Wrapup of Australian nuclear and climate news
SOUTH AUSTRALIA NUCLEAR FUEL CHAIN ROYAL COMMISSION. Aboriginal women will fight on against nuclear waste dumping in South Australia. Nuclear lobby plans to further override South Australia’s Aboriginal Heritage Act. Nuclear Royal Commission plans for radioactive trash dumping on Aboriginal land: a confusing issue
Radioactive trash returning to Lucas Heights by ship from France. Outcry in France over nuclear waste shipment to Australia. Safety concerns over transport of radioactive trash returning to Australia.
Australian Conservation Foundation debunks argument for Mount Isa radioactive trash dump bid.
Energy resources of Australia abandons plan to expand Ranger uranium mine.
Political Oblivion for climate villains Abbott and Harper. Australian government withdraws funding offer to Bjorn Lomborg’s anti climate action centre.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt full of praise for Clean Energy Finance Corporation Malcolm Turnbull won’t back Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Australia’s chance to become a renewable energy superpower. Queensland’s revolutionary solar energy systems – on carparks and other commercial buildings. Kerang, Victoria, gets economic boost from Lalbert solar farm. Wind farms seek contracts in Australian Capital Territory. With solar power, rooftop panels have exceeded grid parity.
3 compelling reasons why Adani’s Mega Coal Mine Is Still In Trouble. Deloitte Access Economics warning after Turnbull government approves Adani mine. Carmichael coal mine conditions are not ‘strict’. Traditional owners reject a Land Use Agreement with Adani for the Carmichael mine on our traditional lands. Conservationists consider a new appeal against Adani coal mine
5 million hectares of Northern Territory land joins Indigenous Protected Area (IPA). Indigenous owners will manage huge new protected area in New South Wales.
#NuclearCommissionSAust plans for radioactive trash dumping on Aboriginal land: a confusing issue
SA Royal Commission: Nuke waste dump on Aboriginal land? Really?, Independent Australia Noel Wauchope 23 October 2015 THIS IS clearly a terribly important question that needs discussion. When and if theNuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission (RC) ultimately results in establishing a nuclear waste import business in South Australia, it is a certain bet that it will be on Aboriginal land.
There are relatively few published submissions from Aboriginal people and organisations. However, these cannot be easily lumped into pro or anti nuclear boxes. There are some passionately anti nuclear ones. There are no passionately pro nuclear ones, but there’s more than a hint of support in the two submissions that take an apparently neutral stance. The RC has allowed Aboriginal people to choose whether or not their submissions are published.
A pro nuclear submission might evoke condemnation from environmentalists and other Aboriginal groups. This fact is recognised in the submission by Maralinga Tjarutja and Yalata Community Incorporated: …..
Transport of nuclear waste is dangerous. Lucas Heights reactor should be closed
Nuclear waste likely to be transported through the Illawarra, ABC News, 23 Oct 15 Ainslie Drewitt-Smith, Nuclear waste shipped from France to Australia is likely to land at Port Kembla.The ABC understands the 25 tonnes of treated waste is being returned to the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in November, and is already on a cargo ship bound for the port.
It’s expected the intermediate-level waste will be transferred to trucks, before being transported to the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).
Greens MLC John Kaye said transporting the waste through the Illawarra is risky. “It’s a very low probability event that there would be an accident, but if there is, it’s a very high consequence accident,” Dr Kaye said.
“Our concern with the nuclear cycle has always been nine times out of ten it’s fine, but then there’s one episode, and when that one episode happens, the results are totally catastrophic.”
The waste was sent to France in the 1990s to be processed, but its return to Australia was inevitable.While there were no issues with the original movement of the waste more than a decade ago, Dr Kaye said it’s not worth trying it again.
“The nuclear waste is set in a kind of glass, it’s then encased in a stainless steel vessel, but you can never keep anything 100 per cent safe,” he said. “The problem is, if there is an accident and one of those caskets is breached, the consequences for the local population are huge.”
Dr Kaye said ANSTO should be shut.
“This is a legacy of some very bad decision making that’s been happening in relation to Lucas Heights. It should have been shut ages ago,” he said.
“There should have been serious money invested into the alternative for isotopes used in medicine. Instead, we’ve continued with the same out of date process for creating these isotopes. It’s created this legacy of waste……..
ANSTO has confirmed in a statement on its website, the waste is on its way to Australia, but hasn’t said whether the material will land at Port Kembla, or be trucked through the Illawarra.
“Spent nuclear fuel was sent to France for reprocessing over four shipments in the 1990s and early 2000s, and the waste arising from that reprocessing operation is required under French law to have left that country by the end of 2015……..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-23/nuclear-waste-likely-to-be-transported-through-the-illawarra/6878860
Confirmed radiation caused cancer in Fukushima: many more cases on the way
“Thyroid cancer is commonly developed as a result of acute exposure to radioactive iodine 131, a product of nuclear fission…”
The British journalist also highlighted that the scientists have failed to mention that other radioactive elements emitted in the accident pose even more of a threat to the population’s health (in particular, 17.5 percent Cesium-137 and 38.5 percent Cesium 134).
Fukushima: Hundreds of Radiation-Related Cancer Cases on the Way in Japan, http://sputniknews.com/asia/20151023/1029014961/fukushima-radiation-cancer-threat-japan.html, 23 Oct 15 The Japanese government has recently admitted that a worker at the Fukushima nuclear plant contracted cancer as a consequence of radiation exposure of 2011, British journalist Oliver Tickell points out, warning that there are many more cases on the way.
The Japanese government has officially confirmed that a worker at the Fukushima nuclear plant has contracted radiation-related cancer: the man has been diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukaemia.“But that single ‘official’ cancer case is just the beginning. New scientific research indicates that hundreds more cancers have been and will be contracted in the local population. A 30-fold excess of thyroid cancer has been detected among over 400,000 young people below the age of 18 from the Fukushima area,” British journalist, author and health and environment issue campaigner Oliver Tickell wrote in his article for The Ecologist, citing a report entitled “Thyroid Cancer Detection by Ultrasound Among Residents Ages 18 Years and Younger in Fukushima, Japan: 2011 to 2014.” Continue reading
Don’t let Western Australia be a radioactive quarry and waste dump
CCWA Campaign: Let’s keep WA nuclear free! Don’t let WA be a radioactive quarry and waste dump http://ccwa.org.au/campaigns/nuclearfreewa
(Check out the information provided here about uranium exploration in WA and the Kintyre, Wiluna, Mulga Rock and Yeelirrie uranium mine proposals – and radiation and health issues)
Nuclear Free WA , 23 Oct 15 WA has never had a commercial uranium mine; we’ve had state wide bans on uranium mining and federal restrictions on uranium mining and a long history of public opposition.
After the 2007 state election the newly elected State Liberal Government lifted a long standing ban on uranium in WA. This came shortly after the Australian Labor Party changed the three mine policy which has since the 1980s meant that there could only be three uranium mines operating in Australia. With these two decisions WA has become the target for many uranium miners.
There are now approximately 140 companies with uranium interests in WA, there are three proposed mines which are engaged in the State’s EPA approvals process followed closely by another two proposals which are advancing their exploration programs followed by about 80 + other uranium explorations.
Uranium mining in WA is not a done deal
No uranium mine has been approved in WA at a state level or a federal level and there is mounting concern in the communities about the dangers and implications of mining uranium. There are strong calls for a public inquiry into uranium mining from environment, social justice and public health groups, from traditional owners, unions and politicians.
WA has a strong history of opposition against the nuclear industry, we know it’s radioactive, we know that uranium and its by products can cause cancer, we know uranium mining and milling is water intensive and that we’re a dry state, we know that in Australia despite regulations and controls we have contaminated mine sites and weapons test sites that have never been cleaned up to a safe standard.
Nuclear and climate change
The nuclear industry and those who support it continue to talk about nuclear power being the solution to climate change, but we know there is carbon pollution associated with every stage of the nuclear fuel chain. We know that as ore grades decline mining and milling processes become more and more carbon intensive. Nuclear Power is polluting, radioactive, expensive and finite; it is unsafe, unwanted and un-necessary.
Low level radiation and cancer – a very real issue in St Louis, USA
The threat of low-level radiation http://www.cbsnews.com/news/is-radiation-to-blame-for-st-louis-county-cancer-cases/ VINITA NAIR CBS NEWS October 21, 2015, NORTH ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo.— A study released Wednesday by the World Health Organization said long-term exposure to radiation — even low levels — can dramatically increase the risk of dying from cancer.Carl Chappell lost his 44-year-old son Steven to appendix cancer three months ago. CBS News talked with him and six of his neighbors, all of whom either had cancer or lost a parent or child to it.
They all grew up in North St. Louis County, where radioactive material left over from America’s nuclear weapons program was stored — thousands of dirty barrels — near a creek than ran alongside their playgrounds and backyards.
Using social media, the neighbors said they’ve documented more than 2,700 cases of cancer, auto-immune diseases and tumors in their area. Below: Landfill West Lake, St Louis
“They’re not statistics and they’re not numbers,” Mary Oscko, who has stage 4 lung cancer, told CBS News. “They were my neighbors.”
Currently, the Army Corps of Engineers lists 24 other sites in 10 states with low-level radioactive contamination that they are in the process of cleaning up. There are three other contaminated sites still under consideration for clean up. A former chemical processing plant in Queens, New York is one of them. Radiation barriers were installed as a “band-aid” solution in 2013.
Michael Feldmann with the Army Corps of Engineers says the cleanup moves slowly for a reason.
“In general, there are things that we need to move at the pace we are performing in order to protect the health and environment of the area,” Feldmann said.
Dr. Fasial Kahn is the director of public health in St. Louis County.
“Some disasters unfold slowly over time, and their true nature and extent and severity only becomes clear in terms of human cost once you start counting people around you,” Kahn said.
In North St. Louis County, neighbors have a list to keep track of who’s gotten sick — including 21 people who lived on the same street.
The residents told CBS News they believe they had long-term exposure to the low level contamination, a type of prolonged exposure that has never been studied.
Greens back solar carparks in Queensland’ shopping centres
Greens want Queensland to back solar carparks in shopping centres, Brisbane Times, October 23, 2015 – A renewable energy developer who wants to roll out solar carports at shopping centres across Queensland says he isn’t trying to take on the mining industry.
Shakra Energy’s managing director Sam Khalil joined Greens senators Sarah Hanson-Young and Larissa Waters to unveil Australia’s “largest carport solar development” in Brisbane on Friday.
“We’re not trying to take on the mining industry on – we’re only trying to generate 20 to 30 to 40 per cent of what high energy users need (and) reduce the carbon emissions,” he told AAP.
“We’re not here to say let’s go head to head. We’re here to say – allow us to generate cleaner electricity, 20-30 per cent of the energy needed, more jobs and look past your nose.” Mr Khalil said it made sense that shopping centres should be able to use sunlit carports to generate their own power, saving them money and providing shade for customer’s vehicles. Shakra Energy installed more than 300 solar panels on shade structures on top of PA Central in Brisbane’s south, which is expected to generate 30 to 40 per cent of the energy needed to run the car park and several businesses at the centre.
……..Senator Waters challenged the Palaszczuk government to champion the idea and make Queensland a leader in clean energy innovation.
“While coal is in structural decline, renewable energy is on the up and up, generating new jobs and offering trade opportunities,” she said.
Clean energy alternatives would also help in the ongoing fight against global warming, Senator Hanson-Young said. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/greens-want-queensland-to-back-solar-carparks-in-shopping-centres-20151023-gkh0z0.html#ixzz3piL3BJhe
Australia’s military not up to date on climate change threats
Australia’s military stuck in the ‘wilderness’ over climate change, former ADF chief says, The Age, October 24, 2015 Peter Hannam Australia’s military planners have neglected climate change threats to the country and neighbours, leaving forces under-prepared for imminent and far-ranging challenges, say two retired senior officers – including a former Australian Defence Force chief………..
Michael Thomas, an army major who retired in June after 22 years of service, said the politicisation of climate change had been “a huge distraction to defence”.
“There are pockets of interest within the military on the subject but it’s not something that has captured the attention of our senior leadership,” Major Thomas said.
Both former military leaders outlined concerns in a recent report they wrote for the Climate Council and will lead a two-day panel at the Australian Defence Force Academy next week. They also detect a change of policy under new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
A Defence spokesperson said the department “has been actively monitoring and addressing the impacts of climate change for a number of years”.
The upcoming Defence White Paper – originally due for completion last September – will address the full ranges of challenges facing the ADF out to 2035 “including the security implications of climate variability and extreme weather events in our region and beyond”, the spokesperson said.http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/australias-military-stuck-in-the-wilderness-over-climate-change-former-adf-chief-says-20151023-gkgl20.html#ixzz3piGfAcFI
Turnbull Government defending Abbott plan to stop community from enforcing environment law
Greens Senators Larissa Waters & Nick McKim:
http://larissa-waters.greensmps.org.au/content/media-releases/turnbull-government-defending-abbott-plan-stop-community-enforcing-environmen
21 Oct 15: “The Attorney-General last night in Senate Estimates confirmed the Turnbull Government was still pushing Abbott’s plan to remove community rights to protect the environment.
Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens Deputy Leader and environment spokesperson, said:
“Trying to silence communities, farmers and everyone who cares about the environment is an atrocious idea and, if the Turnbull Government brings this on in the Senate, it will be defeated. …
“What’s the point of having environmental laws if government can ignore them, or allow huge coal companies to ignore them, and only allow people to complain about that if they live next door? …
Greens Senator for Tasmania and legal affairs spokesperson, Nick McKim said climate change was a global problem with implications for all Australians. …
“They [Citizens] are entitled to have a say about the massive coal mines that are helping to drive climate change, threatening groundwater and driving threatened species to extinction.”
“Only a tiny fraction of developments have been blocked through legal action under the EPBC Act, yet the Government wants to water down the small protections we have.” “Our judicial system does not exist to serve the sold-out coal interests of this government. It exists to uphold the law,” Senator McKim said.”
Fukushima region shaken by 5.5 earthquake
5.5 earthquake shakes Japan’s Fukushima & Miyagi regions Rt.com : 21 Oct, 2015 A 5.5-magnitude earthquake has hit near the Fukushima prefecture in Japan, with residents of some 10 other prefectures feeling the tremor.
The quake occurred off the northeast coast of Japan. No tsunami warning has been issued.
The epicenter was near the Fukushima coastline, at a depth of 30 kilometers.
People in affected areas of Japan took to Twitter to say they felt the tremor……..https://www.rt.com/news/319243-japan-earthquake-fukushima-miyagi/
Aborigines take coalmine worries to United Nations bodies and corporations
https://linksunten.indymedia.org/en/node/156417 Diet Simon, Linksunten Indymedia:
Account: Nuclear Worrier 20 Oct 15:
“Aborigines … have taken their worry that a planned coalmine will destroy [their ancestral country] … to several United Nations bodies and business corporations. The month-old right-of-centre Australian government has just re-approved the Carmichael mine the Indian Adani company, which has an appalling environmental and human rights record, wants to operate alongside the Reef in central-western Queensland. It would be Australia’s biggest coalmine and one of the biggest in the world.
The Wangan and Jagalingou people are asking the UN Special Rapporteur on cultural rights, the
UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the UN Working Group on human rights, transnational corporations and other business enterprises to help them resist the mine. … “
Western Australia’s Wave powered Desalination Plant Now Operational
ASX Announcement Friday, 23rd October, 2015 Wave Powered Desalination Plant • Wave powered desalination plant operational • First bottle presented to WA Water Minister Hon Mia Davies at AWA Conference http://carnegiewave.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/151023_DPP-ASX.pdf • MAK Water agency agreement extended to remote islands, first opportunities underway
Wave energy developer Carnegie Wave Energy Limited (ASX: CWE) is pleased to announce the world’s first wave energy powered seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant is fully integrated and operational. Carnegie’s desalination pilot plant on Garden Island (co-located with the Perth Wave Energy Project) was successfully commissioned off the electricity grid earlier this year, and is now fully integrated with the CETO wave energy power plant, meaning that the desalination plant is capable of running both off the grid and directly off hydraulic power from Carnegie’s wave project, or a combination of both.
The first bottle of wave-powered desalinated water produced was presented by Carnegie’s Chief Operating Officer, Greg Allen, to the Western Australian Minister for Water the Honourable Mia Davies MLA at the Australian Water Association’s (AWA) Annual Western Australian Conference today. Mr Allen presented on wave energy integrated desalination at the Conference timed to coincide with National Water Week (presentation attached). Carnegie’s Wave Powered Desalination Project won the 2014 AWA Innovation award.
South Australia LABOR ON NUCLEAR: WRONG WAY, GO BACK
Members of South Australia’s anti-nuclear coalition will gather outside the South Australian Labor Party’s State Conference at Adelaide’s Festival Theatre tomorrow morning Sat October 24 at 8am, calling on the SA Labor Party to keep legislation in place banning nuclear waste dumps in South Australia, and to keep the state on its path to becoming a global leader in renewable energy.
The State Government’s formation of a Royal Commission into the expansion of the nuclear industry in SA has led to concerns that a national or international nuclear waste dump is back on the cards for SA, a little over a decade after the last proposal for a waste dump near Woomera was defeated. This followed an extended campaign opposing the project, spearheaded by senior Aboriginal women – the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta.
In 2000, in response to growing public opposition to the proposal, the then Liberal Government passed legislation banning the disposal of certain types of nuclear waste in the state. This legislation was extended by the incoming Labor Government in 2003 to include all nuclear waste. The stated objective of the legislation is “to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people of South Australia and to protect the environment in which they live…”
“We are calling on the Labor Party to honour this commitment to protecting the health, safety and environment of South Australia,” said Nectaria Calan of the anti-nuclear coalition and Friends of the Earth Adelaide. ”Nuclear waste is not a business opportunity, it’s an intractable problem.”
“SA Labour was known as the party who fights nuclear waste dumps, not the one that builds them.”
“Expansion of the nuclear industry into nuclear energy would also have an impact on the fast growing renewables sector in the state,” said Ms Calan. “SA is already 40% renewable, and nuclear power is a poor partner because it does not have the flexibility needed to operate alongside renewable energy. Nuclear power is also highly subsidised, and is therefore likely to absorb subsidies that could be going to the renewables sector. This is one opportunity cost of nuclear energy.”
For comment contact: Nectaria Calan SA anti-nuclear coalition Friends of the Earth Adelaide 0432 388 665
Nuclear lobby plans to further override South Australia’s Aboriginal Heritage Act
IN the mire of technical jargon at the hearings of the Nuclear Fuel Chain Royal Commission South Australia, sometimes a little gem emerges on what they really want to happen.
Ploughing through the pitch of James Voss for importing radioactive trash, at the 15th October hearing, Philip White alerted me to this little gem, from Voss:
“There clearly has to be a siting undertaking – siting of facility for storage. Within that, there has to be a broad set of agreements with the host – with South Australia…. This might be an equivalency to the indenture agreement between Olympic Dam and the state.”
Sounds inoccuous, doesn’t it? But as Philip White says: “The indenture agreement precedent might sound great for them, but we need to expose the racism of that approach.”
Nectaria Calan comments – “That’s really interesting and corroborates our suspicions that the indenture is indeed a dangerous precedent for the nuclear industry in SA. Imagine a waste dump exempt from parts of the Radiation Protection Act.” Calan has previously written on this Act:
“exemptions from the Environmental Protection Act (1993) are of particular concern. The exclusion of this Act means that the Olympic Dam mine is not subject to the same environmental regulatory framework as other industrial projects in South Australia, and the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), which administers the Act, is excluded from its monitoring role. BHP’s environmental performance is instead the responsibility of the Minister for Mineral Resources Development, who, based on BHP’s own reports, has full discretion to approve or reject programmes for the management and rehabilitation of the environment, without any obligation to consult with other agencies.”
The Josephite SA Reconciliation Circle are well aware of the real effect of Roxby Downs (Indenture Ratification) Act , amended 2011. In their submission to the Royal Commission they state:
“Aboriginal Heritage Act
Our Members are particularly concerned that the Royal Commission is actually circulating
information that claims that the mining of uranium in SA is controlled by various legislative
safeguards including any protection afforded to Aboriginal Traditional Owners by the SA
Aboriginal Heritage Act.
Our members’ collective memory is very clear that the reverse is the actual truth. The 1982 SA
Roxby Downs Indenture Act initially for the original joint venturers, BP and Western Mining,
and later Western Mining and then BHP Billiton, EXEMPTED each operator from the
Aboriginal Heritage Act.
The Aboriginal Heritage Act needs to be
• reinstated as a genuine safeguard containing rules to be followed, and
• restored to its original strength
If this is not sufficient then Traditional Owners in our democracy need to be given the power
to refuse to have facilities on their lands – whether under native title or land rights legislation- that will imperil the health of their country, groundwater and the health of the
community members now and for future generations.”
Australian Conservation Foundation debunks argument for Mount Isa radioactive trash dump bid
Australian Conservation Foundation questions Mount Isa radioactive waste dump bid http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-20/environmentalists-question-mount-isa-radioactive-waste-dump-bid/6868404 By Zara Margolis The Australian Conservation Foundation says the creation a radioactive waste management facility in north-west Queensland will not be the economic saviour the region is looking for.
Last week, Mount Isa City Council voted to make a submission to the Federal Government to safely store Australia’s radioactive waste. Mayor Tony McGrady said the creation of a waste facility was timely given recent mining job cuts and could help secure future jobs.
However, nuclear-free campaigner Dave Sweeney said that would not happen and he was concerned pressure to secure the region’s economic future was clouding the council’s judgment.
“Mount Isa will not get the full information because people are already either ideologically leaning towards all things nuclear or so desperate to get a job in the door that they won’t look at the downside,” he said. “So our concern is that ideology, plus desperation, plus misleading or misinformation doesn’t make for a clear and considered basis.
“There’s a lot of misinformation, or missing information, about this process. This is not a big earner. We’re talking six long-term jobs and a small amount of money to be spread over a region or possibly a state in a community benefit package. “This is not a solution to the resource downturn or economic decline in Mount Isa.” The Commonwealth said other locations for the site could be considered, despite nominations having closed in May.
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 