ERA’s Ranger uranium mine – dead but ERA just won’t lie down
Did the Australian Labor Party get rid of Martin Ferguson as Minister For The Nuclear Lobby, only to replace 
him with Gary Gray -a new Minister For The Nuclear Lobby?
Opposition resources minister Gary Gray has said that a closure of Ranger would have “massive implications” for the economy of Arnhem Land and would be unfortunate for the uranium industry in Australia.
Energy Resources of Australia nears decision on future of Ranger uranium mine, SMH, January 12, 2016 Angela Macdonald-Smith Energy Reporter The future of the Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory hangs in the balance as owner Energy Resources of Australia nears a decision on a strategic review.
Rio Tinto-controlled ERA said on Tuesday it would update the market this quarter on the strategic review, which it kicked off in October after being advised by traditional owners that they oppose an extension of production at the mine near Kakadu.
The Mirarr traditional owners refused to back the miner’s bid to extend its processing permits beyond the current expiry date of January 2021.
ERA, 68 per cent-owned by Rio, warned then that it may have to write down its assets as a result. Some analysts calculate the impairment could reach several hundred million dollars. ERA, for whom Ranger is its only producing asset, is due to report its 2015 earnings on January 28…………. Continue reading
What if a nuclear waste train is derailed?
Derailed train in Queensland spills 200,000l sulphuric acid and diesel, Logistics Business Review 28 December 2015 Approximately 200,000l of sulphuric acid and diesel was spilled when all 26 carriages of a freight train derailed in Quarrells, 20km east of Julia Creek in mid-northern Queensland, Australia.
Emergency crews have started clean-up operation in heavy rain and three train staff sustained minor injuries in the accident. Following the incident on Sunday, Queensland Police declared an emergency situation covering a 2km exclusion zone around the crash site.
Queensland Rail said: “Emergency services attended the scene, however, Queensland Rail crews have been unable to access the site as the Flinders highway is currently cut off due to flooding in the region…….
Inland passenger services and freight trains have been affected in the region…… http://www.logistics-business-review.com/news/derailed-train-in-queensland-spills-200000l-sulphuric-acid-and-diesel-4763524
Train derailment sparks uranium transport fears http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-28/20111228-train-derail-chemical-spill-react/3749716 By Emma Masters An environment group says the derailment of a train carrying hazardous substances raises concerns about the transport of uranium through the Northern Territory.A freight train transporting containers of copper concentrate was derailed yesterday after flash floods damaged the railway track north of Katherine yesterday.
The Environment Department is investigating reports that containers may have spilled and washed into the Edith River.
Environment Centre NT director Stuart Blanch says the incident is a worrying sign. “This spill highlights a lack of due diligence by the owners of the railway and the people transporting this product,” he said.
“What would have happened to the Edith if there was a spill of uranium oxide into the Edith River?
“That is a real concern, with a lot more uranium coming up from South Australia in the years ahead.”
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Paul Henderson says he is satisfied that copper concentrate was the only toxic substance being carried by the train.
Mr Henderson says it is not radioactive material from a uranium mine in South Australia. “What the environmental impacts may be, I have not been briefed as to what they may be,” he said.He says government officials are on site to carry out a monitoring program.
Canadian highway closed due to radioactive uranium spill
Uranium concentrate spill closes Saskatchewan highway, The Star.com 12 
Jan 16 RCMP have notified Swift Current residents within a 1.6-kilometre radius of the accident, but say an evacuation is unnecessary because there were no homes downwind from the scene. By: The Canadian Press, Published on Mon Jan 11 2016
SWIFT CURRENT—A stretch of highway in southwest Saskatchewan has been cordoned off until morning after a tractor-trailer carrying 63 drums of uranium concentrate bound for a refinery rolled, spilling a small part of its load.
RCMP have notified residents within a 1.6-kilometre radius of what happened, but say an evacuation was deemed unnecessary because there were no homes downwind from the scene.
The rollover happened around noon on Monday on Highway 4, about 10 kilometres north of Swift Current, Sask. Capt. Greg Campbell of the Swift Current fire department says there was a minor crack in the container carrying the yellowcake, which has a low level of radioactivity, but the spill is mostly contained.
The uranium was produced by a company in Australia and was being shipped through the United States en route to Cameco’s refinery in Blind River, Sask.
Campbell says Cameco officials and their contractors are headed to the site and will undertake the cleanup, with oversight by Canutec, the Transport Canada agency that is responsible for public safety in the transportation of dangerous goods.
“Basically what we’ve done is we’ve just created a safe area around it, not allowing anybody close to it,” says Campbell…….http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/01/11/uranium-concentrate-spill-closes-saskatchewan-highway.html
Cinema in the Shed: Film screening to highlight local and global nuclear debate
What: Screening of Containment (2015) in Hill End, NSW
When: From 6:30pm, Saturday January 16, 2016
Where: Pomanara Merino Stud Farm, opposite shortlisted nuclear waste facility site.
Movie trailer: http://containmentmovie.com/#trailer
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/584806271670932/
A community screening of the film Containment, produced by Harvard University Professors Peter Galison and Robb Moss, will be held in Hill End (NSW) on Saturday January 16.
The No Central West Nuclear Waste Dump committee has organised the event to share information on the national radioactive waste dump selection process and provide a global and intergenerational perspective on the nuclear industry.
Containment uses striking imagery and animation to ask practical and philosophical questions about the long-term storage of radioactive waste. Viewers are asked to consider: “How should we protect yet-to-come generations of humans on earth- people who will not share our language, our nations, even our civilisation?”
The film will be shown in the woolshed at Pomanara Merino Stud Farm, which is located opposite the site nominated and subsequently shortlisted for the national radioactive waste facility.
Sydney trio RAPT will also perform at the start of the evening to show support for the community campaign.
The local community has shown overwhelming opposition to the proposed radioactive waste facility. A series of public meetings have been held and local residents have presented to and gained supported from nearby town councils.
Public comments on the national waste facility proposal are due by March 11 and the No Central West Nuclear Waste Dump committee hopes the film screening will inspire more local people to make submissions to the government expressing their opposition.
Voters in key Liberal Coalition electorates strongly support renewable energy
Strong Renewable Energy Support In Key LNP 
Electorates http://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/renewables-australia-lnp-em5288/
January 12, 2016 The passion for renewables in Australia isn’t waning, but support for coal appears to be – particularly when it comes to new mines. This is a continuing trend among voters of all political leanings.
72-77% of voters recently polled in conservative electorates support Australia becoming a 100% renewable energy powered nation by 2030.
A ReachTEL-conducted survey of thousands of residents across the federal electorates of New England, Page, Warringah and Dickson in December revealed just 14% to 18% opposed a renewables powered Australia.
The polling of these voters also indicated a global moratorium on new coal mines had strong support; at 50 – 57%.
It will come as no surprise that Labor and Greens voters indicated even stronger support.
“Renewable energy is popular across the political spectrum. Part of Tony Abbott’s undoing was that he placed himself at odds with the electorate on this issue,” said Ben Oquist, Executive Director of The Australia Institute said.“These results show politicians of any hue who undermine support for a 100% renewable future risk an electoral backlash.”
Mr. Oquist also stated construction of new mines in a struggling market is “a recipe for economic disaster.”
“China recently announced a 3 year moratorium on new coal mines. Malcolm Turnbull can and should show the same commitment to deliver on commitments made at the Paris climate meeting in December,” he said.
The chances of a moratorium? Late last year, Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg claimed there was a “strong moral case” for coal. Also in October, the Federal Government granted Adani re-approval to build the massive and very controversial Carmichael coal mine
Back in 2014, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) issued a wake-up call to investors, stating the global coal industry’s economic models were flawed. IEEFA said major coal projects with a reliance on export markets such as India constituted a huge financial risk.
The Australia Institute is actively campaigning against new coal mines in Australia and says a local moratorium will send the strongest political signal that the reign of coal is over.
USA solar jobs 209,000 in 2015, plus 1000s more ancillary jobs
USA National Solar Jobs Census 2015 Released http://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/solar-jobs-census-em5291/ January 13, 2016
The U.S. solar workforce grew to a total of nearly 209,000 last year; adding more than 35,000 workers – the third consecutive year in which growth exceeded 20%.
The Solar Foundation’s National Solar Jobs Census 2015 states the workforce has increased by 123% since 2010.
“The solar industry has once again proven to be a powerful engine of economic growth and job creation,” said Andrea Luecke, President and Executive Director of The Solar Foundation. ” Our Census findings show that one out of every 83 new jobs created in the U.S. over the last 12 months was in the solar industry – 1.2% of all new jobs.”
The USA’s solar workforce is now three times the number employed in the coal mining industry and also larger than the oil and gas extraction industry.
Last year, solar industry employment grew 12 times faster than the overall US workforce.
In addition to direct employment, the US solar industry supports an additional 610,650 ancillary jobs throughout the supply chain. Continue reading
French nuclear company Electricite de France (EDF) is at an all time low
EDF already needs to borrow money just to pay its dividend and is set to spend tens of billions of euros on upgrading its ageing reactors, building new nuclear plants in Hinkley Point, Britain and buying the reactor arm of Areva.
“This report is clearly negative for all nuclear operators, and most specifically for EDF and Areva”
EDF shares are down more than 44 percent in the 12 months,
EDF sinks to all-time low as nuclear waste cost estimate soars http://uk.reuters.com/article/edf-nuclear-waste-idUKL8N14W2RO20160112 PARIS | BY GEERT DE CLERCQ Jan 12 Shares in French utility EDF sank to all-time lows on Tuesday after the country’s Andra nuclear waste agency said that storage costs could be higher than EDF’s estimates.
Mirroring German utilities E.ON and RWE , which saw their shares hit decade lows late last year over worries about nuclear decommissioning costs, EDF fell as much as 7.3 percent before recovering to 4.1 percent lower.
A string of brokerage price target downgrades and French forward power prices falling to new decade lows only added to the gloom.
In a report released late on Monday, Andra said costs for the Cigeo deep geological storage project could be as high as 30 billion euros or as low as 20 billion depending on assumptions about different cost factors in coming years.
“There are different views on the calculation, more or less conservative, depending on estimates for future technological progress and optimisation,” Continue reading
Common sense from Jeremy Corbyn on nuclear weapons
Corbyn says the Trident isn’t worth the money. It is a costly weapon that can never be used. British security concerns should be focused on terrorism, economic turmoil and catastrophic climate change; nuclear weapons are irrelevant to all that. Corbyn argues, sensibly, that the Cold War era is long gone
Jeremy Corbyn talks common sense on nuclear weapons, WP. By Katrina vanden Heuvel January 12 The new leader of the British Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, has sparked a political firestorm by challenging the myths around nuclear weapons and Cold War deterrence. Corbyn announced that he would never use a nuclear weapon. He followed that apostasy by declaring that he opposed renewal of the British nuclear Trident submarine program.“I am opposed to the use of nuclear weapons. I am opposed to the holding of nuclear weapons. I want to see a nuclear-free world. I believe it is possible,” Corbyn declared.
Several Labour shadow ministers suggested they might resign if that became Labour’s policy. Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and the right-wing British press have been pillorying Corbyn as a threat to national security for his heresy.
Corbyn’s aides argue this is not a new version of the debate over unilateral disarmament that wracked Labour in the 1980s. Rather, they insist the question is whether renewing the fleet is worth the money. Corbyn’s doubts are shared by some current and retired military officers. The British fleet of four Trident submarines is slated for retirement in the late 2020s. It will take almost that long to develop a successor. Renewing and operating the Trident program will cost an estimated 167 billion British pounds over the next four decades. The Army has already been reduced to below 82,000 soldiers, the lowest number since the 1700s. Renewing the Trident fleet would likely force more cuts. Continue reading
100% Renewables bemoning the “new normal” ?
Billionaire aluminium king calls for a global carbon tax
Almost every Australian mining company believes that a carbon tax in some form or another is necessary to provide the certainty required for investment. But Mr Deripaska’s call for a $US15-a-tonne tax represents a bold call in comparison
Rusal’s Deripaska calls for worldwide carbon tax THE AUSTRALIAN JANUARY 13, 2016 Barry Fitzgerald Resources Editor Melbourne
Billionaire Russian aluminium king Oleg Deripaska has slammed the lack of action after the Paris climate summit, saying the world needs to act now on introducing a carbon tax to curb emissions and fund the rise of renewables.
Writing exclusively in The Australian, Mr Deripaska, president of the world’s biggest aluminium group Rusal, says the outcome of the Paris summit late last year was nothing more than an agreement for 196 countries to “kick the can down the road a few decades’’……..
He says that without immediate action on a carbon tax, the losers from the Paris Summit are “those of us who breathe the air, drink the water, and wish for the safe and healthy environment our children and grandchildren deserve”.
………….“It is now incumbent on global governments, corporations and citizens to bring action to the words of Paris,’’ Mr Deripaska adds. He has suggested a carbon tax starting off at $US15 a tonne, increasing over time. Continue reading
NSW Farmers launch a renewable energy calculator for rural businesses
Renewable energy calculator launched for farmers http://www.northernstar.com.au/news/renewable-energy-calculator-launched-for-farmers/2896307/ 12th Jan 2016 NSW Farmers has developed and launched an online calculator to help households and small farm businesses to test the financial viability of investing in solar PV and batteries.
The online calculator was launched to coincide with Tesla’s announcement that Australia would be the first market to receive its PowerWall battery which, along with other battery products, is expected to significantly accelerate the penetration of renewable energy across Australia.
NSW Farmers energy expert Gerry Flores cautioned households and small to medium farm businesses to adopt a conservative approach to this new technology.
“It’s important for farm business owners to consider whether energy storage is right for them before they make any substantial investments,” he said.
Mr Flores, a photovoltaics engineer who developed the calculator, said it could estimate potential savings and the financial case for several scenarios in NSW.
To help households and farm businesses better understand and utilise the calculator, NSW Farmers will hold a webinar on Friday January 22 at 10:30am.
For further information or to register click here.
For more information about the calculator click here.
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 