Highlights of Australian Government Nuclear Information Session in Kimba
Dave Sweeney, 8 Aug 18 an update of the highlights from last night’s federal agency forum in Kimba: https://www.eyretribune.com.au/story/5569566/nuclear-information-session-in-kimba/
Between 120-150 people put in three hours in a very cold hall listening to presentations from ARPANSA, ANSTO, DIIS and others then to responses to pre-submitted questions.
As usual there was considerable running down of the clock and unrelated/ off the mark responses – but still a fair bit of interest and use, including:
ARPANSA
- no urgency to move ILW from Lucas Heights – this was clear and repeated – proponent would need to prove need/ rationale and safety case
- new ARPANSA code has reaffirmed that siting on agricultural land is less preferred (nb: this is guidance, not a requirement)
- will require two separate license applications for LLW and ILW as they have different requirements
- 12-18 months further work required on Woomera waste characterisation
ANSTO
- lots of detailed nuclear medicine/ science application talk – scant explanation of need to move ILW
- CEO agreed with ARPANSA that current ILW storage at LH is ‘safe’
- including already returned reprocessed waste returns there is a maximum of five TH81 casks of ILW over the next forty years
DIIS
- ‘possible no current site will be selected’
- uncertainty re transport route and use of local ports
- intention is to amend the NRWM Act to make the community benefit fund larger and more directed by some form of community input – but only post site selection
- Minister is the sole decision maker and they are expecting some ADJR challenge
- ballot is ‘Kimba’s last chance’ – there will no further offers or re-visiting if not supported
- Minister wants to make a decision in October
Western Australia based Azark wants nuclear waste dump site to be Leonora, W.A.
Calls for a nuclear waste facility in WA. Business News Western Australia, 7 August 18 Western Australia based Azark projects is calling on the Federal government to review its preference for a nuclear waste storage facility in South Australia, with the George Gear led company proposing Leonora as a more suitable location……. https://www.businessnews.com.au/article/Calls-for-nuclear-waste-facility-in-WA
Remembering the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Perilous Times
BY Joseph Gerson, Truthout –
The consensus among US historians is that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — in addition to being moral abominations against civilians — were also opposed by senior military leaders, including General (later President) Eisenhower, who did not see them as politically necessary.
While making no excuses for Japanese militarism and imperial aggressions, we should remember that in the months prior to the US’s atomic bombings, the Japanese government attempted to surrender on terms the US ultimately accepted after the atomic bombings: unconditional surrender with the exception of the emperor remaining on his throne. According to my own research for my book, most senior US military leaders thought that the bombings were unnecessary and wrong.
Craven domestic political calculations, racism and bureaucratic momentum contributed to former President Harry Truman’s decision to usher in the nuclear age with the annihilation of the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but as General Leslie Groves, who led the Manhattan Project, remarked in 1943, the atomic bomb project was no longer about Germany or Japan. It was about Russia. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were vaporized, incinerated, poisoned and traumatized to ensure that the US would not have to share influence with the Soviet Union in Northern China, Manchuria and Korea. Further, Truman thought that the atomic bomb gave him “a hammer” with which he could dominate the Kremlin with the threat of nuclear annihilation.
Despite the Hibakusha‘s fundamental truth that human beings and nuclear weapons cannot coexist, the illusion that nuclear weapons have worked and can serve as the ultimate enforcer of empire, compounded by lies and mistaken beliefs about nuclear deterrence, have repeatedly brought us to the brink of nuclear omnicide and have driven nuclear weapons proliferation. In Helsinki, Finland, Russian President Vladimir Putin again illuminated the madness and injustice of nuclear apartheid. “As major nuclear powers,” he said, “we bear special responsibility for maintaining international security.” He and Trump believe that their nuclear arsenals give them the right to intimidate and dictate how the world’s nations and peoples live and possibly die.
- A Perilous Time
We live in a perilous time of rising great power tensions, the ascendency of right-wing autocracies, uncertainties, and renewed nuclear and high-tech arms races. This is compounded by the reality that there are no longer any givens in US foreign and military policies or to the future of liberal democracy in the US.
Following Trump’s secretive summit with Putin and the political and media circus that followed, Trump was confronted by his most senior staff who insisted that he deny or reverse a number of statements and commitments he had made in Helsinki…….
- Independent of Trump, though, the gears of empire grind on. The Pentagon budget has been increased by an amount equal to Russia’s total military budget. Despite Trump’s embrace of Putin, the Pentagon’s new National Strategy prioritizes preparations for great power war against China or Russia — the two countries military leaders believe threaten“American power, influence and interests.”
This explains the $1.2 trillion spending plan for the new generation of US offensive nuclear weapons and their delivery systems and Trump’s new “Space Command” to dominate Earth from space.
………. Two Minutes to Midnight
All of this is deeply related to continuing US preparations for omnicidal nuclear war. This past winter, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists sent the world a warning by moving the hands of their Doomsday Clock to two minutes to midnight. This is the closest to apocalyptic nuclear war since 1953 and worse than during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Why the warning? They cited the Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), decrying increased US reliance on nuclear weapons; its staggering investments in new nuclear weapons that are driving “modernization” of the world’s other nuclear arsenals; the return to Cold War rhetoric; and the total absence of US-Russian arms control negotiations. They warned about the dangerous lack of coherent US foreign and military policies that undermine global security, North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, South Asian rivalries, Trump’s threat to the nuclear deal with Iran, and climate change.
- The NPR follows on the Pentagon’s new National Strategy that prioritizes preparations for a great power war and includes a more aggressive US first-strike nuclear war-fighting doctrine. …….
- Perhaps the most dangerous element of Trump’s $1.2 trillion NPR is its blurring of the distinction between conventional and nuclear war and the increased role for nuclear weapons in US war-fighting strategies. ………https://truthout.org/articles/remembering-the-bombings-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-in-perilous-times/
NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP – Senate Inquiry
The Federal Government selects prime agricultural wheat farmland and the most seismically active Flinders Ranges to become Australia’s Radioactive Nuclear Waste Central Depot. Questions have not been answered truthfully and the site selection process smacks of a fixed match.
NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP – Senate Committee of Inquiry
Australian govt not consulting communities on the nuclear waste transport route
Robyn Wood, 7 Aug 18Port Pirie Regional Council has been blindsided by reports that suggest the 
city’s port could be used to transfer nuclear waste to a proposed national storage facility.
Port Pirie Mayor, John Rohde, said the council was unaware of the possibility, but if the city’s port is selected as a transfer site, he expects the Federal Government to consult the community.
“I would have thought that is absolutely critical to anything the [Federal] Government does in relation to this matter,” he said.
The port was identified as a possible receival point for radioactive waste in two site characterisastion reports, due to its proximity to rail and road networks near proposed sites at Hawker and Kimba.
Ports at Whyalla and Port Lincoln were also suggested as viable options.
A Department of Industry, Innovation and Science spokesperson said transport plans will be finalised by an operator once a site is selected.
The spokesperson said any consultation won’t be as in depth as the current site selection process, because waste will only be travelling through the communities.
Insanity of placing a nuclear waste dump in farmland on a flood plain
Vince Coulthard reiterates the Adnyamathanha people’s firm opposition to nuclear waste dumping on their traditional country
Vince Coulthard Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA, 7 Aug 18 am sick and tired of the lies about me in relation to the nuclear waste dump.
I do not want it anywhere in Adnyamathanha Yarta/country.
As Adnyamathanha people we have been entrusted by our ancestors, with the responsibility of caring for our country and there is no way any sane person would want to poison our land for hundreds of generations to come.
I know some people are trying to discredit me by misquoting me but anyone who knows me would already know there is NO WAY I would support this waste dump and only FOOLS sucked in by the $$$ would think it was ok to make these accusations against me.
And to suggest that I would want this toxic dump anywhere near my homeland and my family is even more foolish. This is ridiculous and I would ask that you please share this status as I have had enough of this slander. https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
Australia’s risk of mortality from extreme heat set to rise
In three of Australia’s great cities, deaths from heat waves will have risen by more than 470%.
https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/australias-risk-of-mortality-from-extreme-heat-set-to-rise,11762 Climate News Network
BY THE CLOSE of the century, the two-fisted assault of extreme heat and humidity could make the North China Plain a deadly zone.
As water vapour rises from irrigated farmland – in heat extremes which are likely if humans go on burning ever-greater quantities of fossil fuels – then air temperatures and moisture conditions could become such that outdoor workers could no longer cool by perspiration.
In such circumstances, no normal healthy person could survive more than six hours. Continue reading
Children are highly vulnerable to health risks of a changing climate
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-08/cums-noc080618.php, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY’S MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH Young children are far more vulnerable to climate-related disasters and the onus is on adults to provide the protection and care that children need, according to research by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia University Irving Medical Center. In a paper published in PLoS Medicine, researchers set out some specific challenges associated with the impacts of climate change on the world’s 2.3 billion children and suggest ways to address their underprioritized needs.
“Because of their anatomic, cognitive, immunologic, and psychologic differences, children and adolescents are more vulnerable to climate change-related events like floods, droughts, and heatwaves than adults,” says Madeleine Thomson, PhD, a research scholar in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, faculty member at Columbia’s Earth Institute, a guest editor in PLOS One Medicine’s Special Issue on Climate Change and Health in the International Research Institute for Climate and Society.
Because of their small surface-to-body ratio, infants and children are particularly vulnerable to dehydration and heat stress. During heat waves, children are more likely to be affected by respiratory disease, kidney disease, electrolyte imbalance, and fever. Heat waves have also been shown to exacerbate allergens and air pollution which impact children more severely than adults because of their underdeveloped respiratory and immune systems and because they breathe at a faster rate than adults.
The authors write that hotter temperatures may also expand the range of vector-borne diseases, including the Zika virus which, following the 2015 epidemic, has profoundly affected the lives of children and their families across Latin America and the Caribbean. Even children who were asymptomatic at birth may develop problems later in life.
After Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico in September 2017 medical responders encountered increases in gastroenteritis, asthma exacerbations and skin infections. Children were also at increased risk for mosquito-borne diseases such as Chikungunya and Dengue, as well as leptospirosis through the drinking of contaminated water. Flood waters from Hurricane Harvey a few weeks earlier dropped record breaking rain. Most of the Harvey-related toxic releases were never publicized and the long-term implications for children’s health is unknown. Studies suggest that climate change is increasing the intensity of North Atlantic hurricanes and the likelihood that the severe consequences for children’s health will grow.
In rural households droughts can have significant impacts on child development through increased food insecurity and dietary changes [17]. Droughts may also contribute to conflict and forced migration in resource poor settings, thereby increasing children’s vulnerability to a wide range of health issues.
To begin to address the specific needs of children confronted with climate-change related health disasters, Thomson and colleagues are proposing the following:
- Establish an international consortium of experts to develop adoptable medical and behavioral protocols and to set research agendas to address the unmet child specific needs that arise from climate-related natural disasters.
- Develop best practice guidelines for climate-change related event planning that incorporates strategies for addressing the health-related needs of children.
- Fund mechanisms designed to help the most vulnerable nations prepare for and respond to climate related disasters must consider funding the development of responses that specifically address the unmet needs of children’s health.
Donald Trump puts sanctions back on Iran
Trump reimposes Iran nuclear deal sanctions, The Hill, BY REBECCA KHEEL , 7 Aug 18 The Trump administration announced Monday the reimposition of sanctions on Iran that were lifted as part of a nuclear agreement with the country.
Victoria calls out Coalition’s “climate crazies”, as states dig in on NEG — RenewEconomy
Victoria demands three-year time frame for emissions reviews for NEG, ACT lines up with a similar proposal.
via Victoria calls out Coalition’s “climate crazies”, as states dig in on NEG — RenewEconomy
August 7 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “Electric power sector reduces emissions with shift from coal” • While the President of the US has repeatedly signaled an interest in propping up the coal industry, the market has spoken to the contrary. Coal is being displaced by natural gas and renewable energy resources, this has led to a reduction in air […]
NEG: An abject failure of principled political leadership — RenewEconomy
The investment certainty business craves will be non-existent until climate action is accepted as the absolute priority in determining energy policy. But achieving this will require political leadership.
via NEG: An abject failure of principled political leadership — RenewEconomy
Can the NEG solve the electricity trilemma? — RenewEconomy
The National Energy Guarantee can provide a mechanism for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, so long as a more ambitious target is adopted.
via Can the NEG solve the electricity trilemma? — RenewEconomy
States return serve to Frydenberg, as News Corp rolls out climate deniers — RenewEconomy
Will the states agree to “thoughtfully do nothing” about climate change and sign up to the NEG? Turnbull says they must listen to the energy experts. But which ones?
via States return serve to Frydenberg, as News Corp rolls out climate deniers — RenewEconomy
1 This month
7 April – WEBINAR – Australia and the Doomsday Clock – Preventing nuclear war through NoFirstUse and other policies
Online | Tuesday April 7, 4:00-5:30pm, Australian Eastern Time / 8:00-9:30am Central Europe Time
– Access the registration link
15 April – Zoom –Nuclear Power is Not the Solution
Apr 15, 2026 01:00 AM in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
Join the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) on Tuesday, April 14th for a timely webinar exploring the risks associated with nuclear power and challenging the myth that it offers a simple, safe, carbon-free solution to the climate crisis
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 