Cameco to decrease activities in Australia. Paladin shuts African mine
Weak uranium prices force closure of Paladin mine, Financial Review PETER KER AND ANGELA MACDONALD-SMITH 10 FEB 2014 Uranium miners are starting to cut back production amid a growing belief that the sector will not recover in the near term.
ASX listed Paladin Energy has confirmed one of its two mines will cease production until the uranium price recovers, while one of the world’s biggest uranium miners, Cameco, has cut its growth schedule and warned the ‘‘stagnant, over supplied’’ market was not going to improve any time soon.Cameco had previously promised to increase uranium production by 50 per cent over the next four years, but on Saturday the company said such long-term production forecasts were no longer appropriate in the current market conditions.
‘‘Market challenges have persisted since early 2011 and we expect they will continue for the near to medium term,’’ the Canadian company said in a statement.
Uranium prices have been on a downward trend since the Fukushima nuclear crisis damaged confidence in the industry in 2011……
Cameco deferred its Kintyre uranium project in Western Australia in 2012, and on Saturday it vowed to ‘‘decrease activities in Australia’’ even further.,,,,,,http://www.afr.com/p/business/companies/weak_uranium_prices_forces_closure_6Jq1zMnOONO3LAxC4jQkTM
With anti nuclear vote split, pro nuclear candidate wins Tokyo election
Pro-nuclear candidate elected Tokyo governor Ruling party backed candidate Yoichi Masuzoe wins gubernatorial vote, raising concerns over PM Abe’s pro-nuclear agenda. Aljazeera, 09 Feb 2014 Yoichi Masuzoe, a former health minister backed by Japan’s ruling party, has been elected as the new governor of Tokyo, after defeating two candidates who had promised to end nuclear power nearly three years after the Fukushima disaster…….
The poll for chief executive of one of the world’s biggest cities had been seen as a referendum on atomic power in a country still scarred by the Fukushima disaster.
Masuzoe had not made energy policy a prime focus, although he said Japan should reduce its dependence on nuclear power in the medium to long term. After his victory was announced,
he reiterated that stance, adding he wanted to raise the share of renewable energy sources in Tokyo’s electricity supply……
The anti-nuclear camp, however, was divided between two candidates – former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa and human-rights lawyer Kenji Utsunomiya.
Nuclear safety Masuzoe garnered about 30 percent of the vote, according to NHK exit polls. Hosokawa and Utsunomiya got about 20 percent each, indicating that if the anti-nuclear vote had been united, a win by either might have been possible……http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2014/02/pro-nuclear-candidate-elected-tokyo-governor-201429141527114469.html
New court action by US sailors against Tepco
U.S. Sailors Sick From Fukushima Radiation File New Suit Against Tokyo Electric Power, Solartopia Harvey Wasserman 10 Feb 14 Citing a wide range of ailments from leukemia to blindness to birth defects, 79 American veterans of 2011’s earthquake/tsunami relief Operation Tomadachi (“Friendship”) have filed a new $1 billion class action lawsuit against Tokyo Electric Power.
The suit includes an infant born with a genetic condition to a sailor who served on the USS Ronald Reagan as radiation poured over it during the Fukushima melt-downs, and an American teenager living near the stricken site. It has also been left open for “up to 70,000 U.S. citizens [who were] potentially affected by the radiation and will be able to join the class action suit.”
The re-filing comes as Tepco admits that it has underestimated certain radiation readings by a factor of five. And as eight more thyroid cancers have surfaced among children in the downwind region.Two new earthquakes have also struck near the Fukushima site.
The amended action was filed in federal court in San Diego on Feb. 6, Continue reading
Renewable energy support in USA crosses all political lines
Strong Support for Clean Energy, and the Jobs It Creates, Crosses Party Lines http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/plehner/strong_support_for_clean_energ.html 9 Feb 14 A new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) says the renewable energy industry is responsible for 615,000 jobs in the United States. That’s hundreds of thousands of Americans working to provide this country with clean energy from wind, sun and plants. It’s the military vet in Kansas putting her hydraulics knowledge to work in her new job servicing 300-foot-tall wind turbines. It’s the former glass maker in Toledo, Ohio, who’s now manufacturing solar panels. It’s the farmer who’s got a new buyer in the biofuel plant just across the county line. It’s engineers and managers and truckers and technicians in nearly every state in the nation.
Clean Energy Works for US: Kelley Moore, Clipper Wind
Renewable energy development is making a difference in this country, bringing sorely needed jobs and revenue to communities, while protecting clean air and clean water. Clean, renewable energy is working for us. That’s why so many Americans, from all political stripes, want to see more of it. Continue reading
$18 billion business paralysed by cuts to Renewable Energy Target?
Clean energy firms fear cuts to targets , The Age February 10, 2014 Peter Hannam Environment Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald Solar and wind energy projects worth up to $18 billion are being paralysed by uncertainty over the government’s commitment to the industry, as speculation grows that the clean energy target for 2020 will be cut back.
With the carbon tax potentially to be scrapped when the new Senate sits after July, Prime Minister Tony Abbott and other senior Coalition figures have increasingly set their sights on the mandated target for renewable energy, blaming it for forcing up power prices.
New wind farm projects are often stalled at state level and NSW has also delayed new guidelines for wind farms for two years, adding to industry uncertainty.
The offices of NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell and Mr Abbott denied Mr O’Farrell had told cabinet colleagues last week that the release of wind farms guidelines was not a priority because Canberra would cut the renewable energy target “to 10 per cent”.
Clean energy sources such as wind and hydro already supply more than 10 per cent of the nation’s energy on occasion. The Abbott government is likely to set the terms of the renewable energy target review and who will be running it within weeks…….
Hugh Saddler, principal consultant with energy advisers Pitt & Sherry, estimated large wind and hydro energy plants supplied 13.3 terawatt hours of electricity in 2012, about a third of the 2020 goal.
Infigen Energy managing director Miles George said the “constant threat of change to the legislation” from industry reviews had all but frozen new investment in the sector.
“The effect on our business, and for the industry in general, is paralysis,” he said.
Infigen had secured approval for new wind farms worth $2 billion in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia but these were stalled by the uncertainty, he said.
Clean Energy Council chief executive David Green said any major reduction or change to the renewable energy target would have a significant impact on the $10billion worth of investment already poured into the industry, with another $18 billion likely if the current goal remained……
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/clean-energy-firms-fear-cuts-to-targets-20140209-32a0v.html#ixzz2svNJiCF4
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 