2016 May 08 « Antinuclear

South Australian local community rejects nuclear dump proposal

Hawker locals reject nuclear dump proposed for Wallerberdina station at packed public meeting, ABC News AM By Natalie Whiting, staff, 7 May 16 Angry locals from a small South Australian community earmarked to host the nation’s first nuclear waste dump fear the project is a foregone conclusion, despite Federal Government assurances to the contrary.

Key points:

Hawker locals fear Wallerberdina station nuclear dump proposal is “set in concrete”
Landholders and traditional owners express anger at public meeting
Local MP says many support the dump proposal

A fiery public meeting held in Hawker in the Flinders Ranges last night was the first chance for locals to express their concerns since nearby Wallerberdina station was announced as the Government’s preferred site.

The town has a population of about 300, and more than a third of that number packed into the local community hall.

Government representatives faced a barrage of questions from people opposing the dump, including traditional owners who fear important cultural sites will be put at risk, as well as other landholders. “I think we’re getting the wool pulled over our eyes, big time,” neighbouring property owner John Gill said. “I reckon it’s set in concrete now, and I could almost 90 per cent guarantee it’s going to go there.”

Local mayor Peter Slattery opened the meeting by telling those gathered it was “not a soapbox forum”, but emotions soon spilled over, with angry interjections from the floor.

“It’s a last link in the area where the footsteps of our ancestors were,” Adnyamathanha elder Tony Clarke said. “They walked this land, they lived in this land, they hunted in this land and they died in this land.”Adnyamathanha elder Enice Marsh held a sign protesting against nuclear waste as she addressed those gathered.

“The dreamtime that runs through [the area] is very strong. It’s alive and well,” she said. “That story belongs to my people and me.”

Strong local support for nuclear dump, MP says

The Wallerberdina cattle station near Barndioota is co-owned by former Liberal Party president Grant Chapman and was last week singled out from a shortlist of six potential waste storage sites across the country.

“There is a lot of support in this community for this facility, which is why it’s gone through to the next round,” local federal Liberal MP Rowan Ramsey said……..

The department will set up an office in Hawker and is recruiting locals for a community committee, and also plans to conduct an independent Aboriginal heritage survey.

The community will receive $2 million from the Federal Government as compensation, regardless of whether the facility is built……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-07/locals-reject-wallerberdina-nuclear-dump-at-hawker-meeting/7393082

May 8, 2016 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Opposition to nuclear, South Australia | Leave a comment

USA’s nuclear waste disasters continue

Is This The 4th Recent Nuclear Disaster To Strike The U.S.? Natural Blaze, MAY 6, 2016 By Brandon Turbeville

Is there any nuclear site in the United States that is not currently collapsing, leaking or otherwise posing a major health or environmental risk? Certainly there are, but that number is becoming smaller and smaller.

In addition to three other nuclear disasters unfolding across the country, a fourth has now arisen. This new disaster is located in Washington state in a facility known as the Hanford site.

One week after 19 workers were sent for medical evaluation as the nuclear waste tank was being transferred because of a leak, 3 more workers are now being reported as injured at the site. According to RT, the workers inhaled radioactive fumes – the same issue facing the 19 previously hospitalized workers. This brings the injured number of workers up to 22…….

Although the facility was decommissioned at the end of the Cold War, the facility has been used to store nuclear waste. In fact, according to RT, two-thirds of America’s radioactive materials are stored at this location which makes it one of the largest facilities of its kind in the world……

In addition to Hanford, reports West Lake Landfill in St. Louis, Missouri which houses sizable amounts of nuclear waste is facing an approaching fire from an adjacent landfill that threatens to turn West Lake into a cauldron of radioactive air pollution. ta ra http://www.naturalblaze.com/2016/05/is-this-the-4th-recent-nuclear-disaster-to-strike-the-u-s.html

May 8, 2016 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Climate change a significant contributor to Canada’s horror wildfire

climate change is “a significant contributing risk factor” in the Canada wildfires.

The fire in Canada looks a lot like climate change — and that should scare you By John D. Sutter, CNN May 7, 2016 (CNN) The fire raging in Fort McMurray, Canada sounds like something from the apocalypse.

“It was like driving through hell,” Michel Chamberland told CNN of his escape from the area. “Those flames, they were bright, they were big … It’s unreal. It’s almost like a dream or something.”

The fire, which has burned at least 325 square miles, forcing the evacuation of some 88,000 people, is so hot and so intense that’s it’s formed its own weather. The thundercloud produced by the blaze actually is creating its own lightning, and consequently spreading the fire’s rage, setting more trees alight.

True, there have been fires in Canada’s boreal forest for ages. But scientists and researchers say this fire looks a whole lot like climate change. And that should be alarming for all of us.

“This is an example of what we expect — and consistent with what we expect for climate change,” said Mike Flannigan, a professor of wildland fire at the University of Alberta who’s been studying climate change and wildfire for decades. “This fire is unprecedented,” he said, referring to its local impact.

It’s impossible for scientists to say global warming caused this specific fire, of course, but polluting the atmosphere is creating conditions that make such disasters more likely, bigger and costlier.

Continue reading →

May 8, 2016 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Climate Change Authority report recommending ‘a mandatory carbon price’ held back until after election

May 6, 2016. A report that recommends putting a price on emissions from the electricity sector has been held back by the Climate Change Authority until after the election, prompting calls from Labor and the Greens that it be made public to inform debate.