Antinuclear

The week in climate and nuclear news Australia

This week has seen extreme weather in both North and South hemispheres. Yes, there have always been cold snaps and heat waves – “one in a hundred years” events, but climate change is making them more frequent and more extreme.

The world seems to be taking it all too calmly, – that USA and Russia are both about to withdraw from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty , opening the way to a renewed arms race, and, with Putin and Trump in charge, increasing the risk of nuclear Armageddon.

AUSTRALIA.

Independent media is here to stay – and to keep the politicians honest.

CLIMATE.

• Climate change is here, in Australia, as temperatures rise faster than predicted.  Climate change is back as a big issue in Australian federal politics. Australian government fudging the facts to make its climate policy look good.  Australia’s Energy Minster Angus Taylor ready to subsidise new coal projects.
• Queensland floods: Townsville reels under record water levels as more rain arrives.  Former fire chief lashes out at government inaction over climate change. Murray-Darling  River report shows public authorities must take climate change risk seriously. 
• Sydney to host international climate conference for women in 2020.
•  Coal power plants in Australia broke down once every three days in 2018.

South Australian government changing Environment Dept, and cutting its budget.   Mark Parnell calls on South Australian government to stop its plans to diminish environmental department.

NUCLEAR. Mark Butler ALP Shadow Minister rules out nuclear power.  Labor Party’s latest policy platform – on nuclear waste, and opposition to nuclear industry development.

Australian Aboriginal politician Jacinta Price cynical about BHP, Rio Tinto backing Uluru Statement (I would be, too!)

RENEWABLE ENERGY. State by state – solar records fell across Australia in 2018.   Energy efficient homes could save households $1,000-plus a year on bills. Western Australia unveils plan to lead global lithium-ion battery boom. Gupta challenges coalers with $1 billion plus solar and storage plan.

INTERNATIONAL

2 billion people at risk, as Himalaya’s glaciers melt.  Paradoxically, extreme cold weather indicates that global warming is accelerating. Atlantic ocean circulation is being altered, by climate change.

China urges dialogue, as Russia and USA ramp up nuclear weaponry, pull out of weapons treaty.– Why so little public anxiety about risk of nuclear war? With Putin and Trump in charge!!

How the utilities financial system is rigged to give the nuclear industry the advantage.

Storage of nuclear waste a ‘global crisis’ as stockpile reaches 250,000 tons, Greenpeace warns.

Sending dummies into space, to test effects of radiation on women.

ITALY. Radioactive poisoning by the world’s military – the scandalous case of Sardinia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6-6AYQYJm8&t=6s

JAPAN.

• Propaganda for 2020 Olympics, and for the nuclear industry is behind lifting evacuation order for irradiated town of Namie.  IAEA urges Japan to slow the Fukushima wastes clean-up – delay release to Pacific till after Olympic Games.  Radioactive cesium above legal limit detected in fish caught off Fukushima.  Governor of Fukushima Prefecture promotes Fukushima foods in Hong Kong.
• Radiation leaks at Japan’s Tokai plutonium lab; ‘no workers exposed’.
• Reflection on PM Abe’s sales pitch for nuclear at Davos.

USA. 

• There’s money in climate denialism, as 150 U.S. Congressional Republicans have found!  Extreme cold shuts down N.J. Nuclear Reactor, due to an unusual ice phenomenon.
• IAEA criticises USA’s efforts to sabotage Iran nuclear deal. Donald Trump confirms U.S. withdrawal from INF nuclear treaty.  Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduces Bill to outlaw first strike use of nuclear weapons.
• New radiation panel leader appointed by EPA in the interests of nuclear corporations, not of the public.   FirstEnergy nuclear bailout would be crony capitalism at its worst .
• USA’s $43 billion nuclear waste fund – but no nuclear waste has been buried. Nevada State Officials Are Outraged that the Trump Administration Secretly Shipped Plutonium in from South Carolina. Cleanup estimate for Hanford nuclear site increases by $82B.   North Dakota Community Alliance urges public to watch progress of Bill on high-level radioactive waste.     Clean-up of molten salt nuclear reactor continuing (shut in 1969)M – new plan to reduce the costs.
• Is Vogtle nuclear station expansion now further behind schedule? Report is delayed? Low-flying choppers monitoring radiation in Atlanta (fears of nuclear terrorism?)
•  Judge refuses to unseal criminal charges against Julian Assange.

UK. UK’s ageing nuclear power stations are likely to close early. UK’s Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit’s under-reported analysis – renewables cheaper than new nuclear.

INDIA. India’s Kudankulam nuclear power station means big debt to Russia.

HUNGARY. Countries going into deep nuclear debt to Russia; Hungary the latest victim of this political blackmail.

CANADA. SNC-Lavalin, with its record of corruption should be barred from federal contracts. Grim outlook for uranium industry -financial analyst Jayant Bhandari.

SWITZERLAND. Employee faked radiation test data at Swiss nuclear plant.

FRANCE. Pump malfunction causes shutdown at Flamanville nuclear reactor.

BANGLADESH. Nuclear power: Surviving on secrecy and misinformation.

TAIWAN. Taiwan to abolish nuclear power in 2025.

RUSSIA. Russia also to withdraw from Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, weakening weapons control. Russia’s Plan to Solve the North Korea Nuclear Crisis?

CZECH REPUBLIC. Czech industry minister: nuclear reactor tender not realistic in 2019 .

February 5, 2019 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews