On nuclear waste dumping: America’s Dept of Energy more truthful than South Australia’s Nuclear Royal Commission
Derek Abbott No High Level International Nuclear Waste Dump in South Australia, 4 Feb 17, Here’s the American DOE report on repositories. Notice it’s much more truthful than our Royal Commission report. For starters it:
(a) compares the disadvantages of different types of rock for a repository and there are many openly listed, and
(b) it openly mentions the tens of $billions needed in repackaging costs for the fuel. Our Royal Commission totally side stepped these points. https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/04/f15/DOE%20DispOptions%20R1%20Volume1%20Apr15.pdf
Un message pour our French nuclear propaganda visitors
Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SAJe voudrais simplement faire savoir à la délégation française que nous sommes ici dans les Flinders Ranges ne voulons pas de déchets toxiques DUMP, si la France est heureuse de déverser un tel pays avec des déchets de plutonium toxiques à leur choix, ici dans le Flinders que nous choisissons De dire NON, ne venez pas ici avec deciet dans votre coeur et nous dire des mensonges, nous ne voulons pas la décharge de déchets nucléaires !!!! https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
El Tío – a new and worrying twist in the causes of global warnming
Meet El Niño’s cranky uncle that could send global warming into hyperdrive, The Conversation, Research Fellow in Climate and Water Resources, University of Melbourne, Climate Extremes Research Fellow, University of Melbourne Professor of Atmospheric Science, University of MelbourneSenior Research Scientist, CSIRO, PhD student, University of Melbourne February 6, 2017
You’ve probably heard about El Niño, the climate system that brings dry and often hotter weather to Australia over summer.
You might also know that climate change is likely to intensify drought conditions, which is one of the reasons climate scientists keep talking about the desperate need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the damaging consequences if we don’t.
El Niño is driven by changes in the Pacific Ocean, and shifts around with its opposite, La Niña, every 2-7 years, in a cycle known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation or ENSO.
But that’s only part of the story. There’s another important piece of nature’s puzzle in the Pacific Ocean that isn’t often discussed.
It’s called the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation, or IPO, a name coined by a study which examined how Australia’s rainfall, temperature, river flow and crop yields changed over decades.
Since El Niño means “the boy” in Spanish, and La Niña “the girl”, we could call the warm phase of the IPO “El Tío” (the uncle) and the negative phase “La Tía” (the auntie).
These erratic relatives are hard to predict. El Tío and La Tía phases have been compared to a stumbling drunk. And honestly, can anyone predict what a drunk uncle will say at a family gathering?
What is El Tío? Continue reading
China’s solar power capacity more than doubles in 2016
Shandong, Xinjiang, Henan were among the provinces that saw the most capacity increase, while Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai and Inner Mongolia had the greatest overall capacity at the end of last year, according to the data.
China will add more than 110 gigawatts of capacity in the 2016-2020 period, according to the NEA’s solar power development plan.
Solar plants generated 66.2 billion kilowatt-hours of power last year, accounting for 1 percent of China’s total power generation, the NEA said. The country aims to boost the mix of non-fossil fuel generated power to 20 percent by 2030 from 11 percent today.
China plans to plough 2.5 trillion yuan ($364 billion) into renewable power generation by 2020.(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Helen Popper)
Australian universities need to divest from fossil fuels
We all need to divest from fossil fuels now – especially Australian universities, Guardian
John Quiggin, 2 Feb 17 The end of coal is inevitable but divestment will help accelerate the process, especially as we can’t rely on government to stabilise the environment. T
The movement to divest from the fossil fuel industry has grown rapidly over recent years in tandem with the urgent need to decarbonise the global economy. In Australia, divestment commitments have been made by local councils, charitable trusts, super funds and the Australian Capital Territory.
Universities have been a central focus of the campaign. Leading global universities such as Yale, Stanford and Stockholm have undertaken partial or complete divestment. In Australia, La Trobe and the Queensland University of Technology have made comprehensive divestment commitments, while others including the Australian National University, Monash and Sydney have taken substantial steps towards this goal. Continue reading
Antinuclear 