Australia’s Anti – nuclear fight goes to Canada
Canadian company Cameco is behind plans for two controversial uranium mines in Western Australia – Kintyre in the Pilbara and Yeelirrie in the Northern Goldfields, which will be at the forefront of issues raised by the Australian delegation alongside the emerging issues with the South Australian Royal Commission into the nuclear industry.
The Symposium will examine the human and environmental impacts of the industry, with the Australian delegation presenting sessions on the nuclear fuel chain legacy in Australia, Indigenous Rights and the nuclear fuel chain and the intergenerational health impacts of nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
The Symposium will be followed by the 5th International Uranium Film Festival, which will feature the Australian film “Protecting Manuwangku”, documenting the successful struggle of Warlmanpa Traditional Owners to stop a national radioactive dump at Muckaty in the Northern Territory.
Follow the tour via the ANFA website and via twitter on #uranium2015.
The Australian delegation includes:
• Barb Shaw, Australian Nuclear Free Alliance co-chair (Alice Springs)
“Nationally we meet once a year with common issues on common ground, we’re now taking that internationally where people are fighting and struggling with the same things we’re facing back at home. My expectations for the next few days is networking and sharing solutions”
• Peter Watts, Australian Nuclear Free Alliance co-chair (Arabunna Nation)
“What we’re digging up at home has consequences for every corner of the globe. I’m devastated that the uranium dug up from our country has such far reaching consequences globally, not just locally”
• Debbie Carmody, Tjuma Pulka Radio Station Kalgoorlie (Anangu/Spinifex)
“People don’t always connect the mining with the end result, for example, what has happened at Fukushima”
• Dave Sweeney, Australian Conservation Foundation
“People from all around the world are in Canada sharing stories about the dangers and the environmental impacts of all aspects of the nuclear trade. From the land of the maple leaf to the land of the gum leaf, there is no place for the nuclear trade. It is not sustainable and it is not welcome.”
• Gem Romuld, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
• Marcus Atkinson, Footprints for Peace, Anti-nuclear Alliance of Western Australia
Contact the delegation
Gem Romuld: (+1) 865 919 4562 gemromuld@gmail.com
Australian Contacts:
Sue Coleman-Haseldine – ANFA : 0458 544 593
Natalie Wasley- Beyond Nuclear Initiative: 0429 900 774
Mia Pepper -Conservation Council WA: 0415 380 808
Media gagged: Energy resources of Australia can’t afford to rehabilitate Ranger uranium mine?
Media banned from Rio Tinto’s ERA AGM after concerns about uranium mine rehabilitation, ABC News By Joanna Crothers 14 Apr 15 Media outlets have been banned from the annual general meeting of a Rio Tinto-owned company that operates the Ranger Uranium Mine in the Northern Territory amid concerns the company does not have enough money to rehabilitate the site once it finishes production.
The mine, near Jabiru which is surrounded by Kakadu National Park, 230 kilometres east of Darwin, is run by Energy Resources of Australia (ERA).
ERA is majority-owned by mining giant Rio Tinto. Ranger Uranium Mine is one of Australia’s three operating uranium mines.
On Monday, the NT Environment Centre said it had “major concerns” ERA would no longer be able to afford the full cost of rehabilitation, estimated at $512 million, due to suffering substantial losses over the past few years.
The company reported a $136 million loss for the 2013-14 financial year which was an $83 million improvement on the previous year.
ERA has said rehabilitation is funded under its current business plan, but if a proposed underground mine known as Three Deeps is not developed it may require another source of funding to pay for all of the rehabilitation works.
Environment Centre spokeswoman Lauren Mellor said she would raise these concerns at ERA’s AGM being held in Darwin today. Media have been told they cannot attend the meeting, even without recording devices, despite journalists having been able to attend previous ERA AGMs.
Speeches from the AGM have been published on the ERA website.
On Monday, Ms Mellor said she wanted to know whether parent company Rio Tinto would cover costs of rehabilitation should ERA be unable to pay.
“We’ll be asking to board of ERA whether they believe that the parent company, who does have the financial capacity to achieve rehabilitation, should be held responsible in the event that ERA no longer has the money to achieve this huge cyclical challenge of rehabilitating Kakadu National Park.
“What we’ve been seeing is Rio Tinto as a major shareholder, which is certainly not short of cash in the way that ERA is, trying to deflect criticism and attention and its corporate ties to this particular project and sidestep that responsibility.”……..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-14/concerns-rio-tinto-era-wont-pay-for-ranger-mine-rehabilitation/6390600
Sale of uranium to India is NOT a done deal, despite Julie Bishop’s enthusiasm for it
However, the deal has run into opposition at the parliamentary committee level in Canberra where the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties has yet to submit its report on the deal. In February this year, the committee held several hearings with nuclear experts opposed to the deal because of India’s refusal to sign the NPT (Non-Proliferation treaty).
Australian Minister upbeat on clearing snags in n-deal http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/australian-minister-julie-bishop-upbeat-on-clearing-snags-in-ndeal/article7099688.ece
Hopes that framework for trade can be fixed in 2015
The Australian government is confident of resolving issues over the civil nuclear deal when officials meet next week, said visiting Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. “Given that the United States and Canada have come to an understanding with India that satisfies their requirements, I don’t see why Australia cannot,” Ms. Bishop told journalists during a closed-door interaction in Delhi. The Foreign Minister also said she hoped the framework for uranium trade could be concluded in 2015.
India and Australia signed the civil nuclear deal in September 2014, which would have enabled Australia to supply uranium to India, once the treaty was ratified by Australian parliament. Continue reading
David Noonan’s Submission to the South Australian Nuclear Royal Commission, proposed Terms of Reference
Monday 9 March 2015, David Noonan, B.Sc., M.Env.St
To: The Attorney-General’s Department of South Australia
Re: Public submission to the SA Nuclear Royal Commission, proposed Terms of Reference
Nuclear is not ‘peaceful’. Nuclear waste imposes unique risks and unacceptable impacts. Nuclear actions before this Commission are National issues affecting the rights and interests of all Australians. No State administration has a right to impose nuclear risks and impacts on others.
Proposed Term of Reference to direct the Nuclear Royal Commission:
“To inquire into and report on the Democratic and Legal Rights, and the Civil and Human Rights, including to Environmental Protection, to Sustainability, to Health and to Non-Imposition of Nuclear actions, that are at stake and subject to nuclear actions before this Commission.”
Political Leadership in South Australia by Liberal Premier John Olsen in 2000 prohibited International and key National nuclear wastes. Nuclear waste proposals before this Commission are illegal in SA.
Under the “Nuclear Waste Storage Facility (Prohibition) Act 2000”, the import, transport, storage and disposal of any wastes derived from nuclear reactors, or uranium enrichment plants, or from the conditioning and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, is prohibited. The construction and operation of such nuclear waste facilities is against the law in our State. The Objects of this important Act are:
“to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people of South Australia and to protect the environment in which they live by prohibiting the establishment of certain nuclear waste storage facilities in this State.”
Continue reading
South Australia’s Premier Jay Weatherill stunned NT Treasurer in his U turn on nuclear power
NT Treasurer stunned by nuclear about-turn in SA Financial Review, by Simon Evans 15 Apr 15 The Northern Territory Treasurer is amazed by the backflip on nuclear policy in South Australia.
Dave Tollner was part of John Howard’s government more than a decade ago when South Australia’s Labor Premier Mike Rann waged a vigorous battle, which went all the way to the High Court, to stop a low-level nuclear waste dump being located in far north South Australia.”I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a turnaround,” he says.
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill’s royal commission into the potential establishment of a nuclear industry is now well into its first few weeks in South Australia and a likely final report is due early next year.
Mr Tollner, who is now in charge of the purse strings in the Northern Territory in a government led by Chief Minister Adam Giles, recalls the struggle by the Howard government to site a low-level dump near Woomera in far north South Australia which ended in 2004 after Mr Rann won a High Court challenge………
The decision by Mr Rann to oppose a low-level nuclear waste dump ultimately resulted in a federal government proposal almost 10 years later to site a dump on indigenous land at the remote Muckaty station in the Northern Territory. But that proposal also was abandoned when an agreement was terminated by traditional owners in June, 2014 leading federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane to seek proposals for a new location……..http://www.afr.com/business/nt-treasurer-stunned-by-nuclear-aboutturn-in-sa-20150414-1mks7n
Japanese court stops the restart of two nuclear reactors
Japan court blocks restarting of two nuclear reactors Yahoo News, 15 Apr 15 Tokyo (AFP) – A Japanese court on Tuesday issued a landmark injunction against the restarting of two atomic reactors, after the country’s nuclear watchdog had given the green light to switch them back on.
The district court in the central prefecture of Fukui made the temporary order in response to a bid by local residents to halt the restart of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the Takahama nuclear power plant, a court official said……..”the safety of the reactors hasn’t been secured”, the court ruled, saying the watchdog’s new standards were “lacking rationality”, according to public broadcaster NHK.
The reactors could be damaged by an earthquake even smaller than that envisaged in the safety standards, the court said……..
“This is the best decision that we could have expected,” he told supporters outside the courthouse.
Two other reactors at Takahama also remain offline.
Greenpeace hailed the court decision, saying it “could have a nationwide ripple effect on similar pending injunction cases — threatening to derail the Japanese government?s nuclear reactor plans”.
A separate court ruling on the restart of two other reactors in southern Japan is expected later this month. –
“This can be seen as a warning from the court, which told the (plant) operator that it has to better explain its resumption plans,” Miyano said……..
But Japan has seen a groundswell of public opposition to the technology since Fukushima, where reactors went into meltdown after a tsunami swamped their cooling systems — setting off the worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
Japan’s entire stable of nuclear power stations was gradually switched off following the disaster, while tens of thousands of people were evacuated due to concerns about radiation exposure. Many are still unable to return to their homes and scientists have warned that some areas around the plant may remain uninhabitable for decades or more.https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/27100653/japan-court-blocks-restarting-of-two-nuclear-reactors/
- AFP
- April 14, 2015
Safety problems in world’s biggest reactor cast doubt on the future of the global nuclear industry
Unfinished nuclear plants raise safety doubts. April 13, 2015 A new generation of giant reactors, meant to provide fresh hope for nuclear power in Europe, has been found to have a serious safety problem. By Paul Brown Climate News Network
LONDON − The future of the world’s biggest nuclear reactor, under construction at Flamanville in northern France, is now in doubt after a serious flaw was found in its steel pressure vessel.
Examination has shown that the steel contains too much carbon, which can weaken the vessel’s structure and breaches safety rules. The Chinese, who have two similar 1,600 megawattEuropean Pressurised Reactors under construction, have been warned that they too may share the potentially catastrophic problem.
Investigations are continuing to check whether the problem can be rectified, but whatever happens it will add more delays and greater costs to the already troubled projects.
The problem also casts doubt on the much-heralded nuclear renaissance in Europe, where EPR reactors are being built not only in France but also in Finland.
Four more are planned for Britain, where they form a cornerstone of the UK government’s policy to fight climate change. A decision on whether to go ahead with the first two in the UK has already been postponed twice, and this revelation will cause further delays. Continue reading
Aboriginal women speak out for a Treaty
Aboriginal women on why Australia needs a treaty https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/58715 Thursday, April 9, 2015 By Rachel Evans & Richard Fan More than 150 people filled the Redfern Community Centre on March 20 to discuss a treaty for Australia’s first people.
Organised by Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney (STICS), the event was hosted by veteran journalist Jeff McMullen and televised by National Indigenous TV. As coverage of female Aboriginal voices are rare among mainstream discourses, their retelling of their pasts and hopes for the future captivated the room.
Natalie Cromb, a Gamileraay woman, said that a treaty “would help the Australian government keep its word to the Aboriginal people”. She noted the ongoing debates between treaty and constitutional recognition and argued that the British colonisers fashioned three legal ways to justify their occupation: “First it was settlement, second through conquest, then third through succession — where sovereignty was ceded and agreement was reached between the parties.”
Cromb observed that Britain occupied the land, declared terra nullius and declared that Australia’s Indigenous people were an absent, fading race. “Terra nullius was deliberate and the average Australian does not know about this history of rapes, murders, and genocidal policies, and that it was also used to deny compensation,” she said.
Cromb said that a treaty “is vital to our solution. It would be a first meaningful step. A treaty is the insurance policy we need to hold the government to account. But we are still at the bottom of the social pyramid. We are having water switched off in communities. We know constitutional change won’t stop the removal of our people.”
Amala Groom, a Wiradjuri woman and founding member of Aboriginal Rights Coalition (ARC) and STICS, noted that a treaty “would recognise the sovereignty of the First Nations over their land”, and secure the right of self-determination which was promised when Australia ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 40 years ago. Continue reading
South Australian government gives funding for mining exploration
SA Government commits $2 million to mining exploration projects
The South Australian Government says now is the time to invest in exploration projects, after granting a range of mining companies funding for exploration drilling. …
Resources and Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said it would enable those companies to stimulate the next crop of greenfield discoveries.
Media player: “Space” to play, “M” to mute, “left” and “right” to seek.
“This is the way to build our extensive knowledge of what deposits we have in South Australia, we spend a lot of money on pre-competitive data, going out doing geological surveys to try and understand where the copper is, where the uranium is, where the iron-ore is,” he said. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-13/sa-government-mining-exploration-grants-drilling/6389166
Australian Capital Territory a winner for renewable energy jobs
ACT renewable energy jobs soar in past five years April 14, 2015 Henry Belot Canberra Times Reporter The number of jobs in the ACT renewable energy industry has increased by more than 400 percent over the past five years, the largest increase in Australia.
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics data released earlier this week, 630 people were employed by the renewable energy industry last year with 480 employed by the government or non-profit institutions and 150 in solar power.
But while the ABS figures indicated a growth in ACT employment they revealed more than 2000 jobs had been lost in the industry nationwide over the past two years.
Some 12,590 people were employed full-time in the wind, solar and other renewable energy industries last year down from almost 15,000 two years earlier…….
In late 2013, the ACT government legislated a 90 percent renewable energy target for the territory by 2020 drawing praise from the Climate Council as a welcome contrast to federal uncertainty. …………
Mr Antflick Elementus Energy manager director Ashleigh Antflick,said he expected the solar farm, which will be relocated from a proposed site near the Uriarra village to beside the Monaro Highway at Williamsdale, to be a long-term stable employer of skilled labour in the ACT.
“We are looking at working with a number of tertiary education institutions in the territory to be part of their skills programs for undergraduate and technical training programs,” he said.
Mr Antflick said the ACT government and broader community were supportive or major solar power investments despite a concerted public relations campaign from Uriarra villagers to relocate the solar farm.
“There is a pretty clear understanding by territorians of the broader climatic benefits of solar energy and I think broad support for doing something to make a positive contribution to climate change,” he said. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/act-renewable-energy-jobs-soar-in-past-five-years-20150414-1mku8a.html
Queensland’s Newman government gutted the renewable energy industry
Campbell Newman’s LNP government ‘gutted’ renewable energy industry RENEWABLE energy jobs in Queensland fell by over a third under the Liberal National Party government, Energy Minister Mark Bailey says., Courier Mail, 15 Apr 15
Mr Bailey said new Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed a third of jobs in the sector vanished under the previous state government.
He said actions such as the former government’s cuts to the renewable energy target had caused the loss of 1300 jobs.
“No wonder jobs were vanishing under the LNP when they were removing any incentive for businesses to look at industries of the future like renewables,” Mr Bailey said………
Mr Bailey said the current Labor Government’s commitment to the solar sector, a renewable energy target and a renewable energy auction would grow jobs for the sector.
But the deputy opposition leader said he was yet to see any detailed government plan to create jobs.http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/campbell-newmans-lnp-government-gutted-renewable-energy-industry/story-fnihsrf2-1227303819258
Nuclear physicist Alvin Weinberg warned on the lethal risks of nuclear power
Top US Nuclear Physicist: “Iodine-131 will be lethal after ingestion of 30 billionths of a gram” — Main worry is not a Chernobyl-type accident, rather it’s a melt-through of containment vessel — “Not possible to disprove China Syndrome” http://enenews.com/top-nuclear-physicist-iodine-131-will-be-lethal-after-ingestion-30-billionths-gram-main-worry-chernobyl-type-accident-melt-containment-vessel-possible-disprove-china-syndrome?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29 The hazards of nuclear power plants and the related nuclear industries are reviewed
Alvin M. Weinberg, nuclear physicist (Director of Oak Ridge National Lab and pioneered the pressurized water reactors and boiling water reactors used in nuclear power plants, worked on the Manhattan Project, appointed to President’s Science Advisory Committee during the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations), 1973:
- [A]re there concerns regarding the possibility that these systems may malfunction and cause hazard to people and to the environment? This is a perfectly legitimate question that deserves serious and thoughtful consideration; and it is this aspect of the matter that I shall address… The potential hazard of a nuclear system arises from the toxicity both of the materials that keep the system burning and from the fission product ashes. Plutonium-239… is lethal to man in doses of about 16 thousandths of a gram if ingested in the lungs; Strontium-90, with a half-life of 30 years, will be lethal if about 70 millionths of a gram is ingested; Iodine-131, with a half-life of eight days, will be lethal after ingestion of only about 30 billionths of a gram.
Tax-payers $billions in auction for Abbott govt’s Direct Action scheme
Direct Action: Billions of taxpayers’ dollars up for grabs in Government-run auction to buy pollution, ABC News 15 Apr 15 By national environment reporter Jake Sturmer and Lisa Main The centrepiece of the Federal Government’s flagship climate policy begins today, with billions of taxpayers’ dollars up for grabs in a Government-run auction to buy pollution.
The Government’s flagship Direct Action climate policy was designed to replace the carbon tax, which was removed in July last year.
At its core is the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF), which is designed to do the heavy lifting in reducing Australia’s emissions, but analysts who have modelled the scheme doubt it will work.
Comprised of $2.5 billion of taxpayers’ money, the ERF will directly pay polluters not to pollute and, among other things, encourage farmers to develop carbon sinks.
Around 250 projects are eligible to bid in this first auction according to the Clean Energy Regulator, with most of those in the land sector.
Bidders will include farmers who allow their property to revegetate with native bushland and piggeries that capture methane released from their animals.
The auction began at 9:00am (AEST) today and closes at 5:00pm tomorrow, with bidders committing how much they will reduce emissions by and then setting a price per tonne of carbon……..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-15/direct-action-taxpayer-dollars-up-for-grabs-in-auction/6392634
2,500 jobs lost through Abbott govt’s attack on renewable energy
Renewable energy sector has lost almost 2,500 jobs in last two years, says ABS report, ABC News, 13 Apr 15 By national environment reporter Jake Sturmer The renewable energy sector has lost almost 2,500 jobs in the last two years, according to official figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Job numbers in the sector peaked between 2011 and 2012 at 14,890, but fell by 15 per cent to 12,590 (a loss of 2,300 jobs) between 2013 and 2014.
Uncertainty surrounding the future of the Renewable Energy Target (RET) hit the sector hard, with industry groups claiming investment in clean technology has virtually stalled.
Major political parties are currently locked in a standoff over how much to cut the RET by, with the Government rejecting a proposal backed by Labor and the Clean Energy Council for a 33,500 gigawatt hour target………
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ first report into renewable energy employment highlighted how Government policies influence job levels in the sector via taxes, subsidies and pricing policies.
“Uncertainty over the future of the RET, or over the size of the renewable power percentage, is likely to have a flow on effect on future investment in renewable energy infrastructure,” the report said.
Since 2011-12 all mainland Australian states have experienced a decline in annual direct [full time equivalent] employment in renewable energy activities.”
Among the hardest hit were the states of Queensland and Western Australia.
“The largest such fall was in Queensland, where employment fell by 34 per cent from 3,820 to 2,520 between 2011-12 and 2013-14,” the report said.
“For the same period, Western Australia experienced a fall of 920 (from 1,740 to 820), or 53 per cent.”
The report shows the industry grew by 41 per cent between 2009 and 2010 and the peak of 2011-2012. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-13/renewable-energy-job-losses/6389242
The Parkinson Report: renewable investment near zero, but rooftop solar grows
Australian renewable investment plunges to near zero, but rooftop solar grows http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/australian-renewable-investment-plunges-to-near-zero-but-rooftop-solar-grows-93815 By Giles Parkinson on 14 April 2015 The crisis affecting investment in large-scale renewable energy projects in Australia has deepened, with new analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance pointing to a 90 per cent drop in the 12 months to March 31, thanks to policy uncertainty under the Abbott government.
The BNEF data shows new investment Australian large-scale renewable energy projects tumbled in the 12 months to March 31 was just $206.9 million – a fall of 90 per cent – and only one large scale renewable energy project (worth $6.6 million) was financed in the first quarter.
But the data hides an even worse story. Of that $206.9 million, $160 million came from government agencies – such as the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation – that the Coalition government is trying to scrap. Without that support, investment would have been virtually zero. The one project to get financed in the latest quarter was for a unique floating solar pilot project in South Australia.
BNEF says the dramatic drop is almost entirely due to the policy uncertainty brought about by the election of the Abbott Coalition government, and attempts by key members to firstly scrap, and now severely cut the previously bipartisan target of 41,000GWh by 2020.
The Clean Energy Council, supported by Labor and key industry groups, has proposed a compromise of 33,500GWh, but so far the Abbott government has refused to budge from its position of 32,000GWh. Industry minister Ian Macfarlane has indicated that even that figure is too high for many in Cabinet.
The BNEF data shows new investment Australian large-scale renewable energy projects tumbled in the 12 months to March 31 was just $206.9 million – a fall of 90 per cent – and only one large scale renewable energy project (worth $6.6 million) was financed in the first quarter.
This followed zero investment in large scale projects in the previous quarter. BNEF noted the exit of Banco Santander, the world’s third largest clean energy lender, from the Australian market, as reported by RenewEconomy here.
In contrast, the uptake of rooftop PV by households and businesses has been largely unaffected, with about 195MW of rooftop PV capacity in the sub-100kW category installed in the first quarter, a 7 per cent increase on the same quarter a year ago.
The data came as new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Monday showed the number of renewable energy jobs in Australia had fallen by 2,300 or 15 per cent up to June 30, 2014 – not including the latest downturn.
The Abbott government is hoping to strike an agreement with cross-bench Senators, many of whom are actively anti-wind and involved in a Senate-sponsored wind inquiry. However, Ricky Muir, from the Motorists Party, said he wanted a bipartisan agreement between the two parties.
He suggested Labor could even drop to the 32,000GWh limit demanded by the Coalition, with the idea of lifting the target if elected at the next election. That, Muir said, would at least provide a floor for investment.
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 