation in principle…….
Cabinet again endorsed its 1985 Preferred National Land Rights Model, but agreed to negotiate with Western Australia on non-legislative measures such as community funding and the granting of long leases to Aboriginal reserves.
The Tasmanian and Victorian governments presented the Commonwealth with conflicting challenges. In December 1986 Mr Holding told Cabinet that Tasmania refused to recognise that Aboriginal people had any legitimate claim to land.
……….The government was concerned that the parlous state of the Aboriginal community might become an issue of moral and political embarrassment during the 1988 bicentennial celebrations……….http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/cabinet-papers-198687-the-struggle-for-indigenous-land-rights-20131228-3017r.html
1 This month.
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/235274195556
19 May – Webinar- Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Start: 2026-05-19 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-05-19 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
20 May – Webinar – The dangerous world of AUKUS, US, military occupation and suppression of dissent
National Webinar, 20th May, 2026, 6.30pm AEST. Confronting laws restricting/suppressing protest speech and action
Speakers: Former Sen. Rex Patrick, Lawyer Nick Hanna ,Arthur Rorris ,Jorgen Doyle, Sen David Shoebbridge,
Facilitator Kelley Tranter.
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 