AUDIO: Response of Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara women to Nuclear Commission
Rose and Karina Lester on Nuclear Commission http://www.papertracker.com.au/radio/rose-and-karina-lester-on-nuclear-commission/10 March 2015 .Interview with Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara interpretation Duration 45:25 | Recorded on 20 February 2015. | Download Audio (62.3 MB)
This interview is with Karina and Rose Lester about their response to Premier Weatherill’s establishment of a Royal Commission into the use of Nuclear Energy in South Australia.
Karina and Rose tell us about how nuclear energy has affected Aboriginal communities in the past and they share the direct experience of their own family.
They urge people to find out about the Commission and to get involved and to have their voices heard.
The interview responses are in Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara language, with short summaries provided in English.
Nuclear reactor is not needed to produce medical isotopes
For a long time, the nuclear lobby has been touting nuclear medicine as the reason for Australia having a nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights. However, the reactor was set up long before the nuclear medicine idea was agleam in the lobby’s eye.
It is not simple nor cheap to set up non nuclear methods of producing medical isotopes . However, it can be done, and in the long run, is less expensive than managing the radioactive waste debt to be passed on to future generations.
Australia’s Lucas Heights nuclear reactor is not necessary. The “nuclear medicine” rationale is just a fig leaf tacked on to this dangerous facility
AUDIO: Reactors avoided in production of medical isotopes http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/reactors-avoided-in-production-of-medical-isotopes/6315814 14 March 2015
Australian Capital Territory rejects hosting radioactive waste dump
Environment Minister Simon Corbell says radioactive waste is not welcome in ACT, Canberra Times March 14, 2015 Matthew Raggatt The ACT government would reject any moves to build a radioactive waste facility in the territory, its deputy leader has said.
Environment Minister Simon Corbell said he doubted the nation’s smallest jurisdiction – half of which is covered by national parks and state forests – would make the federal government’s cut for a new site.
“It is extremely unlikely there is any land suitable in the ACT for this activity,” he said.
Earlier this month the federal government called for nominations from landholders of any state or territory for a site for a national permanent radioactive waste management facility. The site would allow for the storage and disposal of “low level and intermediate level waste”, produced in Australia from a range of scientific and industrial/medical activities. …….
A spokeswoman for the Minister for Industry and Science Ian Macfarlane said details of the nominated sites would be made public after all applications were received and the minister had considered them.
The spokeswoman said the majority of Australia’s radioactive waste was stored by the Commonwealth at two sites, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation campus at Lucas Heights and the CSIRO facility at Woomera in South Australia.
The Defence Department, Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, state and territory governments and other scientific, industrial and research organisations also stored some waste.
Australia does not produce or store high level radioactive waste, the federal government said.
If you want to put forward your land to be bought for the project, you have until May 5. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/environment-minister-simon-corbell-says-radioactive-waste-is-not-welcome-in-act-20150314-1412y9.html
Nuclear lobby seeking tax-payer funded guinea pigs (?like Australia) to test its new gimmicks
Scientists Outline Research Wish List for Nuclear Energy, abc news, ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Mar 5, 2015 By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press Engineers and researchers from national laboratories and universities around the country said Thursday that the United States needs to develop a proving ground where the latest innovations in nuclear energy can be put to the test…….
Renewable energy and efficiency having an impact on global emissions – IAE
Renewable energy sources really making a difference! http://www.enn.com/business/article/48343 Global emissions of carbon dioxide from the energy sector stalled in 2014, marking the first time in 40 years in which there was a halt or reduction in emissions of the greenhouse gas that was not tied to an economic downturn, according to new data from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
“This gives me even more hope that humankind will be able to work together to combat climatechange, the most important threat facing us today,” said IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol, recently named to take over from Maria van der Hoeven as the next IEA Executive Director.
Global emissions of carbon dioxide stood at 32.3 billion tonnes in 2014, unchanged from the preceding year. The preliminary IEA data suggest that efforts to mitigate climate change may be having a more pronounced effect on emissions than had previously been thought.
In OECD economies, recent efforts to promote more sustainable growth – including greater energy efficiency and more renewable energy – are producing the desired effect of decoupling economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions.
“This is both a very welcome surprise and a significant one,” added Birol. “It provides much-needed momentum to negotiators preparing to forge a global climate deal in Paris in December: for the first time, greenhouse gas emissions are decoupling from economic growth.”
Japan’s TEPCO is protected by the “nuclear village”
How does Tepco get away with it? It’s protected from on high by the “nuclear village,” Tokyo’s answer to the military-industrial complex that is said to hold sway in Washington.
This alliance of pro-nuclear politicians, bureaucrats and power companies promotes reactors over safer forms of energy like solar, wind or geothermal, and works to shield utilities from competition and global standards.
It’s Time for Japan to Punish Tepco, Bloomberg 18 MAR 10, 2015 By William Pesek Fishermen trawling the waters off Japan’s eastern coast have been alleging for a while that radioactive water was again spilling into the Pacific from the Fukushima power plant that melted down after a massive earthquake in 2011. On Feb. 24, Tokyo Electric Power Co., which is responsible for the site, admitted those suspicions were justified. And it turns out that Tepco knew about this latest radioactive leak since last May — and the giant utility said nothing for almost a year.
In the 15 days since Tepco finally confessed, have investigators raided its Tokyo headquarters? Have regulators demanded that heads roll? Has Prime Minister Shinzo Abe used his bully pulpit to demand accountability from the company that gave the world its worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl? In any other major democracy, those steps would have been obvious. But none have occurred in Japan. And that raises troubling questions not just about Tepco’s corporate governance, but the rampant cronyism enabling it. Continue reading
45,000 people rally against nuclear power in Taiwan
45,000 people join anti-nuclear rallies in Taiwan, Straits Times, MAR 14, 2015 TAIPEI (AFP) – Thousands of people took to the streets in Taiwan on Saturday to call for the island to scrap its use of nuclear energy and to voice opposition to controversial plans to ship nuclear waste abroad, organisers said.
Protesters in central Taipei waved placards and dressed in T-shirts emblazoned with slogans including “Goodbye to nuclear energy” and “We don’t need nuclear power”, just days after Japan marked the fourth anniversary of an undersea earthquake which triggered a massive tsunami and nuclear disaster.
Taiwan’s government has faced growing public pressure over its unpopular nuclear energy facilities……….
We urge the government to reform its energy policy and focus on green energy and saving energy,” said one of the rally’s organisers Tsui Shu-hsin.
“Politicians should listen to the voices of the people… so Taiwan can become nuclear-free.” The government says that Taiwan will run out of energy if it ditches nuclear power, which currently supplies about 20 per cent of the island’s electricity.
The Taipei rally drew around 30,000 people, while two other rallies held simultaneously across the island had a combined turnout of 15,000, according to estimates by organisers. Police estimates were not immediately available.
Organisers were also collecting signatures in a bid to stop a plan by the state-run Taiwan Power Co to process its nuclear waste abroad, which they said was aimed at extending the operations of two plants which are approaching capacity.
The plants, which currently store the spent fuel rods, were launched in 1978 and 1981 and will each be decommissioned once they have been operational for 40 years.
“Taiwan is earthquake-prone like Japan and it is smaller so nuclear facilities are much closer to our homes,” said Wu Bor-chyun, a banker who was living in Japan at the time of the 2011 nuclear accident.
“Nuclear power is not safe and it is very costly. Taiwan should heed the lessons in Japan.”http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/east-asia/story/45000-people-join-anti-nuclear-rallies-taiwan-20150314#sthash.Y0GCWbnB.dpuf
Nuclear lobby putting pressure on Queensland government
Lobby groups asks for consultation on uranium ban, Brisbane Times March 15, 2015 Amy Remeikis Queensland state political reporter Fairfax Media revealed on Saturday that Labor intended on sticking to its long-held policy on uranium mining and would reverse the 2012 decision by the Newman government to lift it.
But the Queensland Resources Council, which originally had declined to comment on the measure, was moved to issue a statement on Sunday, asking for consultation.
“Before rushing to a decision, we would ask the government to consult the QRC and companies with uranium interests on its intentions concerning uranium,” it said in its statement……http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/lobby-groups-asks-for-consultation-on-uranium-ban-20150315-144dpo.html
Tortuous progress between Labor and Coalition on deal about Renewable Energy Target
Labor and Coalition inch towards deal on renewable energy target Guardian, Lenore Taylor, 15 Mar 15 Opposition leader Bill Shorten talks up the urgency of a deal as cabinet meets to consider report on the lack of progress on reaching an agreement The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, has convened a meeting of the renewable energy industry on Monday in an apparent attempt to gather support to put a compromise position to the Abbott government over the renewable energy target.Also on Monday, cabinet will discuss a joint letter from the environment minister,Greg Hunt, and the industry minister, Ian Macfarlane – effectively an update on the lack of progress in the RET negotiations…….
Renewable industry sources expect Shorten will use the meeting to try to reach an agreed position on a compromise to put to the government – higher than its current 31,000-gigawatt- hour stance but lower than Labor’s previous position. A compromise could possibly be around 34,000 gigawatt hours.
The chief executive of the clean energy council, Kane Thornton, said the government’s current position was “clearly unacceptable to industry”.
Shorten has invited industry, union and renewable energy representatives to his Monday summit.
As well as the overall target, industry has been urging the government to deal with a glut of renewable energy certificates in the market, perhaps by extending the end date of the scheme. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/15/labor-and-coalition-inch-towards-deal-on-renewable-energy-target
Bill Shorten to host summit on Renewable Energy Target
Shorten to host RET summit BILL Shorten will today meet unions, business groups and the clean energy industry on the renewable energy target. (subscribers only)
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/bill-shorten-to-host-a-summit-on-finding-a-compromise-on-ret/story-fn59niix-1227263839307
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of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 