What the pro nuclear people are saying, in Submissions to the Australian Parliament
I have now analysed the available, published, submissions to the FEDERAL. Inquiry into the prerequisites for nuclear energy in Australia. Just looking at the 30 pro-nuclear submissions , for a start, I’m here listing the topics, in order of the arguments most often presented:
- The subject most often discussed was new nuclear reactors – Generation IV, Small Modular Reactors, and especially Thorium reactors .
- Then nuclear wastes. These were seen as not really a problem, either already solved, or soon to be solved. Indeed, a number of writers saw radioactive wastes as an advantage for Australia. They suggested a waste repository, set up in South Australia could import nuclear wastes, and that business could then fund the development of nuclear power stations for Australia.
- Economics. Nuclear power was seen as cost-effective, (with only one exception – one writer was dubious on this)
- Renewable energy was downgraded, (though one writer argued for a renewables+nuclear project)
- Safety issues were downgraded, including the severity of Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents New nuclear described as safer now – one saw Fukushima as a learning exercise.
- Education. Several stressed the necessity of public education, including in schools, on the benefits of nuclear power.
- Necessity to end Australia’s ban on nuclear activities.
- Climate change – nuclear needed to combat this.
- Opposition to nuclear power was described as irrational.
- Radiation – low dose ionising radiation discussed as harmless, (one suggested beneficial)
- Carbon price advised by 2 writers.
- There were several other suggestions made, notably that the Government should lead and fund nuclear development, and should be advised by highly paid top technical staff. The full nuclear fuel cycles is needed “cradle – to grave”. Reprocessing was advocated. Korea should supply the reactors. Nuclear power would give Australia international status. Would help prevent nuclear weapons proliferation.
More than 40 groups representing millions of Australians say NO to nuclear power
 Broad coalition representing millions of Australians opposes nuclear power, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/broad-coalition-representing-millions-of-australians-opposes-nuclear-power Some 40 groups have drawn up a statement calling on the federal government to embrace renewable energy rather than going down the path of nuclear.
More than 40 groups representing millions of Australians have come together to issue a clear message to the federal government that the nation’s energy future is renewable, “not radioactive”. However, the mining industry is calling for the ban on nuclear energy to be lifted. The coalition of groups has submitted a shared statement in response to the federal parliamentary inquiry into the prospects for nuclear power in Australia. “The groups maintain nuclear power has no role in Australia’s energy future and is a dangerous distraction from real progress on our pressing energy and climate challenges and opportunities facing Australia,” the Australian Conversation Foundation said. “[We call] for the federal parliament to embrace renewable energy as the cleanest, quickest, cheapest and most credible way to power Australian homes and workplaces, and re-power regional communities and the national economy.” The ACF is joined by a broad coalition of faith, union, environmental, aboriginal and public health groups. These include the ACTU, state and territory trade unions and councils, the Public Health Association of Australia, Uniting and Catholic church organisations, the Smart Energy Council, the Aboriginal-led Australian Nuclear Free Alliance, climate action groups and Greenpeace Australia Pacific. Their statement raises concerns over the long-life of nuclear waste, the volume of water needed to cool a nuclear reactor, the time needed to build a reactor, the high cost of a plant, security and safety. However, in its own submission, the Minerals Council of Australia called on the legislated ban on nuclear to be lifted and uranium mining to be mainstreamed with other minerals. Council chief executive Tania Constable said nuclear energy should be considered as part of the energy mix if Australia is to retain its strong industrial sector with high-paying long-term jobs. It will also encourage investment and maintain system and price stability through a stable and reliable electricity market while significantly cutting greenhouse gas emissions. “Australia has lost its comparative advantage in energy,” Ms Constable said in a statement. “Rising prices and falling reliability are forcing businesses to invest overseas instead of Australia.” |
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Australia must not become a missile base, a nuclear target – Young Labor
 Trump and nuclear weapons worry Young Labor, https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/trump-and-nuclear-weapons-worry-young-labor/news-story/c84899302a288e48a08fc1caa92cd0ff GEOFF CHAMBERS FEDERAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, SEPTEMBER 17, 2019
 Ahead of Scott Morrison’s landmark visit to the US this week, where the US President will host the Prime Minister at a state dinner, Australian Young Labor passed two motions at its national conference on the weekend warning about the Trump administration’s “erratic policies”. NSW Young Labor president Paul Mills, who moved two motions opposing US missiles in Australia and committing to the US alliance, said Labor should “draw the line at nuclear weapons”. Mr Mills said his US alliance motion endorsed “sentiment expressed” by former Labor foreign minister Gareth Evans, of “Less US, more self-reliance, more Asia, and more global engagement”. “We would expect state conferences from around Australia to carry similar motions and for the policy to be adopted at the next national ALP conference to which I’ve been elected one of three Young Labor delegates,” Mr Mills said. Mr Morrison hosed down suggestions last month that the US was aiming to deploy ground-based missiles in Darwin amid the battle for dominance in the Indo-Pacific region between China and the US. Security experts last month warned of weaknesses in the nation’s defence capabilities in northern Australia, calling for more personnel and upgraded air bases as part of a long-term strategy. Opposition defence spokesman Richard Marles — a strong supporter of the US alliance — told The Australian the government had “previously ruled out receiving any formal request for US missiles being stationed in Australia”. “This is consistent with conversations Labor had with the Secretary of Defence in early August. Australia and the United States are natural allies; we have shared values of democracy, human rights, the rule of law and shared aspirations to build a global rules-based order,” Mr Marles said. Mr Mills praised the comments of former prime minister Paul Keating opposing the deployment of US missiles and said it would render as impossible “any sovereign Australian decision about participating in American warfare directed at a third country”. It also makes Australia a nuclear target,” he said. Young Labor’s 50 delegates, who passed the motion unanimously, are the first branch of the party to endorse the anti-missile position. The motion said the “federal Labor leadership should be unequivocal in asserting: Australia must not become a missile base”. Young Labor’s agreed platform on the US alliance says it remains “beneficial for Australia’s national security interests and should recognise that regardless of Trump’s presidency, we should not lose sight of the continuing benefits” of the security pact. |
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In the lead-up to Tokyo Olympics, the world is being lied to, about the Fukushima radiation situation
Fukushima’s Radioactive Water Crisis, https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/09/16/
fukushimas-radioactive-water-crisis/SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, which experienced three massive meltdowns in 2011, is running out of room to store radioactive water. No surprise! But now, what to do about phosphorescent water?
Addressing the issue, Japan’s environmental minister Yoshiaki Harada held a news conference (September 2019). Unfortunately, he proffered the following advice: “The only option will be to drain it into the sea and dilute it.” (Source: Justin McCurry in Tokyo, Fukushima: Japan Will Have to Dump Radioactive Water Into Pacific, Minister Says, The Guardian, Sept. 10, 2019)
“The only option”… Really?
Over the past 8 years, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) has scrambled like a Mad Hatter to construct emergency storage tanks (1,000) to contain upwards of one million tonnes of contaminated radioactive water, you know, the kind of stuff that, over time, destroys human cells, alters DNA, causes cancer, or produces something like the horrific disfigured creature in John Carpenter’s The Thing! That’s the upshot of a triple nuclear meltdown that necessitates constant flow of water to prevent further melting of reactor cores that have been decimated and transfigured into corium or melted blobs. It’s the closest to a full-blown “china syndrome” in all of human history. Whew! Although, the truth is it’ll be a dicey situation for decades to come.
Ever since March 11, 2011, TEPCO has scrambled to build storage tanks to prevent massive amounts of radioactive water from pouring into the ocean (still, some lesser amounts pour into the ocean every day by day). Now the government is floating a trial balloon in public that, once the tanks are full, it’ll be okay to dump the radioactive water into the ocean. Their logic is bizarre, meaning, on the one hand, the meltdown happens, and they build storage tanks to contain the radioactive water, but on the other hand, once the storage tanks run out of space, it’s okay to dump radioactive water into the ocean. Seriously?
Meantime, the Fukushima meltdown brings the world community face to face with TEPCO and the government of Japan in an unprecedented grand experiment that, so far, has failed miserably. Of course, dumping radiation into the Pacific is like dumping radiation into everybody’s back yard. But, for starters, isn’t that a non-starter?
Along the way, deceit breeds duplicity, as the aforementioned Guardian article says the Japanese government claims only one (1) death has been associated with the Fukushima meltdown but keep that number in mind. Reliable sources in Japan claim otherwise, as explained in previous articles on the subject, for example, “Fukushima Darkness, Part Two” d/d November 24, 2017, and as highlighted further on in this article.
When it comes to nuclear accidents, cover-ups reign supreme; you can count on it.
As such, it is believed the Japanese government is lying and should be held accountable for hoodwinking the world about the ravages of Fukushima, especially with the Olympics scheduled for next year.
For example, the following explains how death by radiation is shamefully hidden from the public via newspeak: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station worker deaths “that expire at home” are not officially counted. Accordingly, how many workers on a deathbed with radiation sickness leave home to go to work (where deaths are counted) just before they die? Oh, please!
Meanwhile, the last thing the world community needs in the face of an uncontrollable nuclear meltdown, like Fukushima, is deceptiveness and irresponsibility by the host government. Too much is at stake for that kind of childish nonsense. And just to think, the 2020 Olympics are scheduled with events held in Fukushima. Scandalously, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is A-Okay with that.
In contrast, a Greenpeace International March 8th 2019 article entitled: Japanese Government Misleading UN on Impact of Fukushima Fallout on Children, Decontamination Workers: “The Japanese government is deliberately misleading United Nations human rights bodies and experts over the ongoing nuclear crisis in areas of Fukushima… In areas where some of these decontamination workers are operating, the radiation levels would be considered an emergency if they were inside a nuclear facility.” Enough said! Continue reading
Japan says Dumping Fukushima’s Radioactive Water Into Pacific Ocean Is ‘Only Option’
Dumping Fukushima’s Radioactive Water Into Pacific Ocean Is ‘Only Option’, Japan Says https://www.sciencealert.com/fukushima-is-running-out-of-space-to-store-contaminated-water ARIA BENDIX, BUSINESS INSIDER 12 SEP 2019 On March 11, 2011, Japan was struck by the most powerful earthquake in the nation’s history – a magnitude 9 temblor that triggered a tsunami with waves up to 133 feet (40 meters) high. The disaster set off three nuclear meltdowns and three hydrogen explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Eight years later, Fukushima holds more than 1 million tons of contaminated water.
The water comes from two main sources. First, the tsunami caused the reactor cores to overheat and melt, so cleanup workers injected water into the cores to cool them. In the wake of the accident, groundwater also seeped in beneath the reactors and mixed with radioactive material.
To store this contaminated water, the plant currently has 1,000 sealed tanks. But the water is still accumulating. There’s enough room to keep the liquid contained through summer 2022, but after that, there will be no space left.
At a news briefing in Tokyo, Japan’s environment minister, Yoshiaki Harada, said that come 2022, “the only option will be to drain it into the sea and dilute” the contaminated water.
The Japanese government, however, is waiting on a verdict from a panel of experts before making a final decision about what to do with the water.
Meanwhile, the environmental group Greenpeace said in a statement that the “only environmentally acceptable option” would be to continue to store the water and filter it for contaminants.
But that would require more tanks and an expensive filtration process.
Dumping the water could reduce cleanup costs
National Party disdains report from Farmers for Climate Action
Nationals MPs snub launch of farming group’s climate change report https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/16/nationals-mps-snub-launch-of-farming-groups-climate-change-report
Australia’s agricultural production will fall and food insecurity will rise without a climate strategy, report warns, Sarah Martin Chief political correspondent 16 Sept 19, Nationals MPs have snubbed a farmers’ group launching a major climate change report that warns the Australian agricultural sector faces “significant threats to viability” without a new national climate strategy.
The report, launched by the Farmers for Climate Action group at Parliament House on Monday, warns that agricultural production will fall, farm profits will decline and food insecurity will increase if the government does not come up with a cohesive national strategy on climate change and agriculture.
Lucinda Corrigan, the chair of Farmers for Climate Action, said she had wanted Nationals MPs to attend the event, saying she believed cross-party support was needed given the challenge facing producers.
“It would have been great if they had been there because they need to take this seriously,” Corrigan said.
“Because being green is actually our agenda, it’s actually a conservative agenda, being a conservationist is a conservative agenda, it is not a green agenda, it has been taken from us and we actually want it back.”
She also said Nationals MPs should consider the concerns within the agricultural sector about climate change separately to the issues affecting the energy sector. Continue reading
‘Like a sunburn on your lungs’: how does the climate crisis impact health?
 ‘Like a sunburn on your lungs’: how does the climate crisis impact health?
Children, pregnant women and the elderly are the most at risk from extreme weather and heat – but the impact is already felt across every specialty of medicine ‘Americans are waking up’: two thirds say climate crisis must be addressed Guardian, Emily Holden in Washington 16 Sep 2019 The climate crisis is making people sicker – worsening illnesses ranging from seasonal allergies to heart and lung disease. Children, pregnant people and the elderly are the most at risk from extreme weather and rising heat. But the impact of the climate crisis – for patients, doctors and researchers – is already being felt across every specialty of medicine, with worse feared to come……..
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Australian Capital Territory leads the nation in the climate emergency
Canberra acts ‘first’ in the climate emergency, Canberra Times, Penny D Sackett , 16 Sept 19, On Monday, the ACT government released its Climate Change Strategy 2019-2025, just a few months after declaring a climate emergency in May, the first Australian state or territory to do so. The document contains several more Australian “firsts,” reflecting the government’s desire to lead climate action. Is this new strategy needed, and what does it mean for Canberrans?
Previous ACT climate strategy documents are out-of-date for three reasons: science, economics, and new legislated emissions targets.
Second, the rapid advance in new technologies such as battery storage and electric vehicles means that a wider variety of solutions is now economically viable, presenting new opportunities for local investment and job growth. Furthermore, because the monetary and human costs of inaction are so enormous, substantial near-term climate action is responsible both economically and socially.
Finally, the ACT government has recently brought forward its commitment to zero net emissions from 2050 to 2045, and put in place science-based interim emission targets for 2025, 2030, and 2040 to guide the way. These legislated targets, based on advice from the ACT Climate Change Council and in line with global carbon budget responsibilities to hold warming below 2 degrees celsius, are not only an Australian first for states and territories, but world-leading. A new plan is needed to realise the 2025 target of reducing ACT emissions by at least 50 per cent compared to 1990 levels, whilst collecting data that will be vital in meeting the next target in 2030.
So what does the plan hold in store for Canberra and Canberrans?
The starting point of the new strategy is the assumption that the ACT will effectively be powered by 100 per cent renewable electricity in 2020 – an expectation that will likely be met due to the territory’s previous investment in large scale solar and wind generation. Achieving that goal will result in a 40 per cent reduction of emissions from 1990 levels. The additional reduction required to meet the 2025 target will need to come primarily from the transport and gas sectors. After 2020, ACT transport emissions (which overwhelmingly come from private vehicles) will account for 60 per cent of Canberra’s emissions, with gas for heating and cooking making up another 20 per cent or so.
Substantial reduction in emissions from transport and gas use can only be achieved through a change in the choices made by Canberrans, at our work and businesses, and in our homes. Those low-emissions choices must be enabled and supported by government policies and regulations.
The new ACT climate strategy contains several realistic, forward-looking actions that begin to provide the magnitude of support and vision required in these sectors, and many are “firsts” among Australian states and territories. Among these are: ensuring that all new schools and government buildings are all-electric and appropriate for the changing climate; a commitment to maintain 100 per cent renewable electricity supply into the future; and a fossil-fuel-free bus fleet by 2040. …….https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6389173/canberra-acts-first-in-the-climate-emergency/?cs=14246
Victoria locks in new solar farm planning guidelines — RenewEconomy
Victoria government planning amendment introduced to ensure large-scale solar projects choose appropriate locations on grid, have minimal environmental or social impacts. The post Victoria locks in new solar farm planning guidelines appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Victoria locks in new solar farm planning guidelines — RenewEconomy
Why ‘predatory’ climate deniers are a threat to our children — RenewEconomy
The climate crisis has now grown so severe that the actions of denialists have turned predatory: they are now an immediate threat to our children. The post Why ‘predatory’ climate deniers are a threat to our children appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Why ‘predatory’ climate deniers are a threat to our children — RenewEconomy
September 16 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “The Shift To Solar, Wind, And Electric Vehicles Is Too Monumental To Overstate” • The transition is happening. Wind energy, solar energy, and electric transport are the better, more cost-competitive products, and they are winning today in the marketplace. But the transition could be happening faster, and it should be happening faster. [CleanTechnica] […]
Want to know the speed and cost of the energy transition? You can model it here — RenewEconomy
ITP Renewables open-source capacity expansion model of the National Electricity Market – openCEM – is now available, free of charge. The post Want to know the speed and cost of the energy transition? You can model it here appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Want to know the speed and cost of the energy transition? You can model it here — RenewEconomy
Saudi oil attack highlights Australia’s vulnerability – and failure to embrace EVs — RenewEconomy
Australia’s dependence on imported oil – and federal government’s ongoing failure to minimise this through renewable and EV policies – in spotlight, after bombing of Saudi oil plant. The post Saudi oil attack highlights Australia’s vulnerability – and failure to embrace EVs appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Saudi oil attack highlights Australia’s vulnerability – and failure to embrace EVs — RenewEconomy
New modelling exposed grid problems that forced solar farms to cut output — RenewEconomy
Modelling around a potential line trip led to concerns about system strength in western Victoria and led to severe curtailment of five big solar farms. The post New modelling exposed grid problems that forced solar farms to cut output appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via New modelling exposed grid problems that forced solar farms to cut output — RenewEconomy
ACT to phase out gas as it launches next stage to zero carbon strategy — RenewEconomy
After success of its 100% renewable electricity target, ACT sets its sights on phasing out gas in next phase of ambitious climate strategy. The post ACT to phase out gas as it launches next stage to zero carbon strategy appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via ACT to phase out gas as it launches next stage to zero carbon strategy — RenewEconomy
Antinuclear 