Lax security in radioactive transport in Northern Territory
ERA said while the practice was in accordance with guidelines the company was reviewing what had occurred on this occasion……..
Lauren Mellor from Nuclear Free NT said transporting goods by ute in such a manner was dangerous.”It defies common sense and community expectations that this kind of material isn’t physically secured,” Ms Mellor said. d.
“Especially in Wet Season transport on the Arnhem Highway, we know all the risks associated with that,” Ms Mellor told the ABC.
“It really boggles the mind that a company under the spotlight as ERA are at the moment, with three separate investigations into the regulation of their mine ongoing, that they are not taking a closer look at how people feel about this kind of dangerous cargo being transported on their roads,” she said……http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2014/02/20/3948778.htm?site=darwin
ERA’s radioactive uranium transported unguarded in back of ute
Justin O’Brien, chief executive of the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation, which represent the Mirrar traditional owners, was shocked when told about the photograph. ‘‘‘I find it astounding that this material can be transported at low security in such a vehicle in such a manner as the back of a ute.
‘‘This is bizarre.’’
Shock ‘n’ ore at load on ute download PDF article including a photograph of the ute by Connor Byrnem 20 Feb 14 A LOAD of uranium ore has been spotted on the back of a ute driving towards a mine in Kakadu National Park. The ute was on a return journey from a laboratory in Perth to the Ranger uranium mine near Jabiru yesterday. The drums contain 410kg of low grade uranium ore. Continue reading
Abbott happy to weaken security standards, in order to sell uranium to India
Australia Anticipates Uranium-Export Deal Soon with India, National Journal, 19 Feb 14 By Global Security Newswire Staff “……..”We see it as a priority and want to move as quickly as possible,” Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said to journalists as negotiators from the two nations met for a fourth time to discuss tthe potential nuclear trade agreement. “The political will certainly exists within this government.”.
……Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s administration has signaled it could be open to easing some of Canberra’s past demands for assurances that Australian-origin uranium not be diverted to nuclear-arms efforts, according to the Times…….http://www.nationaljournal.com/global-security-newswire/australia-anticipates-uranium-export-deal-soon-with-india-20140218
Plutonium in the air around US nuclear facility
AP, Feb. 19, 2014: […] radiation [is] in the air a half-mile from the site […] radioactive isotopes americium and plutonium […] [Hardy] says the levels are the highest ever detected at or around the site but are far below those deemed unsafe by the Environmental Protection Agency. The readings came after a radiation alert over the weekend from an underground sensor at the site. Hardy says readings will be completed next week on filters collected from that underground sensor and an air monitor closer to the plant.
Initial ENE report from Sunday: Alarm after ‘unusually high’ radiation levels at U.S. nuclear site — Gov’t: “We’ve never seen a level like we are seeing… I can’t tell you the amount” — Could be Plutonium — ‘Unclear’ how much radiation released — Unprecedented event (VIDEO)
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Abbott sets up a panel hostile to renewable energy
Killing renewables softly with endless reviews , The Conversation Clive Hamilton, 19 Feb 14 Vice Chancellor’s Chair, Centre For Applied Philosophy & Public Ethics (CAPPE) at Charles Sturt University You have to feel sorry for people working in renewable energy. Their industry has been reviewed to within an inch of its short life, and the goalposts have been shifted so many times that they don’t know where to kick the ball.
And now they are to be reviewed again, this time by a panel that is hostile to them. The chair of the review, Dick Warburton, does not believe in human-caused climate change. So if there is no problem with greenhouse gas emissions, why would we need policies to reduce them? Continue reading
Investors becoming very serious about solar and wind energy
“For mainstream investors, it’s still a little new. But the market understands the potential of this, and we’re going to see more deals.”
Investment firms buying renewable energy developments Sandiego Source, By JUSTIN DOOM , Bloomberg News Wednesday, February 19, 2014 NEW YORK –– Hedge funds and private equity firms from D.E. Shaw & Co. to KKR & Co. are ramping up their investments in renewable energy projects.
D.E. Shaw, the $30 billion hedge fund manager, bought stakes in five California solar plants in July and is co-developing a wind farm off Rhode Island Wind farms and industrial-scale solar plants typically have decades-long deals, known as power purchase agreements, to sell electricity to utilities.
D.E. Shaw is betting those contracts make renewable energy as safe and reliable as, say, conventional utility bonds have always been regarded, said Bryan Martin, a managing director at the New York-based firm.
Only a minority of investors understand that such contracts with investment grade utilities or cities “are capable of providing a steady income stream comparable to high-quality corporate bonds,” Martin said………
Developers are forecast to install as much as 42 gigawatts of solar power in 2013, up 39 percent from the prior year.
In the U.S., they were expected to add 4.3 gigawatts last year alone, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, up 27 percent, including a record amount of residential rooftop systems.
A gigawatt of solar supplies about 165,000 U.S. homes…….. Continue reading
Thorium nuclear reactors not a commercial proposition
Thorium fuel not viable, http://www.thesundaily.my/news/942473 19 Feb 14, “…….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.
n 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.
Prof Glen Lawrence
Solar homes are a political force, so Abbott SLOWLY choking renewables
Killing renewables softly with endless reviews , The Conversation Clive Hamilton, 19 Feb 14 “…………Solar photovoltaic panel uptake across Australia. ACIL Allen Consulting for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency
Australians particularly like the element of the scheme that encourages the installation of rooftop solar energy. The surge in demand caught everyone by surprise, and now 1.4 million homesacross the nation generate their own electricity from the sun.
And contrary to popular myth, that’s not just happening in wealthy homes. Research for the federal government late last year found that outer suburbs and regional areas have led the way in going solar, as these maps of Australia and Brisbane show. (You can see detailed city and state maps at the end ofthis report.)
For this reason, the government knows it cannot simply kill off the scheme as the mining lobby, some power companies andmany Coalition MPs and senators would like.
Instead, it is easier to choke renewables slowly – and the Warburton review is the government’s way of slipping the rope around the industry’s neck.http://theconversation.com/killing-renewables-softly-with-endless-reviews-23409
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