Nuclear waste returning to Australia is really High Level Waste
Dan Monceaux shared a link http://www.radioactivity.eu.com/site/pages/Vitrified_HA_Waste.htm.Nuclear Fuel Cycle Watch South Australia 10 Sept 18, Some people in South Australia have been given the impression that spent nuclear fuel, reprocessed and vitrified in France, is returned to Australia or other countries as intermediate or even low-level nuclear waste. I’m yet to find any examples of other countries classifying this material as anything other than high level nuclear waste.https://www.facebook.com/groups/1021186047913052/
“The high-level waste is the smallest in volume (1.4% of all waste) but represents 98% of radioactivity in all the stored waste. High-level waste consists mostly of vitrified waste transported back to Belgium following reprocessing in France of used fuel elements from the Belgian nuclear power plants. The majority of the used fuel elements are temporarily stored at the nuclear power plant sites.” https://www.belgoprocess.be/eng/TempStorage.htm
Steve Dale Contrast this with the bizarre things Canavan said about the vitrified reprocessed waste we received back from France (in his interview with David Bevan on 891 ABC Wed 1st August 2018)
“when it comes back here the radioactivity of that material is not
materially higher than the low level waste…”
“the intermediate level waste, which does not have high radioactivity levels…” .https://www.facebook.com/groups/1021186047913052/
Nuclear propagandist Ben Heard might spin nuclear submarines for Adelaide engineering firm
Steve Dale shared a link. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Watch South Australia, Ben Heard’s Linked-in profile has Frazer-Nash Consultancy as one of his present employers. I’m sure this company do many things, but the following two items from the UK site got my attention –
“Excellence in submarine design, nuclear propulsion and weapon systems”
………..”With over three decades of industry experience, Frazer-Nash successfully helps clients meet the strict nuclear industry regulatory requirements throughout the life of their nuclear projects; including the full lifecycle management of nuclear material and waste.”
From Maralinga, Pangea, to NFCRC – there always seems to be a UK connection.
Anonymous pro nuclear “engineers” lobbied Canberra ministers and premiers.
Steve Dale, 8 Sept 18 In the lead up to the leadership spill, there has been a concerted push for nuclear power. A letter written and financed (supposedly) by 5 veteran engineers was sent to all Canberra ministers and premiers.
. There have also been a series of articles in the Australian newspaper based on this letter, eg. “Nuclear offers an answer on cost and emissions”
I was hoping that the article would give the names of the so-called engineers, but unfortunately it doesn’t. From the Australian article –
“The paper, prepared and circulated to MPs as a public service by what is claimed to be “a small group of professional engineers and scientists experienced in various aspects of electricity and distribution” ….
“The claims and costings no doubt will be challenged, but in it we have a contest of ideas.”
The claims and costings can not be challenged if only the Australian newspaper and the cabinet ministers have seen this “paper”. Who knows, the claims and costings of the paper may have excited the pro-nuclear MP’s to the point of losing self-control, running amok, bullying their peers (especially the female ones) and triggering a mutiny.
There seems to be an obscene amount of money being used to promote nuclear. I would still like to see a scan of the exact letter sent to MP’s, but not sure how to achieve that.
Australia’s Liberal Coalition government abandons plans to combat climate change
Josh Frydenberg says government will focus on power prices over emissions reduction, Canberra Times By Stephanie Peatling, 9 September 2018 Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has conceded the Australian Parliament has failed to deal with the challenge of climate change as he confirmed the new Morrison government will concentrate on lowering power prices ahead of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“What you will hear from us, which you will not hear from the Labor Party, is that we will put reducing people’s power bills first, over emissions. You will not hear the Labor Party say that,” he said……..
Mr Frydenberg’s comments on Sunday followed those made by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Saturday when he said he would formally ask the Liberal party room to ditch the policy when it meets this week.
Mr Morrison repeated his commitment to Australia meeting its international greenhouse gas reduction targets under the Paris agreement but said the target would no longer be legislated. New Energy Minister Angus Taylor is working on a revamped energy policy to take to cabinet.
…….Mr Frydenberg said the issue of climate change was one which had bedevilled Australian politics for more than a decade…….
Mr Frydenberg said he was confident Australia would still meet is international greenhouse gas reduction targets but people wanted to see the government acting on power prices.
“The people of Australia want to see their power bills come down, and they want to see the government take whatever measure possible to do that,” Mr Frydenberg said.
Labor’s energy spokesman Mark Butler said the government’s decision to walk away from the policy was a capitulation to the more conservative elements inside the Coalition.
“In an abject surrender to the hard-right, to the Tony Abbott forces within his own party room, he’s [Scott Morrison] decided to walk away from his government’s own policy, and households will end up paying the price,” Mr Butler told Sky News.https://www.canberratimes.com.au/politics/federal/josh-frydenberg-says-government-will-focus-on-power-prices-over-emissions-reduction-20180909-p502oe.html?crpt
Climate change brings a global heat crisis
Japan Crushed by Godzilla-Like Deluge, Floods, and Landslides
GLOBAL HEAT CRISIS September 5, 2018, Alex Smith, Radio Ecoshock New high temperature records set all over N. Hemisphere
Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show [link on original at https://www.ecoshock.org/2018/09/global-heat-crisis-new.html]
“…..Nobody alive or dead has ever seen anything like what just happened in the past few months. No human has ever lived with carbon dioxide levels this high in the atmosphere. And that carbon load continues to climb as motorized life and fossil-powered electricity spread across the globe. The human cloud of greenhouse gases found an echo as forests released their carbon on every continent.
Here in British Columbia, on the west coast of Canada, we had our second year of fire emergency. Over 700 large fires burned through the mountains. Gigantic out-of-control blazes lit up the night, and then buried the whole sky with thick smoke, turning the day into night. Thousands were evacuated, turning on their vehicle headlights at ten in the morning……..
Thick smoke was blown down into Vancouver and Seattle and Portland. Then it blew back right across the continent, thousands of miles across the Prairies and into Ontario and New York State. Of course the smoke was rained out in the East, where a series of strange storms stoked up alternating high heat with hard-to-bear humidity and then unseasonable cold. Nobody in North America got a free pass to enjoy the summer.
And that’s the thing. During my life, summer was the time of good weather you could count on, except for the occasional thunder storm. Now in the age of climate change, summer is the season to survive.
When I was growing up, old people feared the winter. More old men and old women died during the cold weather. Now in the new climate times, the lore has changed. Old people should fear the summer. That’s true with the heat deaths this summer in Canada in 2018, and the mass heat deaths in Europe 2003. From Australia to California to Pakistan, we will dread the coming of summer. Think about that.
Below, NASA space shot showing fires August 2018
SPREADING LIKE WILDFIRE…….. At one point in July the whole Northern Hemisphere seemed ablaze. It may be the first transcontinental fire ever seen. Fires rages in most of western North America, in the Arctic, in Sweden, Germany, Greece, Russia, Japan, and even Australia – where it is supposed to be winter. A global fire-mapping service just blaring red all over. Meanwhile in Africa the annual crop-burning, and in the Amazon and Indonesia, slash and burn to expand agriculture added to the planetary pulse of carbon into the atmosphere. It as all in the same two weeks of July.Here is a graphic by NASA based on fires they can see from space. Continue reading
Will France import 4 tons of nuclear waste from Australia?
Liberation 8th Sept 2018, Will France import and process 4 tons of radioactive waste from Australia?
It is spent uranium and plutonium that has been used in a research reactor.
They will be treated at the Hague and returned to Australia.
http://www.liberation.fr/checknews/2018/09/08/la-france-va-t-elle-importer-et-traiter-4-tonnes-de-dechets-radioactifs-venant-d-australie_1676296
Over 4,000 “liquidators” at Chernobyl died from radiation-caused cancers,
THE ‘LIQUIDATORS’ WHO RISKED IT ALL TO CLEAN UP CHERNOBYL WIRED, LAURA MALLONEE, 09.08.18THE MELTDOWN AT the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in northern Ukraine on April 26, 1986 was a massive tragedy that ultimately claimed at least 9,000 lives and affected millions more. It also created a toxic mess. Radioactive particles choked the atmosphere and rained down on cities, forests, and roads. In the immediate aftermath, fires had to be put out, debris cleared, contaminated waste buried deep underground.It was, obviously, not an easy task. Remote-controlled bulldozers and other robots proved too weak for the job, their circuitry fried by radiation. So the Soviet Union sent in humans—600,000 of them. These brave firefighters, soldiers, janitors, and miners—the so-called “liquidators”—did everything from hosing down streets to felling trees to building a concrete sarcophagus around the exposed reactor … all the while charged subatomic particles ravaged their cells and shortened their life spans.
“No personal sacrifice was too much for these men and women,” says photographer Tom Skipp. Moved by their story, he visited Slavutych, Ukraine in April to photograph survivors, now in their golden years. The portraits make up his haunting series The Liquidators.
“The liquidators were sent into impossible scenarios where even machines failed,” Skipp says. “Each has a human story seemingly entangled in the complex history of communism and duty to the motherland….
On average, the liquidators were exposed to 120 millisieverts of radiation, about 1,200 times the amount you get from a simple x-ray. In the years following the meltdown, more than 4,000 of them died from radiation-caused cancers, and another 70,000 were disabled by exposure. Still, the liquidators shared a steadfast sense of duty to their government and fellow citizens, even when they didn’t agree with the ruling system or found it difficult to talk about. “I think that there’s a certain amount of fear aligned with speaking out against any wrongdoings that were committed,” Skipp says. “Many live on a state pension.”
Skipp photographed the men and women with his Fujifilm GFX 50 in their homes, as well as at at a local museum dedicated to explaining the history of Chernobyl and Slavutych. Many of the portraits capture them standing proudly but solemnly before an image of the destroyed reactor and beneath a clock stopped at the exact time of the meltdown—the moment that defined their lives forever. https://www.wired.com/story/chernobyl-liquidators-photo-gallery/
Thousands march across US to call for action on climate change
Rise for Climate: thousands march across US to protest environment crisis https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/08/rise-for-climate-protests-san-francisco-new-york. 9 Sep 18
Protests spearheaded by march in San Francisco ahead of climate change summit in the city next week
Tens of thousands of people took part in marches and other events across the US on Saturday, calling for a swift transition to renewable energy in order to stave off the various perils of climate change.
Australia stands to REALLY lose face on climate change at coming international summits
Morrison will face mounting pressure from the vocal band of conservatives in his party room not to commit to anything on climate change, be it symbolic or tangible.Australia is neither a small nation nor one of the most powerful, but for many years it has been a trusted nation. Historically, Australia has been seen as a good international citizen, a country that stands by its international commitments and works with others to improve the international system, not undermine it.
With Australia’s new foreign minister, Marise Payne, attending instead of the prime minister – not a good look, albeit understandable in the circumstances – the government came under yet more international pressure to state plainly its commitment to the Paris climate agreement.
Pacific nations may be divided on many issues, but climate change is rarely one of them.
Before the meeting, Pacific leaders urged Australia to sign a pledge of support for the agreement and to declare climate change “the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing” of the region.
The government now has a chance to catch its breath before international summit season begins in earnest in November with the East Asia Summit in Singapore, followed quickly by APEC in Papua New Guinea and then the G20 summit in Buenos Aires on November 30 and December 1, not to mention the next round of UN climate negotiationsin Poland in December. Continue reading
Dr Joe McGirr, independent and supporter of climate action, is set to win Wagga Wagga by-election
Wagga Wagga by-election: Antony Green calls it for Dr Joe McGirr ABC News , By Nick Sas and Jennine Khalik 9 Sept 18, ABC election analyst Antony Green has called the Wagga Wagga by-election for independent candidate Dr Joe McGirr.
Speaking on ABC News on Sunday night, Green said he felt safe calling Saturday’s by-election, slightly more than 24 hours after the polls closed.
“He is a certain winner,” Green said.
The race for the seat, which had been vacated by disgraced Liberal MP Daryl Maguire, became a two-man battle between Labor’s Dan Hayes and Dr McGirr after the Liberals were hit with a 29 per cent swing against them…..
Dr McGirr, a medical doctor and academic at the University of Notre Dame Australia, has lived in central Wagga since 1991 and only decided to run for the seat three weeks ago……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-09/antony-green-calls-by-election-for-joe-mcgirr/10219584
Julian Assange’s future safety hangs in the balance
WikiLeaks Whistleblower Awaits Fate, American Free Press , he fate of gutsy WikiLeaks founder and whistleblower Julian Assange rests in the hands of the government of Ecuador, first reported here in AFP’s Issue 33&34. Assange has lived at the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012 and will be instantly arrested by the UK if he leaves the building. Just-released news that his health is deteriorating rapidly makes even more urgent Ecuadorian action’s even more urgent.
By S.T. Patrick As the future of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange twists in the political winds, the United States, Great Britain, and Ecuador continue to negotiate over the life of the Australian computer programmer and hacker. Continue reading
On Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, nuclear lobbyists, like Dr Pangloss, unrealistic optimism
“Panglossian puffery”, says David Lowry. The report ignores the security and nuclear waste problems of small modular reactors.
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) says this is yet another attempt to promote the benefits of SMRs despite large and quite possibly insurmountable hurdles to cross. The Government suggests the report was produced by an ‘independent’ group, yet at least half of the group have strong links to the nuclear industry, including the Nuclear Industry Association. The UK appear to be one of the few governments pursuing a strategy of promoting SMRs. Even France and Finland, the only other countries in Europe currently developing large nuclear projects, have no plans to develop such technology. Indeed France has just commissioned a whole raft of new smaller-scale solar energy projects.
the finance sector is accurate in being sceptical of new nuclear developments given the rapidly decreasing costs of renewable energy.
Rolls-Royce warned last month that it was preparing to shut down the [Small Modular Nuclear Reactor] project if the government did not make a long-term commitment to its technology.
Panglossian SMRs , NuClear News Sept 18, The government should subsidise the deployment of small modular nuclear reactors in order to speed the transition to a low carbon energy system, according to an independent review into the technology commissioned by Ministers. The Expert Finance Working Group on Small Reactors (EFWG) said in a report that government should offer subsidies for small nuclear reactors to help de-risk the technology and kickstart cost reductions. (1)
Small modular reactors (SMRs) generally have a capacity less than 600MW, with the costs ranging from £100 million to £2.3 billion, which the experts suggest could be delivered by 2030. The EFWG has recommended the government to help de-risk the small nuclear market to enable the private sector to develop and finance projects – it believes SMRs could be commercially viable propositions both in the UK and for an export market.
The report says the “Government should establish an advanced manufacturing supply chain initiative, as it did with offshore wind, to bring forward existing and new manufacturing capability in the UK and to challenge the market on the requirement for nuclear specific items, particularly Balance of Plant (BOP), thereby reducing the costs of nuclear and the perceived risks associated with it.”
Nuclear Energy Minister Richard Harrington said: “Today’s independent expert report recognises the opportunity presented by small nuclear reactors and shows the potential for how investors, industry and government can work together to make small nuclear reactors a reality. Advanced nuclear technologies provide a major opportunity to drive clean growth and could create high-skilled, well-paid jobs around the country as part of our modern Industrial Strategy.” (2) Continue reading
Flexibility of Renewable Energy Systems is Shifting the Power Balance
By 2040 Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that more than half of global energy capacity will come from renewables and flexible sources, such as battery storage and demand side response
NuClear News Sept 18 Tom Greatrex of the Nuclear Industry Association (1) says we should ignore the National Infrastructure Commission’s (NIC’s) recommendation that we only order one more nuclear station on top of Hinkley Point C before 2025 (2), because cutting carbon without the help of nuclear is a “risky business”. He says the Government understands the inherent value of a baseload low carbon source of generation.
The NIC says: “It is now possible to conceive of a low-cost electricity system that is principally powered by renewable energy sources.” It says at least 50% and up to 65% of electricity in 2030 should come from renewables. (3)
Australia is having similar debates where the fossil fuel lobby argues that because “coal” is “baseload”, it must therefore be “reliable”, but wind and solar are intermittent, so they cannot be relied upon to keep the lights on. It’s political rhetoric that belies the reality of the electricity system. Australia’s grid has challenges, but they are not necessarily ones that can be solved just by having more “baseload”. What is really needed – as the Australian Energy Market Operator, chief scientist Alan Finkel, and any number of other independent experts point out – is dispatchable and reliable generation, one that the grid operator can count on, at times of peak demand and heat stress. And the answer does not lie in traditional “baseload” generation – the more than 100 trips of big fossil fuel plants since December, often at times of soaring heat, underline that point.
The energy debate is usually dominated by simple political rhetoric – based around emissions or no emissions, cheap prices or expensive ones, baseload versus intermittency. That just skims over the surface. Behind the scenes, as the clean energy transition continues, debates are raging about good engineering practices and the design of markets. One of Australia’s leading electrical engineers, Kate Summers says large diverse renewable resources are far more stable in output than singular sources. She uses a series of graphs to illustrate that at moments when stability can be won or lost it has been wind and solar that have held firm, and acted as what one might consider to be “baseload”. And it has been coal and gas that has proved “intermittent” at the very minutes that stability is needed. (4)
It’s the Flexibility Stupid
A new report from Chatham House says evidence is growing that highly flexible electricity systems could deliver lower whole-system costs, especially given the dramatic projected falls in solar and wind power costs by 2030. Continue reading
September 9 Energy News — geoharvey
World: ¶ “Climate change: Protests held ahead of California summit” • Organised by New York-based group 350.org, environmentalists held protests around the world demanding stepped up action on climate change, ahead of a summit in California. Thousands took part in Paris, days after France’s environment minister quit over perceived policy failures. [BBC] ¶ “Dirty Reality Catching […]
NT airports to get three new solar farms and battery storage, courtesy of Canavan’s NAIF — RenewEconomy
A NAIF loan of $150m will help add more than 50MW of solar PV and one battery storage system to airports in the Northern Territory. The post NT airports to get three new solar farms and battery storage, courtesy of Canavan’s NAIF appeared first on RenewEconomy.
1.This month
For international nuclear news go to https://nuclear-news.net/
FEDERAL. Inquiry into the prerequisites for nuclear energy in Australia Read the published submissions on the Parliamentary website. Read the SUMMARIES of submissions here.
Julian Assange and the Australian Media | Q&A
EVENTS
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION – theme for October 19
Christian Porter’s press freedom ‘safeguard’ raises fears over reporters’ independence
Key points:
- Mr Porter’s directive could protect ABC and New Corp employees from prosecution for reporting on national security issues
- But Law Council president Arthur Moses SC fears the decision will pressure journalists to keep in governments’ good books to avoid criminal charges
- The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance says the measure could act as a safeguard but it was the wrong approach
Under pressure to do more to protect press freedom, Christian Porter issued a directive that prosecutors will need his approval before charging journalists under certain sections of Australia’s secrecy laws.
The decision could shield ABC and News Corp employees from facing possible criminal charges over their reporting on national security issues following June’s raids by the Australian Federal Police.
But Law Council of Australia President Arthur Moses SC said it would not help solve the “legitimate concerns raised by the media” since the raids.
“Let me be very blunt about this, it does not allay the concerns that have being raised in relation to press freedoms in Australia,” Mr Moses said.
“It puts the Attorney-General, who after all is a politician, in the position of authorising prosecutions of journalists in situations where they may have written stories critical of his Government.
“It creates an apprehension on the part of journalists that they will need to curry favour with the Government or, in particular, the Attorney-General in order to avoid prosecution………..
The directive did not rule out the prospect of the journalists facing charges, nor did it make any mention of any particular cases.
Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance president Marcus Strom agreed Mr Porter’s measure could act as a safeguard, but did not agree it was the right approach.
“We’d like to think it’s a welcome development for Dan Oakes, Sam Clark and Annika Smethurst who have been facing prosecution recently,” Mr Strom said.
“[But] we don’t want politicians to be deciding the fate of journalists.
“It doesn’t seem to be a solution to the problem — which is that journalism is effectively criminalised in this country.”
Mr Strom has argued for the decision to be made as part of a judicial process instead.
The Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said while Labor welcomed the measure, Mr Porter still needed to rule out any charges being laid against the three journalists.
“This direction is not legislation … it won’t prevent police raids, it won’t prevent other actions of intimidation by the Government,” he said.
“What we urgently need are more robust protections for press freedom.” https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-01/journalists-under-pressure-government-onside-press-freedom-afp/11562102
PETITION
Free Julian Assange, before it’s too late. Sign to STOP the USA Extradition
