Nuclear and climate news – Australia this week
At the G20 meeting of 19 wealthy nations plus the European Union, in Germany, G20 President Angela Merkel planned for discussion of Africa and health to be a high priority. This is now overtaken by the concern over North Korea’s latest test – of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)
Equally important, negotiators representing two-thirds of the 192-member United Nations finalised the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons this week after months of talks.
On climate change, at G20 the growing international isolation of the United States under President Trump was starkly apparent, with almost unanimous opposition to Trump’s climate lack of policy. Meanwhile, a 2018 global summit on climate change is planned, led by California Governor Jerry Brown, -as the Donald Trump administration becomes rather irrelevant to international climate action.
Where will climate refugees find shelter and food?
AUSTRALIA
NUCLEAR. Australia now in reach of North Korea’s new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Australia can play a role in promoting dialogue, not war, with North Korea. If North Korea attacks USA with nuclear warhead, Australia will join US in fight , says Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce (Joyce doesn’t say what we’d do if USA were to attack North Korea). Former PM Kevin Rudd now suggesting missile defence system for Australia. PM Turnbull says THAAD anti- missile system is “not really suitable” for Australia.
The Australian government boycotted the UN nuclear weapons ban talks, but Greens Senator Scott Ludlam did attend, and regretted Australia’s earlier actions, with diplomats instructed to break up and obstruct the talks.
Coalition pours scorn on Tony Abbott’s call for nuclear submarines. Australia’s nuclear lobby hoping for nuclear submarines as a ‘foot in the door’,
Australian uranium miner Paladin Energy going broke.
CLIMATE Australia’s energy policy now under the control of the climate denying extreme right wing idealogues Climate Change Authority has now lost all of its climate scientists . Australia Institute takes up the challenge of climate change research and communication
Adani coal project – farmers deplore the unlimited access to precious groundwater, given by the Queensland government to Adani. Any loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (Naif) to Adani’s Carmichael coalmine project is probably illegal.
RENEWABLE ENERGY World’s first solar-powered train – for Byron Bay. South Australia: Tesla to supply world’s biggest battery But it’s a pity that the Australian government did not support an Australian company, such as Zen Energy , which has been working for years on battery storage. Solar panels now on one quarter of Australian homes. Latest renewable energy news from REneweconomy.. and more. and still more. again more
Australia can play a role in promoting dialogue, not war, with North Korea
There is no point in Australia waiting to be a pallbearer at the funeral. We need to use what influence we have to shape a better response in Washington and other capitals.
We should also open a line of communication with Pyongyang — to see if there is any dialogue that might help to prevent conflict.
Australia can play a role here. Our embassy in Seoul is accredited to Pyongyang, where there hasn’t been a US embassy for years. We should co-ordinate this with key allies, but Australia should look to open a line of dialogue with the regime.
Australia has performed a similar role in Iran, where the US hasn’t had diplomatic representation since 1979.
Has Australia got the gumption to do this, or will we just wait for the conflict to start and hope others fight the war for us?
Dialogue better than all-out war with unpredictable North Korea http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/dialogue-better-than-allout-war-with-unpredictable-north-korea/news-story/f471a9a09b1dae1fe0d2464f5501d03e?nk=ba26857f63080120cbd5fc74c94d3959-1499480511, PETER JENNINGS,The Australian, July 8, 2017
The members of the G20 are meeting during one of the most serious global situations since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
Then the Soviet Union was intent on deploying nuclear-armed missiles to an island a few minutes’ flying time from America’s southeast.
The risk was not only what missiles could be launched from Cuba but whether a conflict might spiral out of control and lead to an all-out nuclear war between Washington and Moscow.
Today the situation on the Korean peninsula is just as uncertain. With help from Pakistan and China, North Korea is within a sprint of developing a nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile, with a widely dispersed arsenal of such weapons able to be launched from silos, mobile vehicles and, in time, from submarines.
The North already has about 20 nuclear devices and although these may not fit on missiles, it is possible they could be detonated inside submarines sent on suicide missions to Seoul or Tokyo.
After an American strike in response, we don’t know how China might react to the destruction of its ally. Once the nuclear threshold is breached we face a global situation as dire as those 13 days in October 1962 when nuclear war seemed likely. Continue reading
If North Korea attacks USA with nuclear warhead, Australia will join US in fight – Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce
Australia will join US in fight against North Korea if war breaks out, Yahoo News, JULY 6, 2017 Australia would join military action against North Korea if the rogue nation fires a nuclear warhead at the United States, acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has confirmed.
As Malcolm Turnbull heads to Germany for talks with other G20 leaders, Mr Joyce is ramping up pressure on China to step in and “stop this madness”.
His call comes after US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley warned that America would use force “if we must” against North Korea, after Pyongyang tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with the potential to reach Darwin or Alaska.
“No one should ever go too far in testing the resolve of the United States of America,” Mr Joyce told Sky News on Thursday.
“If North Korea was to deliver a warhead into the United States of America then the ANZUS alliance would be called in.”……One of Australian’s most senior military commanders insists the risk of a strike on the country’s north by North Korean remains low.
Chief of Joint Operations Vice Admiral David Johnston says that despite Pyongyang’s aggressive demonstrations, the range and capability of the missile launched this week is still to be determined.
“There is very little risk at the moment to the northern part of our country,” he told reporters in Canberra……Given the low threat to Australia’s mainland, Vice Admiral Johnston says there hasn’t been an immediate focus on amassing a system to defend against missiles.
The focus now was on applying diplomatic pressure on North Korea to stop their nuclear program and the development of missile technology.
“Where there’s emerging issues that require military support, the ADF has the capability to provide the government (with) options and we’re able to do so.” https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/36295225/australia-will-back-us-if-nuclear-war-breaks-out-with-north-korea/#page1
Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons formally adopted at United Nations in New York
A Treaty Is Reached to Ban Nuclear Arms. Now Comes the Hard Part, NYT, JULY 7, 2017 For the first time in the seven-decade effort to avert a nuclear war, a global treaty has been negotiated that proponents say would, if successful, lead to the destruction of all nuclear weapons and forever prohibit their use.
PM Turnbull says THAAD anti- missile system is “not really suitable” for Australia
US anti-missile system THAAD ‘not really suitable’ for Australia http://www.afr.com/news/world/us-antimissile-system-thaad-not-really-suitable-for-australia-20170707-gx781e, 8 Jul 17 Australia is developing defences against missile attack but the US THAAD anti- missile system is “not really suitable” for Australia, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says.
When asked about a possible Australian missile defence system against such threats as a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile, Mr Turnbull said the Australian focus was on protecting deployed forces in the field.
Speaking to reporters in Hamburg, where he’s attending the G20 summit, the prime minister said the answer to the Korean threat was the denuclearisation of North Korea.
“We are developing missile defences … but the focus is on protecting our deployed forces in the field.”
Mr Turnbull said that in terms of a missile defence shield for Australia there had been talk of the THAAD system. “That’s not really suitable for our situation but I can assure you we are constantly examining how we can ensure that Australians are safe.”
Former PM Kevin Rudd now suggesting missile defence system for Australia
Australia should consider missile defence to counter North Korea: Kevin Rudd, The Age, Peter Hartcher, James Massola, 8 Jul 17
Australia needs to consider deploying a missile defence system to defend against attack from nuclear-armed North Korea, according to former prime minister Kevin Rudd. Mr Rudd has reversed the position he held in office, saying that North Korea’s newly demonstrated ability to reach northern Australia meant it was time to consider homeland defence.
And top regional security and defence experts have backed that call, arguing Australia and its regional allies must invest heavily in missile defence as the “only alternative”.
A roll out of the US-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defence system began in South Korea but was suspended last month, amid objections from China and Russia.
North Korea’s recent provocative launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile potentially brings Darwin and the US states of Alaska and Hawaii in range – though their missile’s accuracy remains in question – and has prompted dire warnings from the United States ahead of the G20 meeting in Hamburg, where it is set to dominate discussions.
The Rudd government’s Defence White Paper of 2009 explicitly opposed missile defence for Australia, as “such a system would be at odds with the maintenance of global nuclear deterrence,” the paper said, though it signalled an annual review.
On Friday, the former prime minister said: “Given North Korean developments, Australia would be well advised to begin analysing ballistic missile defence needs, available technologies and possible deployment feasibility for northern Australia.”
On Friday, the former prime minister said: “Given North Korean developments, Australia would be well advised to begin analysing ballistic missile defence needs, available technologies and possible deployment feasibility for northern Australia.”……. http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-should-consider-missile-defence-to-counter-north-korea-kevin-rudd-20170707-gx6t0u.html
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam at nuclear weapons ban treaty talks
Ludlam, not Australia, in New York for nuclear weapons ban treaty talks, Greens Senator Scott Ludlam has slammed Australia for not taking part in talks on a global ban on nuclear weapons. By Andrea Nierhoff, SBS News, 6 July 17, Senator Ludlam is in New York with delegates from 120 countries to discuss a treaty to ban nuclear weapons around the world.
State of California leads in climate change negotiations, by-passing Trump’s administration
Last month, Brown discussed climate change with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, an unusual level of engagement between the Chinese head of state and a governor. (Energy Secretary Rick Perry, by contrast, did not meet with Xi in a recent trip to China).
“He wants to make clear that if you can’t look to Washington, you can look to California on progressive environmental policy,” said Ann Carlson, professor of environmental law at UCLA
Gov. Brown unveils plan for global climate summit, further undercutting Trump’s agenda, Melanie Mason, Evan Halper and Patrick McGreevyContact Reporters, 6 Jul 17, In a rebuke to President Trump’s disengagement from worldwide climate change efforts, Gov. Jerry Brown told an international audience Thursday the president “doesn’t speak for the rest of us” and unveiled plans for a global environmental summit in San Francisco next year.
The announcement, at a convening of climate activists in Hamburg, Germany, coinciding with Trump’s arrival there for the G-20 summit of world leaders, signals once more how Brown and other American leaders aim to galvanize continued efforts against climate change, even as the federal government moves in the opposite direction.
“It’s hard to grasp the mortal danger that climate change represents,” Brown said in an interview with The Times. “I believe that California, New York, France and Germany and the other countries — we have to get our act together, strengthen our commitment and bring as many nations along as we can.” Continue reading
A farmer deplores the planned giveaway of precious water to Adani coal mine project
Adani Carmichael mine: Water is too important for farmers to risk wasting it on a mine, 
ABC News, 6 Jul 17 By Robert Quirk, I’m no activist. I’m a farmer, and as a farmer I’m against the Adani coal mine for one reason: water.
My sugar cane farm is on the flood plains of northern NSW. Many of my friends and colleagues are in the industry located all over Queensland.
All farmers, no matter what the crop, or livestock, rely on water. Sugar cane requires about 1300 millimetres of well-spread rain to grow a crop. You might manage, with good irrigation, on 600-700mm. Too much in the form of a flood and you might end up with a damaged crop.
In a good year, everything you need falls from the sky, at the right time, in the right amount. Of course, not every year is a good year. In fact, good years are rare and that’s why farmers manage risk with irrigation. You store the water for use later with dams and the like, you try to use it efficiently and sometimes you need to extract it from underground, or truck it in.
It’s all pretty basic stuff, so it’s truly bowled me over to learn the detail of the Adani mine in relation to water.
Two sets of rules
Many farmers in Queensland have licences to draw their water from the Great Artesian Basin. The same basin that the Carmichael mine, once in operation, also plans to draw massive amounts of water from.
How much you ask? Good question. As much as the owners please, because the Queensland Government has granted this company unlimited access to extract groundwater…….
Those in favour of the mine are right about one thing — it is a really good deal. It’s just not a good deal for the Australian people……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-07/adani-mine-water-is-too-important-to-farmers/8686890
Majority of Americans believe that human caused climate change is happening
New Survey Shows Majority Of Americans Believe Climate Change Is Real And Caused By Human Activity https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/06/new-survey-shows-majority-americans-believe-climate-change-real-and-caused-human-activity?utm_source=dsb%20newsletter By Farron Cousins • Thursday, July 6, 2017 The current leadership in the United States — the U.S. House of Representatives, the Senate, and the White House — have a hostile relationship with climate change science. Not only has current President Donald Trump suggested that the entire concept is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese, but the Legislative Branch of government is populated with a majority of representatives who do not accept the scientific consensus regarding climate change. Not only are these views dangerous for the future of the planet, but a new poll shows that these views are entirely out of sync with a majority of the U.S. population.
According to a new report by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, a majority of people in the United States believe that climate change is real and that it is mostly the result of human activities. The survey shows that 58% of the public now accepts that climate change is mostly caused by human activity, which is the highest level ever recorded of public acceptance of the human role in climate change since Yale began conducting these studies in 2008.
Here are a few key findings from the new report: Continue reading
World’s first solar-powered train – for Byron Bay
Byron Bay to get world’s first solar-powered train, courtesy of a coal baron http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/byron-bay-to-get-worlds-first-solarpowered-train-courtesy-of-a-coal-baron-20170702-gx31yo.html Marcus Strom, A coal baron is delivering the world’s first solar train to Australia.
And while bringing solar to Byron Bay might be a bit like taking coals to Newcastle, that’s just what the Byron Bay Railroad Company is doing. “I think this is a world first,” said John Grimes, chief executive of the Australian Solar Council, which is not connected to the project.
“There is a train in India that has solar panels to power lights and fans, but not a whole train.” The Byron Bay Railroad Company, operated by mining executive Brian Flannery, expects to have its two-carriage heritage train running before Christmas, said Jeremy Holmes, a spokesman for the company.
It will operate on part of the disused Casino-to-Murwillumbah line, which closed in 2004.
Dan Cass, a renewable energy specialist at the Australia Institute, said: “This is the first we have heard of a train this size that is literally solar powered, with PV modules on the roof.”
Federal govt shamed into revealing Australia’s pollution data
Greenhouse gas pollution up, data released after FOI struggle reveal, SMH, Lucy Cormack, 8 Jul 17, The federal government has answered calls to release greenhouse gas pollution data it had been sitting on since last year.
Energy and Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg released the quarterly updates on Friday, less than 24 hours after a Fairfax Media exclusive revealed documents confirming the department had failed to release data for the two quarters leading up to the end of 2016.
The federal government has answered calls to release greenhouse gas pollution data it had been sitting on since last year.
Energy and Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg released the quarterly updates on Friday, less than 24 hours after a Fairfax Media exclusive revealed documents confirming the department had failed to release data for the two quarters leading up to the end of 2016……The whereabouts of last year’s pollution data was confirmed by documents obtained under freedom of information laws by the Australian Conservation Foundation, extracts of which were published by Fairfax Media on Thursday. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/greenhouse-gas-pollution-up-data-released-after-foi-struggle-reveal-20170707-gx6qy8.html
Federal govt keeping Australia’s pollution data secret
Independent estimates suggest Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions have risen sharply since the government last released its quarterly data in December – a trend that would make the nation’s commitment to cutting emissions more disruptive and expensive.
Quarterly updates by the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory, described as “up-to-date information on emissions trends for business, policymakers and the public”, have been released 28 times since 2009, but not since last year.
Documents obtained under FOI by the Australian Conservation Foundation reveal that while the government possesses data on greenhouse pollution for the two quarters leading up to the end of last year, it has failed to release them……..http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/foi-documents-confirm-government-holding-almost-one-years-worth-of-pollution-data-20170706-gx5um3.html
South Australia’s big energy storage battery
Tesla to supply world’s biggest battery for SA, but what is it and how will it work? ABC By political reporter Nick Harmsen and Alle McMahon, 7 July 17 The “world’s biggest” lithium ion battery is to be built in South Australia by Tesla and French company Neoen.
It is to be close to the French renewable energy company’s wind farm near Jamestown and ready by the start of summer.
What is it?
An array of lithium ion batteries will be connected to the Hornsdale wind farm, which is currently under construction in SA. It will look like a field of boxes, each housing Tesla commercial-scale Powerpack batteries.
The array will be capable of an output of 100 megawatts (MW) of power at a time and the huge battery will be able to store 129 megawatt hours (MWh) of energy so, if used at full capacity, it would be able to provide its maximum output for more than an hour.
It will be a modular network, with each Powerpack about the size of a large fridge at 2.1 metres tall, 1.3m long and 0.8m wide. They weigh in at 1,200 kilograms each.
How will it stack up against the next biggest?
It will have just slightly more storage than the next biggest lithium battery, built by AES this year in southern California. But Tesla’s 100 MW output would be more than three times larger than the AES battery and five times larger than anything Tesla has built previously.
The largest lithium ion battery storage system that Tesla has built to date sits on a 0.6-hectare site at Mira Loma in southern California.
American electricity company Southern California Edison was also involved. It has a storage capacity of 20 MW, or 80 MWh, and is said to be capable of powering 15,000 homes.
The California array took three months to build. Tesla says the lithium ion batteries in the Jamestown array will have a life of about 15 years, depending on their usage and how aggressively they are recharged.
The company says the battery components are replaceable and the circuitry should last 20 to 30 years……..
How will it be used?
Neoen said the battery would primarily provide stability for the power grid, something traditionally the domain of coal, gas and hydro, rather than wind or solar………http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-07/what-is-tesla-big-sa-battery-and-how-will-it-work/8688992
Need for recycling, and environmental protection, in the booming use of lithium in batteries
FT 7th July 2017, Tesla Motors and now Volvo may have big plans to end the addiction of drivers to fossil fuels via electric vehicles, however the environmental footprint of mining raw materials used in car batteries and their eventual disposal are emerging as a flash point.
As the mining sector presents a green face and extracts raw materials from lithium to cobalt and nickel
that constitute electric batteries, so the focus on their environmental standards and energy efficient production methods will intensify.
At the tail-end of the electric vehicle boom is the matter of improving the recycling of lithium-ion batteries and making sure the environmental impact is also contained.
To offset the environmental impact of mining there will have to be a large build out in recycling facilities to meet the first wave of electric vehicles, analysts say. Currently over 90 per cent of lead-acid
batteries used in conventional gasoline cars are recycled, versus less than 5 per cent of lithium-ion batteries. An estimated 11m tonnes of spent lithium-ion battery packs will be discarded between now and 2030, according to Canada-based Li-Cycle, a recycler of batteries.
https://www.ft.com/content/8342ec6c-5fde-11e7-91a7-502f7ee26895?mhq5j=e3
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 