It’s that crazy time of the year coming on again. so you will be relieved to find this newsletter relatively short. Climate news is just as scary as always, but I haven’t had time to keep up with it.
Meanwhile the State of Queensland is having its election as we live and breathe. From the climate point of view, this is a pretty important election. It is is critical for solar energy, and for electricity consumers. Also important is the issue of the Adani mega coal mine project. The Liberal National party is all for it, of course. And nobody’s quite sure what the Labor government would do.
An American Spy Base Hidden in Australia’s Outback, NYT By JACKIE DENT The trials — and the Australian government’s uncompromising prosecution of the protesters — has put a spotlight on a facility that the United States would prefer remain in the shadows.
— Margaret Pestorius arrived at court last week in her wedding dress, a bright orange-and-cream creation painted with doves, peace signs and suns with faces. “It’s the colors of Easter, so I always think of it as being a resurrection dress,” said Ms. Pestorius, a 53-year-old antiwar activist and devout Catholic, who on Friday was convicted of trespassing at a top-secret military base operated by the United States and hidden in the Australian outback.
Authorities finally admit that Argayash was at the centre of a radiation cloud. Henry Foy in Argayash , 24 Nov 17
Argayash is a cynical, mistrustful town. Decades of being lied to by the government about being down the road from a leaking nuclear plant does that to a place. So too does watching generations of people dying of radiation-related ailments while officials assure them nothing is amiss.
A small, two-road settlement where homes roofed with corrugated iron and Soviet-era Lada cars nod to its poverty, Argayash is one of a handful of towns surrounding the Mayak Production Facility in southern Russia, one of the world’s biggest radiation emitters where a litany of tragic accidents has made it a byword for the dangers of the atomic industry.
This week, 76 years after radiation first began seeping from Mayak into the surrounding rivers, lakes and atmosphere, Russian authorities admitted that Argayash was at the centre of a radiation cloud containing “exceptionally high” levels of radioactive isotope ruthenium-106, which spread so far west that it reached France. The radiation was detected by Russia’s meteoological agency in late September, but only revealed on Monday, after local politicians had spent weeks denying rumours of a leak and rubbishing reports from EU agencies that had tracked the cloud’s movement.
The levels of the isotope in Argayash were almost 1,000 times the normal level. Officials say it is not harmful to public health. “Nobody tells us anything. They keep it secret,” says Lilia Galimzhanova, a cook at a café in the town. “We are afraid. We are afraid for our children and grandchildren.” “But we know that the air, the environment is very bad here,” she says. Her 80-year-old mother suffers from radiation poisoning from Mayak. “We are not protected by anyone here . . . We are survivors.”
The source of the leaked isotope, which does not occur naturally and is produced during the processing of nuclear fuel, has not been confirmed. Rosatom, which operates the Mayak facility, has repeatedly denied it is to blame. “[Mayak] is not a source of increased content of ruthenium-106 in the atmosphere,” Rosatom said in a statement. On Thursday, the company published a message poking fun at journalists on its Facebook page, inviting them to tour the plant, which it sarcastically dubbed “the cradle of ruthenium”. The local region’s chief oncology specialist has told concerned residents to stop worrying, advising them to instead “watch football and drink beer”.
But local residents see little to laugh about. Many scoff at official denials, having heard similar for decades, even as they watched family and friends die from radiation-related ailments. “We are not told anything about Mayak,” says Nadia, an 18-year-old medical student living in the town, 1,700km east of Moscow. “The government should not keep things secret when people suffer.” “People in the west know more about this than we do here,” she adds.
Ms Galimzhanova only heard of the radiation that had enveloped her town when a friend in Germany read about it in a western newspaper. Before the authorities admitted its existence, text messages had been sent to residents saying that high levels of pollution from nearby industrial factories meant people should stay indoors. Regardless of the potential health risks, many here say the government’s initial silence, denial and obfuscation has dredged up painful memories of a past that refuses to stay buried. Secretly constructed in the 1940s, Mayak was at the forefront of the USSR’s scramble to catch up with the US nuclear programme. As it raced to produce weapons-grade plutonium, a vast amount of nuclear waste was discharged into nearby lakes and the Techa river. Then, in 1957, nuclear waste storage tanks at the site exploded, raining fallout over hundreds of towns — and releasing more radiation than any other nuclear accident except Chernobyl and Fukushima. Ten years later, an adjacent reservoir used for waste disposal dried out, and powdered radioactive dust was blown over the area.
Not that local people were evacuated, or even warned: Mayak’s very existence was only acknowledged in the late 1980s, as information began to circulate about the long-term contamination. An estimated 450,000 were exposed to radiation from the accidents and the discharging of waste into the water supply, Russian authorities said in 1993, making Mayak one of the world’s biggest sources of harmful radiation. But anti-nuclear campaigners say safety breaches continued: a 2005 court case revealed nuclear waste was still being dumped into rivers as late as 2004, while Rosatom only sealed off the radioactive lake that caused the 1967 disaster in 2015.
An estimated 450,000 were exposed to radiation from the accidents and the discharging of waste into the water supply, Russian authorities said in 1993, making Mayak one of the world’s biggest sources of harmful radiation. But anti-nuclear campaigners say safety breaches continued: a 2005 court case revealed nuclear waste was still being dumped into rivers as late as 2004, while Rosatom only sealed off the radioactive lake that caused the 1967 disaster in 2015.
“Previous experience has taught us that they lie and suppress information,” said Andrey Talevlin, co-chairman of the Russian Social-Ecological Union NGO. “We can’t trust what they say, whether they mislead the population on purpose or not.”
Mr Talevlin, an academic and environmental activist who this week was branded a “foreign agent” by Russian state TV after he called for an investigation into the ruthenium leak, says that suppression of anti-nuclear groups in Russia has rapidly increased over the past two decades. A fellow activist, Nadezhda Kutepova, fled to France in 2015 seeking political asylum after a similar media campaign accused her of “industrial espionage”. President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said this week that the Kremlin has “no information” regarding any possible causes of the radiation. And some in Argayash say it is little more than an occupational hazard of living in one of Russia’s most industrialised regions.
The authorities say they do not know anything about it. And we must trust them,” says Jamshed, who runs a greengrocer on the town’s main Lenin Street. “Nobody has proven anything. And even if something is proved, I am sure our government will immediately take measures,” he says, looking over his locally-grown vegetables.
Now scientists are trying to work out just what the long term effects are of changes in the brain during extended missions in space before NASA’s planned mission to Mars.
More people today are poised to explore space than ever before; and those who do will experience the effects of microgravity on the human body.
Roberts, of The Medical University of South Carolina, said: “Exposure to the space environment has permanent effects on humans that we simply do not understand.
“What astronauts experience in space must be mitigated to produce safer space travel for the public.”
NASA astronauts have experienced altered vision and increased pressure inside their heads during spaceflight aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The conditions can be serious problems for astronauts.
To describe the symptoms, NASA coined the term visual impairment intracranial pressure syndrome, or VIIP Syndrome.
The cause of VIIP Syndrome is thought to be related to the redistribution of body fluid toward the head during long-term microgravity exposure, but the exact cause is unknown.
NASA has made determining the cause of VIIP Syndrome and how to resolve its effects a top priority.
Roberts proposed to NASA that MRI scans be used to investigate the anatomy of the brain following spaceflight.
She suspected subtle anatomical changes in the brains of astronauts during spaceflight might be contributing to the development of VIIP Syndrome.
She examined the brains and muscular responses of participants who stayed in bed for 90 days, during which time, they were required to keep their heads continuously tilted in a downward position to simulate the effects of microgravity.
Using MRI scans, Roberts evaluated brain neuroplasticity, studying the brain’s motor cortex before, during and after long-term bed rest.
Results confirmed neuroplasticity in the brain occurred during bed rest.
As Roberts evaluated the brain scans, she noted a “crowding” occurrence at the vertex, or top of the brain, with narrowing of the gyri and sulci, the bumps and depressions in the brain that give it its folded appearance.
The crowding was worse for participants who were on longer bed rest.
Roberts also saw evidence of brain shifting and a narrowing of the space between the top of the brain and the inner table of the skull.
She questioned if the same thing might be happening to the astronauts during spaceflight.
She also acquired brain MRI scans and related data from NASA’s Lifetime Surveillance of Astronaut Health program for two groups of astronauts: 18 who had been in space for short periods of time aboard the U.S. Space Shuttle and 16 who had been in space for longer periods of time, typically three months, aboard the ISS.
The researchers compared the brain images of the two groups of astronauts.
The results confirmed a narrowing of the brain’s central sulcus, a groove in the cortex near the top of the brain that separates the parietal and frontal lobes, in 94 percent of the astronauts who participated in long-duration flights and 18.8 percent of the astronauts on short-duration flights.
Cine clips also showed an upward shift of the brain and narrowing of the CSF spaces at the top of the brain among the long-duration flight astronauts but not in the short-duration flight astronauts.
Her findings concluded that “significant changes” in brain structure occur during long-duration space flight.
And, more importantly, the parts of the brain that are most affected — the frontal and parietal lobes — control movement of the body and higher executive function.
The longer an astronaut stayed in space, the worse the symptoms of VIIP syndrome would be.
To further understand the results of the study, Roberts plans to compare repeated post-flight imaging of the brains of astronauts to determine if the changes are permanent or if they will return to normal after some time back on Earth.
With NASA’s Mars expedition mission set to launch in 2033, there’s an urgency for researchers to collect more data about astronauts and understand the basics of human space physiology. A journey to Mars can take three to six months, at best.
During the two-year time period, crew members would remain on Mars, conducting exploration activities. The gravity on Mars is around one-third that of Earth.
Considering travel to and from Mars, along with the time on the surface, Roberts said the Martian expedition crew would be exposed to reduced gravity for at least three years.
To date, the longest continuous time in space was 438 days, a record held by Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov.
Roberts said: “We know these long-duration flights take a big toll on the astronauts and cosmonauts; however, we don’t know if the adverse effects on the body continue to progress or if they stabilize after some time in space.
“These are the questions that we are interested in addressing, especially what happens to the human brain and brain function?”
Study co-author Dr. Michael Antonucci added: “This study is exciting in many ways, particularly as it lies at the intersection of two fascinating frontiers of human exploration — space and the brain.
“We have known for years that microgravity affects the body in numerous ways.
“However, this study represents the most comprehensive assessment of the impact of prolonged space travel on the brain.
“The changes we have seen may explain unusual symptoms experienced by returning space station astronauts and help identify key issues in the planning of longer-duration space exploration, including missions to Mars.”
Special laws needed to budget-proof the ABC, says former PM Kevin Rudd, The Age, Peter Hartcher and James Massola, 25 Nov 17,
The ABC needs to have its budget protected from future attack by special legislation, according to former prime minister Kevin Rudd.
The former Labor leader said that while the national broadcaster’s independence was enshrined in law, its $1.04 billion annual budget was vulnerable. In an interview on the 10th anniversary of leading Labor to power, Mr Rudd said that one of his regrets was that his government didn’t protect the ABC budget against assault by a future Coalition government.
“To fix its baseline budget and entrench it in legislation with an automatic CPI acceleration would have been helpful,” Mr Rudd said.
The ABC was at particular risk from a future conservative government doing the bidding of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, he said.
“Given Murdoch’s historical commitment to kill public broadcasting, something to have considered at the time was not to re-legislate the independence of the ABC but to entrench its budget,” he said. Mr Rudd also rued that he didn’t declare “open war” on News Corporation during his time as prime minister.
“I regret deferring constantly to the advice of my cabinet colleagues and not declaring open war on News Corporation. “It became clear early in the government’s life that, when we would not commit to the News Corporation agenda, they set out to destroy the government.”
His government’s decision to build the National Broadband Network was a threat to Murdoch’s Fox entertainment channels distributed through Foxtel cable, said the current president of the New York-based Asia Society Policy Institute.
That terrifying question, often asked worriedly, privately or rhetorically over the last months, is echoing ever more loudly this week after President Trump insulted another inexperienced authoritarian nuclear commander, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.
Trump described Kim as “short and fat,” and the 33-year-old dictator responded by sentencing Trump to death. The nightmare of nuclear-armed boys in the playground of geopolitics has come to life.
William Perry, Secretary of Defense in the Clinton administration, who said he was “terrified” by trends in nuclear proliferation before Trump took office, says the American people cannot count on Trump’s advisers from restraining him in a crisis. Continue reading →
Current polling from Galaxy puts the ALP on track to win the required 47 seats for a majority, but as the Brisbane Courier-Mail reports, this will hinge on a number of factors, including unpredictable preference flows from One Nation supporters.
As at the federal level, politics in Queensland has been heavily focused on energy in the run-up to Saturday’s poll.
The Labor Palaszczuk government – which has a 50 per cent RET by 2030 for the state – has been campaigning strongly around renewables, with a particular focus on increasing rooftop solar uptakeas a way to cut power costs for businesses and homes around the state.
The new policies, launched in late October as part of the Palaszczuk government’s $2 billion Affordable Energy Plan, will offer no-interest loans to consumers wishing to invest in rooftop solar and battery storage, but lacking the up-front capital to do so.
They will also work to give landlords and renters equal access to solar, through a trial initially involving 1000 rental households. Queensland energy minister Mark Bailey said the rental solar scheme had the potential to save tenants up to 10 per cent off their annual bill, or up to $150 a year, while landlords could get a rebate of up to $520 per year.
On large-scale renewables, as we reported here, Labor, has promised to follow through on a program already underway to underwrite 400MW of renewable energy projects.
Following on from this, it has committed to support a further 1000MW of renewable energy projects via a new government power company; and to look to construct new transmission infrastructure in Northern Queensland that would unlock a vast new province of wind, solar and hydro power projects.
On the other side of the political divide, the LNP conservative coalition that is seeking to replace the current Labor government has made its intentions on energy clear: the end of renewables incentives; government money for a new coal generator in north Queensland; and support for the Adani coal mine.
The LNP is also claiming a huge reduction in consumer bills: $160 a year for two years, followed by savings of up to $460 a year in 2020.
But this is largely a mirage, as energy analyst Hugh Grant has pointed out. He noted that the only parties with policies that would deliver price reductions were the Greens, and Labor.
Not that Queenslanders got to read about that anywhere – apart from RenewEconomy, the local media refused to publish the results, as Michael West points out in this piece.
In the Conservative corner in the fight for new coal is federal minister for resources and northern Australia, Matt Canavan, who – recently restored to his portfolio – is as keen as ever to use the federal government’s Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility to help fund a new coal-fired power plant in Queensland’s north, as well as to get the Adani coal mine and port project off the ground.
One Nation is also keen to build a coal-fired power station west of Townsville, with party leader Pauline Hanson pledging to commit $1.5 billion to the project, which she wants built in Collinsville – a former coal hub of the state that is more recently turning to large-scale solar.
In fact, according to data gathered for RE’s Renewable Energy Index, the North Queensland region has more power generating capacity under construction than the entire state of NSW, and almost as much as Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia combined.
Meanwhile, Queensland home and business owners are leading the country – which in turn is leading the world – in rooftop solar uptake.
A Climate Council report last month showed that almost one third (31.6 per cent) of all Queensland homes now have solar panels, which puts the state ahead of South Australia, at 30.5 per cent, and Western Australia at 25.4 per cent.
What’s more, there are 14 postcodes in the Sunshine State alone where more than 50 per cent of households have rooftop solar, including the the Moreton Bay region town of Elimbah, where an impressive 63 per cent of homes have PV panels on their roofs.
The Australian Solar Council – newly rebranded as the Smart Energy Council – aren’t resting on their laurels, though. The peak solar industry body is spooked enough about a possible LNP victory that is has launched its own major election campaign, urging voters to put the Coalition last.
“Queensland voters face a stark choice at the election tomorrow,” the SEC said in an email to members on Friday:
“A new polluting coal-fired power station or a solar thermal plant providing 24-hour solar power; no new large-scale renewables and massive job losses or 1,000 megawatts of new large-scale renewable projects in regional Queensland; and a National Energy Guarantee that delivers the longest solar eclipse in history or sensible national energy policy.”
More Australians fear nuclear attacks and health epidemics than average: Ipsos, Matt Wade, SMH, [good graphs] 24 Nov 17
A new 24-nation survey shows Australians are more fearful about security threats including terrorism, nuclear attacks, computer hacks and health epidemics than most other countries.
The Ipsos poll found 82 per cent of Australians feel the “real threat” of a terrorist attack in the next 12 months – 10 percentage points above the international average. That proportion was the same as Turkey, which has recently suffered a series of major terrorism attacks, and was only eight percentage points lower than France and the United States which have experienced multiple terrorist incidents during the past two years.
The proportion of Australians who feel a real threat of “nuclear biological or chemical attack somewhere in the world” during the next year rose eight percentage points to 79 per cent – that was the fifth highest share among the 24 nations, and well above the international average.
By comparison, the proportion of South Koreans fearing a nuclear attack was 15 percentage points lower than Australia, despite heightened tensions with its nuclear-armed neighbour, North Korea.
Australians also had an above average share of respondents who fear being hacked for fraudulent or espionage purposes.
Social researcher, Hugh Mackay, blamed deliberate political tactics for stoking public fears in Australia.
“We’ve had a series of governments who have deliberately played on our fears and exaggerated threats,” he said.
“Why do governments do that? Well, because in Australia, and elsewhere, we’ve seen governments benefiting from fear in the populous.”
Mackay suspects a more general “epidemic of anxiety” in the community also contributed to pessimism revealed by the poll…….
The Ipsos poll, taken almost a year after the election of Donald Trump as US President, found 83 per cent of Australians believe the world has become more dangerous over the past year, up by two percentage points compared with a year earlier and three percentage points above the international average.
A separate poll on Australian attitudes to the world published by the Lowy Institute earlier this year found “feelings of safety” were at the lowest point in the 13-year history of the survey.
The Ipsos polling comes days after the federal government’s foreign policy white paper drew attention to a number of entrenched security threats, including North Korea’s long-range missile and nuclear programs, Islamist terrorism and the effects of climate change.
Ipsos researcher, David Elliott, said blanket media coverage of worrying events – such as terrorist attacks – had a significant influence on public perceptions.
“We know from previous studies that we over-estimate issues we worry about,” he said……….
Australians are also more worried than average about the threat of war. The poll found nearly two thirds of respondents fear an armed conflict with another nation within 12 months – 11 percentage points above the international mean.
Professor Wesley said that high share may be linked to our close military ties to America.
“Most Australians probably realise that if the United States gets involved in a barney somewhere there’s a high likelihood that we’ll be involved as well,” he said.
Most Australians also expect another world war – 76 per cent anticipate another conflict involving super powers “similar to World Wars 1 and 2” in the next 25 years. That was the fourth biggest proportion out of the 24 nations surveyed – behind the US, Canada and India.
But there is a silver lining to the glum risk assessment – Australians were more optimistic than the international average about our government’s level of preparedness to deal with security threats.
The poll found 72 per cent of Australians are confident authorities can provide “appropriate levels of security and protection” in the event of a natural disaster during the next 12 months – the second highest share among nations surveyed.
Antinuclear 