The week that has been in Australian nuclear news
Same old same old, but new, angst about being close to the nuclear brink. Russia is upset at America’s new Nuclear Posture Review. Many commentator’s are alarmed as it escalates the arms race. No doubt, weapons companies are salivating at the thought of it, and America’s tax-payers ought to be concerned at its beyond $1.2 trillion cost.
I know that this newsletter is now supposed to be leaving out climate stories. But it’s hard. Here we are, worrying about nuclear bombs, – while climate change is bringing us its own “weather bombs”.
AUSTRALIA
Peace Boat with nuclear bomb survivors arrives in Sydney. ICAN founder Tilman Ruff calls US’s new nuclear policy ‘a blueprint for war’
Australia’s new weapons export industry – secret men’s business.
Most Australians do not want the government to limit charities’ ability to advocate.
Julian Assange remains stuck in London, still at risk of extradition to USA.
Australian Senate to inquire into process for nuclear waste dump site selection. This news item appeared only in the Adelaide Advertiser print version – thus making it available to some in South Australia, but not to Australians in other States. The Advertiser following the Australian government line – the pretense that this is not a national issue? South Australia’s peak environment body welcomes Senate nuclear waste dump inquiry. Senate Inquiry into Selection for Nuclear Waste Dump Site – the process and call for submissions. Senate Committee investigating nuclear waste project may already be compromised.
Regina McKenzie – I will say NO to the waste dump.
The nuclear industry lobbyists rule the Australian radiation regulator.
Australian uranium mining company Paladin: most shares in hands of creditors.
Yeelirree uranium project Court decision – “a bad decision, but not the end decision”.
The Adani Carmichael coalmine will not receive federal funding from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility for a vital rail line. Australians demand lawmakers #StopAdani from building the country’s largest coal mine.
So much is happening in Australia on RENEWABLE ENERGY, especially South Australia. Follow it all at reneweconomy.com.au
Yeelirree uranium project Court decision – “a bad decision, but not the end decision”
‘Sad day for our people, our land’: Appeal fails against Yeelirrie uranium mine in WA’s Mid West, http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/sad-day-for-our-people-our-land-appeal-fails-against-yeelirrie-uranium-mine-in-was-mid-west-20180208-h0vrpr.html
Conservationists and Tjiwarl traditional owners will continue to fight the approval for a uranium mine in central WA despite losing a Supreme Court appeal.
Former state environment minister Albert Jacob gave the green light to Cameco’s Yeelirrie mine proposal in January last year, just 16 days before the pre- election caretaker mode began.
The Conservation Council of WA and traditional owners fear unique subterranean fauna in the area will be made extinct if the project proceeds.
Chief Justice Wayne Martin determined on Thursday that the appeal against the ministerial decision should be dismissed. Costs will be determined at a later date.
Tjiwarl native title holder Vicky Abdullah said the court case was only part of the campaign . “This is a very disappointing and sad day for our people, our land, and our future,” she said. “We have fought long and hard to protect Yeelirrie and stop the uranium project. “It’s a bad decision, but it’s not the end decision.”
The ministerial endorsement was subject to 17 conditions, including the Canadian company undertaking further surveys and research into stygofauna and troglofauna to minimise impacts on the tiny underground creatures.
Mr Verstegen said he always knew the appeal would result in either the uranium approval being ruled invalid or the environmental laws being exposed as inadequate.
“Today’s ruling shows that indeed our environmental laws are deeply inadequate,” he said.
There is still a federal decision pending, with the WA appeal delaying the process by months.
“It is now up to the commonwealth government to take a rigorous approach to the environmental assessment of this project rather than just relying on the shonky assessment that was done under the Barnett government,” Mr Verstegen said.
“We call on the federal government not to approve extinction at Yeelirrie.”
Mr Verstegen said advice would be sought on whether further legal action was possible. Regarding costs, he said lawyers would argue it was a public interest case and they should not have to bear the full costs.
Senate Committee investigating nuclear waste project may already be compromised
Paul Waldon, Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA, 8 Feb 18,
We have ANSTO, ARPANSA, and DIIS which have failed to display there impartiality, they are incapable of listening, they are environmentally blind, impotent of nuclear safeguards, responsibly inadequate, and obstinate, so what makes people think we will be better off saying yes to a investigation when we have already delivered a resolute “NO.”
Nuclear industry was rampantly misogynist from the start
The atomic age bears America’s original sin, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 6 FEBRUARY 2018, Yangyang Cheng
“……..The invention of nuclear weapons was in itself a process of creation conflated with the ultimate destructive power. Upon the success of Fermi’s experiment, the nuclear physicist Ernest Lawrence telegraphed his colleagues in Chicago, “Congratulations to the new parents.” The Manhattan Project scientists chose phrases of male progeny, “it’s a boy”, to describe successful bomb tests, while “a girl” would mean the bomb was a dud. The misogynistic convention carried on in the names of “Little Boy” and “Fat Man.”
With only one woman, and everyone of European heritage, the scientific team at the creation of the Bomb shared the same gender and racial makeup as the American military and political leadership. The American Bomb was the white men’s bomb. As with many of the ugliest episodes in the history of America, the groups absent from the decision-making process bore the consequences of choices made by people who deemed themselves superior by birth……” https://thebulletin.org/atomic-age-bears-americas-original-sin11487
City Council says “NO”to nuclear waste dump (as Kimba Council should do)
City Council: Members oppose construction of a Piketon nuclear waste facility, The Post
Athens City Council passed a resolution Monday night opposing the construction of a nuclear waste disposal facility in Piketon.
The Village of Piketon conducted an independent survey of the 10-acre site and found that there are fractures in the bedrock that the Department of Energy didn’t include in its report. The site is also 8,000 feet from a school.
“This is a David vs. Goliath fight we’re in here,” Piketon Mayor Billy Spencer said.
Piketon officials also approached various other cities and municipalities, including Waverly and Chillicothe, asking for support.………http://www.thepostathens.com/article/2018/02/athens-nuclear-waste-carbon-fee
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 