Tony Abbott launches new attack on Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Tony Abbott blasts national broadcaster: ABC takes ‘everyone’s side but Australia’s’ Canberra Times, Judith Ireland, 29 Jan 14 Reporter Prime Minister Tony Abbott has berated ABC News, arguing that it is taking ”everyone’s side but Australia’s” and that journalists should give the navy the ”benefit of the doubt” when it comes to claims of wrongdoing.
In comments that also suggest the media should act as cheerleaders for the country, Mr Abbott ramped up his recent criticism of the ABC…….
Acting Labor leader Tanya Plibersek defended the ABC on Wednesday as a “longstanding part of Australia’s cultural fabric”.
“From emergency broadcasts in times of trouble to coverage of the events that shape our nation, the ABC is there, free for all Australians,” she said.
Ms Plibersek said that every government had been subjected to close scrutiny by the ABC since the broadcaster began, “and we should all welcome that”. http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-blasts-national-broadcaster-abc-takes-everyones-side-but-australias-20140129-31lt8.html#ixzz2rozai1tE
Trans Pacific Partnership a global-scale corporate power grab
Last week, Wikileaks released a draft environment chapter of the TPP. Surprise: it is neither strong nor enforceable.
Stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/2249519/stop_the_transpacific_partnership.html 23rd January 2014 The TPP – Trans-Pacific Partnership – is far more than just a trade agreement. It is a global-scale corporate power grab – anti-people, anti-environment and anti-democratic. And it must be stopped, writes Chris Lang. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a proposed international trade agreement, involving 12 countries and covering a range of topics including intellectual property, the environment and workers’ rights. The TPP has been negotiated in secret for almost four years. Continue reading
Spread of nuclear radiation via dust, weeds, insects
How Tumbleweeds Spread Radiation From Old Nuclear Sites Gizmodo, 29 Jan 14“……shows just how persistent the damn weed is. A note on terminology here: “tumbleweed” can refer to any number of plants that break free of their roots and tumble around spreading their seeds, but the most common one is the Russian thistle, also known by its scientific name Salsola tragus.
During the early 1960s, after aboveground nuclear testing finally ceased at the Nevada Test Site, the first thing said to grow back was Russian thistle.Radioactive Salsola has come tumbling out of the old Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington, where plutonium was manufactured during the Cold War. I half expect to hear someday that Russian thistle has been found on the moon.
The Hanford site in Washington state, which is the most contaminated nuclear site in the U.S., has recently encountered trouble with leaking waste tanks. What intrigues me is that the containment problems at Hanford have also long been compounded by what one internal presentation calls “biological vectors,” aka tumbleweeds but also fruit flies, mud dauber wasps, pigeons, swallows, mice, and rabbits, species on the loose potentially spreading radiation beyond the site. Hanford even has a whole Biological Control program to deal with these vectors. http://gizmodo.com/how-tumbleweeds-spread-radiation-from-old-nuclear-sites-1508617887
Renewable energy becoming the big player in global electricty
The driver of coal’s declining role in electricity and the growth in renewable energy — particularly solar — is economics. As costs continue to fall, we’ll see more growth for renewable energy and you can make money off the trend
Renewable Energy Is Winning the Battle Versus Fossil Fuels Motley Fool, Travis Hoium, 28 Jan 14, The days of coal’s dominance is over and now renewable energy is the fuel of the future. The trajectory of falling costs for solar and growing installations will amaze you.
Energy in the 21st century is already turning out to be very different from energy in the 20th century. Coal plants that used to provide most of the country’s electricity are being shut down by the hundreds and renewable energy is becoming more cost efficient and prevalent by the day.
The trends are heavily in favor of renewable energy, and solar energy in particular is taking the U.S. and the world by storm.
Renewable energy becoming a big player Continue reading
Down down yet again, goes the uranium price
Spot uranium price eases to about $35.60/lb Washington (Platts)–28 Jan 2014 The uranium spot price is around $35.60 a pound U3O8, about 15 cents lower than last Tuesday, as buyers showed resistance to rising offer prices that followed the mid-month announcement that an institutional buyer was poised to purchase a substantial amount of material, market sources said in interviews…..The spot price has declined since it crested at just over $36/lb on January 20, according to market sources.
“The excitement of [UPC] buying up to 1 million lb has worn off a bit,” one market source said. “[T]his led to less optimism on the price and more resistance [by buyers] to higher offer prices, so the spot price weakened a bit,” he said.
“People tried to raise [sell] offers to see if buyers would bite, but they didn’t and the price came down towards $35.50” a lb, a second market source said in an interview……. http://www.platts.com/latest-news/electric-power/washington/spot-uranium-price-eases-to-about-3560lb-21138271
Australia’s largest solar plant – construction begins
Construction begins on Nyngan, Australia’s largest solar PV plant REneweconomy, By Sophie Vorrath on 28 January 2014 Construction of AGL Energy’s $300 million solar PV plant in central NSW is set to begin, with the head contractor, First Solar, going on-site on Tuesday.
The ARENA-backed Nyngan Solar Plant – with more than 1,350,000 PV modules expected to be installed on a 250 hectare site – will be the largest PV plant in Australia, and the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, once finished.
Construction is expected to take around 18 months to complete, with the 102MW plant slated to be fully operational by June 2015. Continue reading
Nuclear power, never cost effective, thorium not a viable fuel
Thorium fuel not viable, Prof Glen Lawrence http://www.thesundaily.my/news/942473 28 January 2014 I REFER to “Use thorium to cut power cost” (Press Digest, Jan 27). There was no mention of the fact that to use thorium as a fuel to generate electricity requires a nuclear reactor.
Thorium does not undergo fission like uranium or plutonium, but would have to be used in combination with fissionable materials such as uranium and plutonium to produce a fissionable form of uranium that could then be used as a fuel.
Although thorium is abundant in the earth, the technology for using thorium to produce nuclear fuel has not been developed because it is not economically viable.
In addition, the nuclear waste generated would also have to be disposed, just like all nuclear waste should be, but countries like the United States have been putting off disposal since the beginning of nuclear power generation and now have thousands of tons of highly radioactive waste sitting at each reactor site.
Nuclear power has never been cost effective and would not exist anywhere without huge government subsidies.
Destruction of Renewable Energy Target would destroy 1000s of solar jobs
Thousands Of Australian Solar Jobs Threatened http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=4147 28 Jan 14 If those who wish to see Australia’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) abolished get what they want, up to 6,750 solar PV jobs could be lost and foregone nationwide in less than 5 years.
The grim prediction comes from REC Agents Association (RAA) in a report due to be released on Wednesday.
“If the Renewable Energy Target is axed, 2,000 jobs could be lost straight away and thousands of new jobs would not be created”, said Fiona O’Hehir, Vice-President of RAA and CEO of Greenbank Environmental, who commissioned the analysis.
“Axing the RET is on the Government’s agenda and they need to understand this would have a diabolical impact on jobs, industry and the hundreds of thousands of Australians who want to put solar on their homes.”
The RAA report states the solar industry employed around 17,000 Australians in 4,300 small and medium sized businesses last year. Continue reading
German Energy Company brings more expertise to wind, solar energy
Juwi Group acquires majority stake in Australian energy company, Renewable Energy Magazine, 27 Jan 14 The German energy company Juwi AG has announced it has acquired a controlling stake in Brisbane-based Qi Power Ltd. he deal will greatly improve the company’s ability to provide Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) services for solar PV and wind projects in the Australia, New Zealand, PNG and South Pacific regions. Qi Power has been a pioneer in the provision of solar energy for remote power supply focused on some of the world’s largest renewable energy hybrid systems. Juwi AG was founded in 1996 and is one of the world’s largest EPC contractors and developers of solar PV projects.
Qi Power’s founding Directors, Bertus de Graaf (Chairman) and Andrew Drager (Managing Director) will remain Directors of the company which will now have an improved capacity to provide cost-effective solar PV and wind projects to the Australia-Pacific region……
Roth-Deblon is enthusiastic about the new company’s prospects for costs reduction in the region while offering first class solar and wind technologies to industries and consumers in remote areas as well as EPC services to utility scale grid connected projects. The Australia-Pacific region currently has some of the world’s highest power costs but also offers one of the world’s best sources for renewable energy.
For additional information: Juwi AG http://www.renewableenergymagazine.com/article/juwi-group-acquires-majority-stake-in-australian-20140128
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 