Nuclear Royal Commission blocks lessons learned from Maralinga
The carefully engineered terms of reference for the Royal 
Commission into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle in South Australia are being used to block a thorough investigation of the ongoing effects of radiation from the fallout of the Maralinga bomb test on Indigenous communities across South Australia. This is the latest example of Kevin Scarce and the Royal Commission ignoring and disrespecting Aboriginal people. He can expect fierce resistance from Aboriginal people in the firing line from plans to dump high-level nuclear waste in South Australia and other plans to expand the state’s role in the nuclear industry.
Ms Rosemary Lester, a second generation survivor of the Maralinga atomic tests, met with Commissioner Scarce today, and asked him whether he would be making comment on the effects of radiation on Indigenous communities from the Maralinga bomb tests. The Commissioner said, ‘I’ll be reporting only on the effects on the entire community from the nuclear fuel cycle’. He stated that the history and effects of the Maralinga tests were outside the scope of the Commission’s terms of reference saying; ‘Issues of Maralinga are not linked to the terms of reference that I have’.
However, it is argued by Ms Lester, that a closer examination of the terms of reference require that the Commission enquires into the risks and opportunities associated with processing, management, storage and disposal of waste and that it includes an inquiry into the full impact of these on the South Australian community (incorporating regional, remote and Aboriginal communities) including potential impacts on health and safety. Moreover, the terms of reference clearly state that “consideration should be given, as appropriate, to their future impact…” Ms Lester argues that the Inquiry must investigate and consider Maralinga as a major incident of radiation exposure in South Australia that affected all Australians, especially remote Indigenous communities living across the Maralinga Tjarutja region, and that irreversible contamination continues to degrade the environment.
Leaving aside semantic interpretations of the terms of reference, there is unfinished business from Maralinga. It is a disgrace that Commissioner Scarce refuses to investigate these issues and it is a disgrace that the SA Government wants to increase radiological risks – risks that impact disproportionately on Aboriginal communities – when the health and environmental issues from Maralinga remain unresolved.
When pressed about the effects on Indigenous communities of the Ranger Uranium Mine in Northern Territory as a result of leaks and mismanagement of the waste storage, his response was that “The situation in Ranger is very different to other sites in South Australia”. Ms Lester says, “Irrespective of where these catastrophic incidents occurred, it is critically important that the universal lessons from such incidents are recognised and should form a central focus of the Commission’s work. It is clear that the dangers inherent in uranium and its use are well within this Commission’s terms of reference. It seems curious that the Commissioner has gone to great lengths to travel and inquire into nuclear sites across the world, including Fukushima and Scandinavia, and yet will not acknowledge the critical relevance of the Ranger experience.”
Rose Lester continues:
“The very narrow and selective interpretations of the Commission’s terms of reference are at best disingenuous and at worst another example of nuclear racism. This interpretation ignores the critical issues of the mismanagement and inability to safely dispose of radioactive waste. By adopting a legalistic approach to the terms of reference the Commissioner ignores the spirit that underpins the Inquiry. It is critical, and within the Commission’s scope, to focus on the risks associated with the management, storage and disposal of nuclear waste.”
Government must come clean about radioactivity and treatment of nuclear of waste
There is a public meeting being held in Alice Springs tonight to discuss the national nuclear waste dump proposal and shortlisting of the site near Alice Springs. http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/centralian-advocate/alice-group-to-oppose-date-farm-as-nuke-dump-site-at-public-meeting/story-fnk4wgm8-1227633870645
The closest neighbours of one of the shortlisted sites for a nuclear waste repository want the federal government to explain the classification and treatment of nuclear waste returning to Australia for storage.
“Under Oak Valley we have two major aquifers (the Mereenie and Pacoota) that are part of the vast Amadeus Basin, so if any contamination gets into one of those, what’s it going to affect, how many lives?”
Bill Gates on the nuclear bandwagon, Australia’s Gareth Evans on board, too.
The nuclear industry is trying to hijack the Paris Climate Summit , Independent Australia, 6 December 2015 The new Breakthrough Energy Coalition, backed by billionaires such as Bill Gates and supported by the global nuclear lobby is hijacking climate talks at COP21, writesNoel Wauchope.
At the Paris Climate Summit (COP21), the global nuclear lobby is in overdrive.
The centrepiece of today’s global nuclear lobbying is the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, led by Bill Gates, made public at the start of the conference.
Bill Gates announced the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, uniting the efforts of two dozen other billionaire philanthropists such asRichard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, to sponsor research into energy that doesn’t produce carbon.
Gates was present in Paris together with U.S. President Barack Obama — the White House is reported to be supportive of the initiative. Article after article in the U.S. and other media outline the purpose of this group, stressing renewable initiatives, or rather, “clean” energy initiatives. Nuclear power is not mentioned but is tacitly included in that weasel word, “clean”. …..
Eventually, I came upon Tina Casey‘s article, in Clean Technica: the very first one to notice the Breakthrough Energy Coalition’s focus on the nuclear industry and to question the inclusion of nuclear energy as “clean energy”.
She also notes the group’s co-operation with Mission Innovation, which brings tax-payer funding into the “clean” energy research programs. And Casey reminds us that Bill Gates is co-founder and chair of the innovative nuclear energy company TerraPower.
Only one university has joined the group, the University of California, which runs the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory — known for its nuclear energy research facilities.
Meanwhile, back in Australia, nuclear enthusiasts are on the bandwagon, too. The latest – and one of my favourites – is Gareth Evans. Evans has long been a voice for the nuclear industry, while simultaneously being Australia’s voice for nuclear disarmament. He sees no connection between nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons.
The Australian, ever a promoter of the nuclear industry, quotes Evans under the headline, ‘Nuclear waste dump a no-brainer‘.
At the South Australian Nuclear Fuel Chain Royal Commission on 3 December 2015, Evans isquoted as being almost ecstatic at the thought of Australia importing the world’s radioactive trash:
“Australia would stand very tall in the international community by repatriating waste made from exported uranium as well as storing waste for other countries. It was disconcerting that European countries had been spooked by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant accident.”
And Professor Evans used that notorious nuclear lobby argument to counter critics of nuclear power. He said:
“To me seems a triumph of emotion over reason.’……
Bill Gates himself may be something of a dreamer, with high aims and ideals, along with the commercial motive. His Breakthrough Energy Coalition sounds suspiciously like the Breakthrough Institute, which has a long history of advocating inaction on fossil fuel emissions, with the distracting promise of almost magical, new nuclear reactors that still exist only as blueprints. https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/the-nuclear-industry-is-trying-to-hijack-the-paris-climate-summit,8458
Nuclear waste arrival from France drives concerns about NSW dump site
At the weekend twenty five tonnes of nuclear waste arrived at Port Kembla from France on a ship blacklisted by US authorities. Greens NSW Senator Lee Rhiannon says the delivery is worrying news, particularly for residents at Hill End, near Bathurst, an area shortlisted by the federal government as a dumping site for nuclear waste.
‘Yesterday twenty five tonnes of nuclear waste, classified as ‘high-level’ by French authorities, arrived on our shores at Port Kembla,’ Senator Rhiannon said.
‘To add insult to injury, the government has chosen a rust bucket flag of convenience ship blacklisted by US authorities to deliver the waste, adding a whole host of threats to our environment, economy and local jobs.
‘The BBC Shanghai has been blacklisted by US authorities after failing to pass inspections, so why was it judged good enough to transport nuclear waste from France to Australia?
‘The transport of this dangerous waste increases the likelihood of an accident. Hundreds of police were involved in in transporting the waste to Lucas Heights, a southern Sydney suburb, in the dead of the night.
‘This delivery will elevate concerns of the Hill End community that any nuclear dump in Australia will not just be for ‘low level’ waste.
‘The Greens accept that storing this waste at Lucas Heights is the ‘least worst’ option.
‘Nuclear waste is a threat to surrounding communities and the environment for thousands of years.
‘This is further reminder that the Lucas Heights reactor should be closed.
“The pharmaceuticals developed from medical isotopes can be produced with particle accelerators. When total costs are considered it is not as expensive as a nuclear reactor and much, much safer,’ Senator Rhiannon said.
Elaborate secret operation transports deadly nuclear wastes through Sydney
Nuclear convoy: 25 tonnes of deadly waste closes Sydney roads December 7, 2015
Ian Walker The Daily Telegraph POLICE outnumbered Greenpeace activists 100 to one as tonnes of nuclear waste returned from France was driven in a kilometre-long convoy to the Lucas Heights Reactor early yesterday morning.
A forged steel container strong enough to withstand the impact of a jet strike carried the 25 tonnes of radioactive waste on the back of a semi-trailer to the reactor in south Sydney about 2am.
The waste was sent to France in the 1990s for reprocessing to be made safe for long-term storage in Australia, something that is not able to be done here……..Every conceivable threat to the precious cargo’s slow journey from Port Kembla to Sydney was covered in an elaborate operation throughout the night. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/nuclear-convoy-25-tonnes-of-deadly-waste-closes-sydney-roads/story-fni0cx12-1227635720100
Right wing Senators Madigan and Bill Heffernan angry about unsafety of nuclear waste ship
Independent Senator John Madigan said on Sunday he found it unacceptable that a ship carrying radioactive waste could sail into an Australian harbour when little was known about its ownership or crew, and its previous voyages had been to ports in Angola, Egypt, Russia and China, where he said the level of security could not be guaranteed.
‘National security for sale’: senators’ outrage over ship’s cargo of nuclear waste, SMH, December 6, 2015 Tony Wright A cargo of nuclear waste that arrived in Australia at the weekend was aboard a ship owned and operated by a web of German companies, registered in the tiny Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda and crewed by a mix of Russian and Ukrainian seafarers.
It brought accusations from an independent Australian Senator that Australia was “tendering out its national security to the lowest common denominator”, and followed expressions of disbelief from major party parliamentarians that the bureaucracy did not check the ownership of foreign vessels operating in Australian waters…... Continue reading
The billionaires’ mission to make nuclear great again
“If we are serious about replacing fossil fuels, we are going to need nuclear power,” PayPal co-founder and Facebook mega-investor Peter Thiel crowed in a New York Times op-ed shortly before negotiators from 195 nations gathered in Paris to seal an international climate pact.
Thiel, who personally invests in nuclear energy, made the self-serving demand that the U.S. government forge a “plan to fund and prototype the new reactors that we badly need.”
In other words: What does a guy like me with only $2.2 billion to my name gotta do to get my corporate welfare handout?
Bill Gates is also advocating heavy public investment in novel designs that these nuclear cheerleaders swear will be safer and cheaper than the 391 reactors that now generate about one in 10 watts around the world.
As the Paris climate talks got underway, the Microsoft co-founder launched an unprecedented multibillion-dollar “clean” energy fund, backed by the U.S., Chinese, and Indian governments, as well as other billionaires and some foundations. Don’t be surprised if it’s nuclear-friendly.
The crowd of rich men with tech cred dipping their toes in these radioactive waters also includes Amazon titan Jeff Bezos and Paul Allen, Gates’ fellow Microsoft co-founder.
But there are many reasons why governments, including our own, should resist their call to pump more tax dollars into nuclear energy. Namely: Continue reading
Malcolm Turnbull – the Stately Fake
Malcolm Turnbull: Faking it in Paris, Independent Australia, Lyn Bender 5 December 2015, While the world enters a climate emergency, Malcolm Turnbull brings rhetoric to new heights at COP21, with sonorous sounding and beautifully presented inaction on climate. Lyn Benderreports.
OUR NEW, verbally effusive leader Malcolm Turnbull is achieving great success – in his own fantasy world – regarding climate savoir-faire in Paris.
Like a reincarnation of the central protagonist in the Leo Tolstoy trilogy, Childhood Boyhood and Youth, the still new Prime Minister, is grasping at comme il faux.
This may be loosely defined as the fine art of seeming to do something; while in fact doing nothing much. Or trying to look sophisticated and accomplished, while concealing ineptitude.
Malcolm’s speech was one that would have been as handsomely befitting in its delivery, as any given by a Lord Mayor opening a new council chamber. The tone was sonorous, yet soporific and calculated not to arouse the fear of supporters, fossil fuel vested interests, or the far right in his party.
At the same time, it gave the impression of being designed to lull and reassure the soft left of centre, who so want to believe in Malcolm’s stealth, agility and concealed good intentions.
But what if Malcolm Turnbull’s hidden depths are instead exactly what they seem to be: obvious shallows? What if his main intention is staying alive politically, rather than working to keep the planet alive?
The rhetoric began:…….
Malcolm Turnbull’s address to COP21 had the air of a bygone era. So calm, relaxed and comfortable. Who would have thought that the entire globe is on the brink of a massive climate emergency? Or, that we are staring down the possibility of capping rising temperatures at a disastrous two degrees of warming — if we are lucky. Or, that before our very eyes, Pacific Islands are being submerged.
Instead, like a latter-day Wilkins Micawber – the unflinchingly optimistic windbag of Charles Dickens’ novel David Copperfield – Malcolm seems certain that “something will turn up”…..https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/malcolm-turnbull-faking-it-in-paris,8456
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