USA clamp down on press freedom: prison for environmental documentary film-makers
Documentary film-makers face decades in prison for taping oil pipeline protests https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/20/north-dakota-oil-pipeline-protest-film-makers-face-prison
Deia Schlosberg and Lindsey Grayzel face felony charges that first amendment advocates say are part of a growing number of attacks on freedom of the press, Guardian, Sam Levin , 23 Oct 16, Two documentary film-makers are facing decades in prison for recording US oil pipeline protests, with serious felony charges that first amendment advocates say are part of a growing number of attacks on freedom of the press.
The controversial prosecutions of Deia Schlosberg and Lindsey Grayzel are moving forward after a judge in North Dakota rejected “riot” charges filed againstDemocracy Now! host Amy Goodman for her high-profile reporting at the Dakota Access pipeline protests.
But authorities in other parts of North Dakota and in Washington state have continued to target other film-makers over their recent reporting on similar demonstrations, raising concerns that the lesser-known journalists are not getting the same kind of public support and national attention. Continue reading
Like South Australians, South Africans are wary of a foolish nuclear plan
The time for us to stand up and put South Africa first is now. We have to oppose the nuclear deal now. We have to stand up and defend the integrity of the Treasury team now..
Nuclear deal is nothing but a fool’s gamble with our future Times Live 23 Oct 16
Jay Naidoo opposes the Zuma cabinet’s controversial power plans. Here’s why.
At the heart of the cancerous rot in our state is the greed of a predatory faction. In their unceasing efforts to enrich themselves, they are targeting the management of mega-projects, our state-owned enterprises, government procurements and, in particular, the proposed nuclear deal.
This is a nuclear deal that we don’t need. The proposal has little to do with our energy security, given that our growth projections have been torpedoed by a rudderless leadership and policy uncertainty and do not match the energy requirements of our future economy.
It brings no long-term benefits of job creation or local industrial development – this in a country where already one in four South Africans are formally unemployed. A more efficient economy is one that is first and foremost based on reducing waste (demand), then on diversity in its sources (supply).
Going with the nuclear option – at a time when most of the industrialised world is abandoning fossil fuels and nuclear energy – with all its inherent environmental threats and risks, is a fool’s gamble. We see major global financial investment rapidly switching to the renewables industry, specifically to solar-based solutions.
One has to ask: which serious observer can believe there is no political agenda in pushing nuclear energy so strongly? Continue reading
Nuclear Physics conference accepts “nonsense” paper for lecture
The International Conference on Atomic and Nuclear Physics will be held on 17-18 November in Atlanta, Georgia,
Nonsense paper written by iOS autocomplete accepted for conference New Zealand professor asked to present his work at US event on nuclear physics despite it containing gibberish all through the copy, Guardian, Elle Hunt, 22 Oct 16 A nonsensical academic paper on nuclear physics written only by iOS autocomplete has been accepted for a scientific conference.
Christoph Bartneck, an associate professor at the Human Interface Technology laboratory at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, received an email inviting him to submit a paper to the International Conference on Atomic and Nuclear Physics in the US in November.
“Since I have practically no knowledge of nuclear physics I resorted to iOS autocomplete function to help me writing the paper,” he wrote in a blog post on Thursday. “I started a sentence with ‘atomic’ or ‘nuclear’ and then randomly hit the autocomplete suggestions.
“The text really does not make any sense.” Continue reading
Electric car charging stations for Adelaide in 2017 – says Mayor
Adelaide City Council ‘leads the way’ with rollout of 40 electric car charging stations in 2017, ABC News, 23 Oct 16 By Candice Prosser Electric cars are the way of the future and Adelaide will lead the nation in developing infrastructure to encourage more of them, Adelaide’s Lord Mayor says.
The Adelaide City Council has announced it will roll out 40 electric charging stations throughout the city in 2017 in addition to the four charging points it currently has in two CBD car parks.
Speaking at the Electric Vehicle Expo at Elder Park, Lord Mayor Martin Haese said the infrastructure would be free to all users. “At this point in time the council needs to show leadership — we are very much in a changing environment whereby we’re forecasting the growth and sales of electric vehicles over the next few years is just going to grow exponentially,” he said. “Adelaide has a goal to become the world’s first carbon neutral city by 2025 and electric vehicles are an important part of that story.
“We want to be a smart city, we want to send a very clear signal to everyone that technology and the knowledge economy is important to our future. “We believe electric vehicles do both.”
The Lord Mayor said he expected electric vehicles to become increasingly more popular.
“Electric vehicles are very important, they are going to become incredibly commonplace much sooner than what we think,” he said.
“We’ve currently got about 700 electric vehicles registered in South Australia, we’ve got some 22,000 hybrid vehicles registered in South Australia and those numbers are going to grow exponentially.”
The council is also offering residents and businesses $5,000 to install their own charging points and will consider installing faster super chargers around the city in the future……..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-23/adelaide-city-council-rollout-40-electric-car-charging-stations/7958074
The role of Professor Ernest Titterton in deceiving Australians about nuclear weapons testing
Chapter 16: A toxic legacy : British nuclear weapons testing in Australia Published in: Wayward governance : illegality and its control in the public sector / P N Grabosky Canberra : Australian Institute of Criminology, 1989 ISBN 0 642 14605 5(Australian studies in law, crime and justice series); pp. 235-253
“……….Another factor which underlay Australian deference during the course of the testing program was the role of Sir Ernest Titterton. A British physicist, Titterton had worked in the United States on the Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapon.
After the war, he held a position at the British Atomic Energy Research Establishment, and in 1950 he was appointed to the Chair of Nuclear Physics at the Australian National University. Among Titterton’s earliest tasks in Australia was that of an adviser to the British scientific team at the first Monte Bello tests. In 1956, the Australian government established an Atomic Weapons Tests Safety Committee (AWTSC) responsible for monitoring the British testing program to ensure that the safety of the Australian environment and population were not jeopardised. To this end, it was to review British test proposals, provide expert advice to the Australian government, and to monitor the outcome of tests. Titterton was a foundation member of the Committee and later, its Chairman.
While Menzies had envisaged that the Committee would act as an independent, objective body, evidence suggests that it was more sensitive to the needs of the British testing program than to its Australian constituents.
Members tended to be drawn from the nuclear weapons fraternity, as was Titterton; from the Defence establishment, from the Commonwealth Department of Supply, from the Commonwealth X-Ray and Radium Laboratory, and from the Australian Atomic Energy Commission. Although the expertise of these individuals is beyond dispute, one wonders if they may have been too closely identified with the ‘atomic establishment’ to provide independent critical advice. The nuclear weapons fraternity have often been criticised as a rather cavalier lot; no less a person than General Leslie Groves, who headed the Manhattan Project which developed the first atomic bomb, has been quoted as having said ‘Radiation death is a very pleasant way to die’ (Ball 1986, p. 8). In retrospect, the Australian safety committee suffered from the absence of biologists and environmental scientists in its ranks……..
In 1960, the British advised the AWTSC that ‘long lived fissile elements’ and ‘a toxic material’ would be used in the ‘Vixen B’ tests. Titterton requested that the materials be named, and later announced ‘They have answered everything we asked.’ The substances in question were not disclosed (Australia 1985, p. 414). In recommending that the Australian government agree to the tests, he appears to have been either insufficiently informed of the hazards at hand, or to have failed to communicate those hazards to the Safety Committee, and through it, to the Australian government. Earlier, before the Totem tests, he had reassured the Australian Prime Minister that
the time of firing will be chosen so that any risk to health due to radioactive contamination in our cities, or in fact to any human beings, is impossible. . . . [N]o habitations or living beings will suffer injury to health from the effects of the atomic explosions proposed for the trials (quoted in Australia 1985, p. 467).
There were other examples of Titterton’s role in filtering information to the Australian authorities, a role which has been described as ‘pivotal’ (Australia 1985, p. 513). He proposed that he be advised informally of certain details of proposed experiments. In one instance, he advised the British that ‘It would perhaps be wise to make it quite clear that the fission yield in all cases is zero’, knowing that this would be a misrepresentation of fact (Australia 1985, p. 519). Years later, the Royal Commission suggested that Titterton may have been more a de facto member of the British Atomic Weapons Research Establishment than a custodian of the Australian public interest.
The Royal Commission’s indictment of Titterton would be damning:
Titterton played a political as well as a safety role in the testing program, especially in the minor trials. He was prepared to conceal information from the Australian Government and his fellow Committee members if he believed to do so would suit the interests of the United Kingdom Government and the testing program (Australia 1985, p. 526)……… http://aic.gov.au/publications/previous%20series/lcj/1-20/wayward/ch16.html
Young Victorians want renewable energy to replace Hazelwood power station
Next generation pushes for green energy to renew Hazelwood power station, ABC News, By Helen Brown, 23 Oct 16, The Latrobe Valley is home to three coal mines and four power stations, but now the 75,000 residents in the area are facing serious questions about their future.
French company Engie has said it has no immediate plans to shut down the ageing Hazelwood plant, but in the valley many believe it is only a matter of time before Australia’s most polluting power plant stops operating.
And that has led to a group of its younger residents calling for a different kind of future.
Carolina Herrera, 16, said losing Hazelwood would be tough, and a plan for new jobs needed to be put in place. She believed a move to renewable energy was the way to go.
“People would have to leave, and that would affect the community except at the same time it’s something that can be improved, like cleaner jobs, there’s lots we can do,” she said.
According to teenager Ella Darling, it is time to use local skills to become known for a different way of producing power. “Brown coal has made this area what it is so we’re thankful for that, but it is time for change to solar power, wind and even thermal power,” Ella said……..
It is this scenario that has also prompted action for change from a group called the Earthworker Cooperative.
They have invested heavily in solar manufacturing equipment with the aim of starting new industries and new training opportunities in the region.
According to its secretary, Dan Musil, the gear could be used by a number of local businesses involved in sustainable industries. “We’ve been working as a community group in the absence of government action,” he said.
“We’re a community group trying to take action where governments haven’t been, to set up jobs in what will be, what needs to be, a just transition for the valley,” he said……..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-23/push-for-green-energy-to-renew-hazelwood-power-station/7956988
Uncomfortable questions on Your Say site, for nuclear-loving South Australian government
Jeffrey Frommelt, Your Say site, 21 Oct 2016 After 911, all hazardous facilities need to withstand a 787 fully fueled at full throttle diving as a minimum.
If there is only 45kg of Australia. Nuclear medical waste to be stored, how does this generate billions of dollars and jobs in a shallow trench filled with demolition materials from dirty reactors and spent fuel (depleted uranium). ….
A nuclear dump will kill our wine industry instantly as soon as anyone finds a Geiger counter reading in a foreign newspaper. How many jobs are there today guarding Maralinga, Taranaki, Vixen 22 kg of plutonium and what stops this plutonium getting in the food chain at Maralinga for the next 200 million years?
After Monarto, State Bank, Multi Function Polis, MATS Plan, Hindmarsh Island bridge fiascos, who really believes any SA Toxic Nuclear Waste Dump will create jobs? Trust?
The Uranium industry is in massive decline simply because the end product is so toxic. “The clever country” becomes a rubbish dump for Toxic Nuclear Wastes is not a future.
Spain’s success with wind energy, with reliable electricity grid system
” one thing going in Spain’s favour is that the electrical system has been built with the goal of making it very reliable and able to take very heavy knocks with extreme weather events or major technical failures.”Taiwan to End Nuclear Power Generation in 2025
A very wise decision, we wish that other governments also would be wise enough to do the same. Congratulations to you Taiwan!
Taiwan’s fourth nuclear power plant in New Taipei City in the northern part of the island. Its construction has been suspended due to an anti-nuclear movement that has intensified since the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
TAIPEI–In a rare move for power-hungry Asia, the Taiwanese government has decided to abolish nuclear power generation by 2025 to meet the public’s demand for a nuclear-free society following the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Taiwan’s Executive Yuan, equivalent to the Cabinet in Japan, approved revisions to the electricity business law, which aim to promote the private-sector’s participation in renewable energy projects, on Oct. 20.
“Revising the law shows our determination to promote the move toward the abolition of nuclear power generation and change the ratios of electricity sources,” said President Tsai Ing-wen.
The government plans…
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Outside power temporarily cut to Okayama uranium processing facility after quake
The Japan Atomic Energy Agency’s Ningyo-toge Environmental Engineering Center in Kagamino, Okayama Prefecture, is pictured in this May 2013
The external power supply to a uranium processing facility in Okayama Prefecture was temporarily cut following a powerful Oct. 21 earthquake that hit Tottori Prefecture and surrounding areas, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said.
External power was lost for a time at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency’s Ningyo-toge Environmental Engineering Center in Kagamino, Okayama Prefecture, after the magnitude-6.6 quake. Locally, the quake registered an upper 5 on the 7-point Japanese seismic intensity scale, according to the NRA.
However, no problems were reported at the plant, as an emergency power supply system kicked in immediately. The facility was not in operation at the time of the quake.
In related news, operations at the No. 3 reactor at Shikoku Electric Power Co.’s Ikata Nuclear Power Plant in Ehime Prefecture have not been disrupted…
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Opposition to nuclear energy grows in Japan
”Opinion polls show the Japanese people oppose nuclear plants going back into operation. It underlines the scale of the problem facing the government in convincing everyone that it’s safe. Julian Ryall reports from Tokyo.”
Before October 16, Ryuichi Yoneyama had contested four regional elections and been soundly beaten each time. Now, however, the 49-year-old qualified doctor and lawyer is to be sworn in as governor of Niigata Prefecture after defeating a candidate who had the backing of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and was considered the firm favorite.
Yoneyama worked hard for his victory over Tamio Mori, a former bureaucrat with the construction ministry, but when the voters stepped into the voting booths there was a single issue that occupied their minds.
Mori and the LDP want to restart the world’s largest nuclear power station, the sprawling Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, which lies on the prefecture’s coast. They insist that…
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Protest at Japanese Embassy in Paris Against Fukushima Evacuees Forced Return and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
Today October 22, 2016, in Paris, the French Green Ecology Party (EELV), Green Peace France and Réseau Sortir du Nucléaire, joined together to organize a Fukushima protest in front of the Japanese Embassy.
They denounced the Fukushima evacuees forced return by the Japanese government, and insisted that no one should be compelled to live in irradiated town with high level of radiation. That it is plainly criminal on the part of the Japanese Government.
Since Eastern Japan and Tokyo included, have been contaminated by the now five years and a half ongoing nuclear catastrophe at Tepco’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a catastrophe yet neither under control nor resolved, the 2020 Olympics should be relocated somewhere else.
Some officials of the French Green Ecology Party (EELV) and personalities of Green Peace France and Réseau Sortir du Nucléaire attended the protest. Among those were also present Yannick Jadot and Michele Rivasi, both…
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1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 