Labor aims to amend the Nuclear Waste Bill, removing Napandee as the stipulated dump site
Penny Wong office reply to Josephite SA Reconciliation Circle letter before the last Senate session 27 October 2020
From: “Wong, Penelope (Senator)” <Senator.Wong@aph.gov.au>Subject: RE: We plead with Labor Senators to vote NO to the undemocratic, unfair National Radioactive Waste Management Amendment Bill 2020
Date: 26 October 2020Dear Michele,
RE: NATIONAL RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITY PROPOSALThank you for your correspondence on the proposal for a national radioactive waste management facility in South Australia and the National Radioactive Waste Management Amendment (Site Specification, Community Fund and Other Measures) Bill 2020.Senator Wong is aware of different views in the community about this proposed facility.It is clear the Government’s proposal gives rise to issues surrounding Indigenous heritage, environmental concerns, public safety, as well as differing opinions on necessity of such a facility, all of which must be adequately resolved.Australians depend on nuclear technology for medicines used in the diagnosis of heart disease, skeletal injuries, as well as a range of cancers. Radioactive substances and wastes must be handled safely and with care.One effect of the Bill would be to amend the National Radioactive Waste Management Act 2012 to set aside the existing site selection and approval process, and instead specify the site selected and enable the acquisition of additional land for the facility.On 11 June 2020, the Bill passed the House of Representatives. As you noted, Labor opposed the Bill in the House. As you are aware, the Senate Economics Legislation Committee completed an inquiry into the Bill, and now it is up to the Government to decide when this bill will be debated in the Senate. Senator Wong followed the progress of the committee inquiry, in which Labor senators actively participated. We are pleased to see that you quoted from Labor senator Jenny McAllister’s dissenting report in your correspondence.Senator Wong encouraged members of the South Australian community to engage with the Senate Economics Legislation Committee inquiry in order to ensure committee members and parliamentarians more broadly are aware of community attitudes. Along with consultation that has taken place with stakeholders, as well as community views expressed to Labor parliamentarians in community meetings and through organised petitions and campaign emails, this informed Shadow Cabinet and Caucus as they finalised Labor’s position on the legislation.Labor has decided move an amendment to the legislation in the Senate that will remove the section of the Bill that nominates the site at Napandee, near Kimba, as the location of the national radioactive waste management facility, whilst maintaining the Community Fund established in the Bill for whatever community eventually hosts the site. Should our amendment be unsuccessful, we will oppose the Bill in the Senate.Labor’s proposed course of action does not prevent the Government from nominating the site under the existing legal process, something it could do today. However, retaining the existing process ensures this significant decision will be subject to judicial review so that the community can be assured the decision about where to locate the facility was reached as a result of a fair and properly conducted process. This is something we are aware that the representatives of the Barngarla People have expressed is particularly important to them.Ten years ago, Federal Labor deliberately amended the current legislation to include judicial review so that an affected party could challenge a decision made by the relevant minister. This is a contentious issue and should have the highest levels of scrutiny to ensure that the principles of procedural fairness and natural justice have been applied given the national significance of this matter.Thank you again for your correspondence.Yours sincerely,OFFICE OF SENATOR THE HONOURABLE PENNY WONG
Australia should stop selling uranium to nuclear weapon states and not sell uranium into unstable regions.
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South Australian Upper House reaffirms the State’s law opposing nuclear waste dump
Mark Parnell MLC , It was a great day back in 2016 when we won the campaign to stop the ill-conceived proposal to turn South Australia into the World’s dumping ground for deadly high-level radioactive waste. However, domestic nuclear waste and other radioactive subjects are still on the agenda of State Parliament.
Proposed Kimba Nuclear Waste Dump
Whilst the Federal Liberal Government seeks to push this unnecessary and divisive project through the Senate, the South Australian Upper House has reaffirmed its commitment to State law by opposing a domestic nuclear waste dump at Kimba or anywhere else in South Australia. Dangerous long-lived radioactive waste currently stored under guard at Lucas Heights should stay there until a permanent solution is found, not shipped 1700kms to another temporary storage site in SA. If this project proceeds, the Greens will ensure that a South Australian Parliamentary inquiry is held that properly consults all stakeholders, including the Barngarla Traditional Owners who were shamefully excluded from the original community ballot.
Banning Nuclear weapons
State Parliament has recognised the 75th anniversary of the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This horror has inspired 47 countries to ratify a 2017 UN Treaty that would ban nuclear weapons forever. Only 3 more nations are needed for the Treaty to become International Law. So far, Australia is refusing to sign, for fear for offending our US allies. You can add your voice here: https://icanw.org.au/
STOP PRESS: We’ve just learnt that the 50th nation has ratified the Treaty, which will now come into effect in 90 days.
Radiation Regulation
The State Government has re-written South Australia’s radiation protection laws. Whilst most changes were administrative, there are still some fundamental problems, not least of which is that BHP’s Olympic Dam mine at Roxby Downs continues to be exempt from most State laws. Both Liberal and Labor joined forces to ensure that BHP’s special treatment continues with their “Indenture” overriding laws that all other mining companies must comply with.
On a more positive note, a number of Green amendments to increase accountability and transparency were accepted. We also secured an amendment that allows South Australia to set its own safety standards for radiation exposure and not be limited to outdated and weak standards applied elsewhere.
The Greens had a remarkable win in Australian Capital Territory elections
The Green wave that swept the 2020 A.C.T. Election, Independent Australia, By Chris Mordd Richards | 26 October 2020, In a result almost none saw coming, the A.C.T. Greens have tripled their seat count in the A.C.T. Legislative Assembly following the Election on 17 October.
Going from two seats to six, stealing two seats each from A.C.T. Labor and the Canberra Liberals in the process……..
Clearly any party which manages to increase its representation by 300% in a single election has done an excellent job, appealing to the voters not only as a party but as credible individual candidates as well.
Newly elected MLA Johnathan Davis, who was in a very tight race for Brindabella but emerged the victor at the final count, had this to say on behalf of the Greens:
“The A.C.T. Greens are so grateful for the support we’ve received from Conder to Kippax, from Forde to Fraser. Every single Canberran is now represented by the Greens. We commit to working hard and honouring the support offered to us. Together, we’ll work every single day to build a better normal.”….
While Labor did reasonably well in retaining government, it was instead the Greens’ message which most struck a chord with a particular key segment of voters across the entire Territory this time. …….
The Australian Greens will certainly be examining in detail how the local party pulled it off to see how they might replicate this result in other parts of the country. For now, the A.C.T. is once more the greenest jurisdiction in Australia. https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/the-green-wave-that-swept-the-2020-act-election,14448
ICRC calls ban treaty entry into force “a victory for humanity” — IPPNW peace and health blog
In a statement following the 50th ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), Peter Maurer, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said the treaty “allows us to turn our gaze towards the future; to imagine a world freed from these inhumane weapons no longer as a distant […]
ICRC calls ban treaty entry into force “a victory for humanity” — IPPNW peace and health blog
Ocean acidification and the uncertain future of marine ecosystems
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The uncertain future of the oceans, Science Daily October 26, 2020
The study, which has now been published in the journal Nature Climate Change, is one of the most comprehensive studies so far on the effects of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems. Scientists at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel have now been able to show for the first time that ocean acidification influences the carbon content of sinking organic material, and thus the biological pump. Surprisingly, the observed changes were highly variable. The carbon content of sinking particles increased or decreased significantly with increasing CO2, depending on the composition of species and the structure of the food web. Since the underlying data cover a wide range of ocean regions, this seems to be a global phenomenon. These findings allow a completely new assessment of the effects of ocean acidification……….https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201026114214.htm |
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Businesses and State governments lead the transition to renewable energy
Guardian 26th Oct 2020, Future historians will no doubt remember 2020 as the year of Covid-19. But according to veteran climate campaigner Bill McKibben, they may also view it as a turning point, the year the world moved decisively towards “the transition everyone knew we needed to make”. McKibben told the recent Global Smart Energy Summit 2020 has been a year of “extraordinary convergence”, from the images of Australia’s bushfires, seen around the world on New Year’s Day – “like something out of Hieronymus Bosch” – to unprecedented developments such as China’s commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2060, the EU’s pledge to make its Green Deal and Є100bn Just Transition Fund the centrepiece of post-Covid recovery, and the US $15tn divested from fossil fuels.
Closer to home, there’s extraordinary convergence between business and state governments on the need to speed up Australia’s energy transition.
Tim Reed, president of the Business Council of Australia, wants a “national, bipartisan commitment to net zero emissions by 2050”. Most states have already made this commitment, and South Australia is leading the pack. The state’s energy and mining minister, Dan van Holst Pellekaan, says SA will aim for 100% net renewable generation by 2030. Rapidly expanding wind, solar and battery storage capacity in SA’s Upper Spencer Gulf region will play a key role in achieving that aim.
But energy transitions are not just about panels, turbines and targets. They’re processes of social as well as technological change. Unless local people see jobs and other benefits for their communities, there’s a danger support will falter, and the legitimacy of Australia’s energy transition will be undermined.
South Australia’s global milestone -100 per cent of energy demand met by solar panels alone
 ABC 25th Oct 2020, South Australia’s renewable energy boom has achieved a global milestone. The state once known for not having enough power has become the first majorjurisdiction in the world to be powered entirely by solar energy. For just over an hour on Sunday, October 11, 100 per cent of energy demand was met by solar panels alone. “This is truly a phenomenon in the global energy landscape,” Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) chief executive Audrey Zibelman said. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-25/all-sa-power-from-solar-for-first-time/12810366 |
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The pandemic and the prospect of zero interest present a massive opportunity for clean energy development.
 The tantalising promise of ultra-cheap power South Wind, 27 October 2020 by admin
The pandemic and the prospect of zero interest present a massive opportunity for clean energy development. The story of 2020 has really been two stories, deeply interwoven, in which what happens in one keeps playing on the other and causing general mayhem. One is about the virus; the other the economy…….. Solar panels are getting steadily more efficient and cheaper to make, but Quiggin sees their greatest potential in the fact that they last three or more decades and cost virtually nothing to operate. The cost of a solar project today arises almost entirely from the need of investors to get a return on the capital they put into the project’s construction and grid connection. Solar’s low capital cost is stretching the “payback period” of projects – the time available for investors to be repaid in full – so far into the future that the power generated is virtually free. Quiggin calculates that over a module’s lifetime the cost could drop as low as 2c per kilowatt-hour. Yields from current Australian government bonds are lower than likely inflation. European countries are offering bonds maturing after 50 or 100 years, and the US government is selling similar bonds at negative interest rates. Given all this, Quiggin believes that governments should issue perpetual bonds yielding inflation-adjusted returns of zero. “In the world of zero real interest rates that now appears to be upon us… governments can, and should, invest in projects whenever the total benefits exceed the costs, regardless of how those benefits are spread over time.” If there is a powerful case for public investment in renewable energy, the case for doing the same for transmission, says Quiggin, is even stronger. “Electricity transmission lines have the same cost structure as renewables (low operational cost and long lives), if anything more so, meaning that the cost of transmission depends primarily on the need to secure a return to the capital invested.” This is where Quiggin’s interesting idea really starts to sing. A modern, smart, efficient electricity grid over a wide area like eastern Australia can make intermittent solar and wind power work well for us, rapidly switching demand to where the sun shines and the wind blows and minimising calls on alternative generators or energy stored in batteries or hydro schemes. Opposition leader Anthony Albanese proposes to spend $20 billion on transmission infrastructure to allow the national grid to fully integrate new renewable sources. The government could go one further by investing in both transmission and renewable generation. But it is still in pre-pandemic mode, offering just low cost finance for private transmission investment. The pandemic has disrupted everything we knew, killing the old economy and its ideological stereotypes. In these times of upheaval and flux, as John Quiggin says, there are huge opportunities for large-scale public investment in a new, cleaner economy. Our recovering economy will need a lot of public investment. All we ask of the Morrison government is the vision to see what’s possible and the courage to act. http://southwind.com.au/2020/10/27/the-tantalising-promise-of-ultra-cheap-power/ |
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Community battery storage will help “dumb” networks catch up with energy transition — RenewEconomy
Community battery storage could make Australia’s networks smarter and cheaper, and bring their technology into the same century as the clean energy transition. The post Community battery storage will help “dumb” networks catch up with energy transition appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Community battery storage will help “dumb” networks catch up with energy transition — RenewEconomy
Australia’s biggest carbon customers plan their escape from fossil fuels, but Morrison isn’t listening — RenewEconomy
Japan joins China in announcing a net zero emissions target. This is a big deal for Australia, which depends on fossil fuel exports, but its political leaders are not listening. The post Australia’s biggest carbon customers plan their escape from fossil fuels, but Morrison isn’t listening appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Australia’s biggest carbon customers plan their escape from fossil fuels, but Morrison isn’t listening — RenewEconomy
October 26 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “Tesla Bears Prove Easy Q3 Math Is Hard” • Congrats to Elon and the workers at Tesla for a record setting Q3, by almost every measure. I’ll cover some of the financial highlights, but first, a royal roasting of Tesla bears is in order. Many of them say that regulatory credits are the […]
October 26 Energy News — geoharvey
Japan puts off decision to release treated Fukushima water into sea — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
is it actually possible they are actually listening ??? Japan has put off a decision to release treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, government sources said Friday, after reports of a formal decision later this month triggered strong opposition from fishermen. Oct 23, 2020 Economy, Trade and Industry Minister […]
Japan puts off decision to release treated Fukushima water into sea — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
Half of Japanese against releasing radioactive water from Fukushima plant; Seoul, Beijing also concerned — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
October 20, 2020 A recent survey conducted by the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun shows about 50 percent of citizens in Japan are against their government’s plan to discharge radioactive water from the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.The survey was conducted on over one-thousand eligible voters from across Japan.Media reports say the fishing industry […]
Half of Japanese against releasing radioactive water from Fukushima plant; Seoul, Beijing also concerned — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
Jeju Governor Vows to Take Legal Action against Japan’s Fukushima Water Release — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
October 20, 2020 Jeju Province Governor Won Hee-ryong says he will launch both domestic and international lawsuits against Japan should it release radioactive water from its disabled Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean. At a press conference on Tuesday, Won urged Tokyo to halt preparations for the release, be transparent in providing all relevant information […]
Jeju Governor Vows to Take Legal Action against Japan’s Fukushima Water Release — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
1.This month
For international nuclear news go to https://nuclear-news.net
of the week
Nuclear power cannot solve the climate crisis
PETITION https://www.alp.org.au/petitions/australians-dont-want-nuclear-power/
26 Feb – 24 April The Image is not Nothing (Concrete Archives) is a group exhibition that explores the ways in which acts of nuclear trauma, Indigenous genocide and cultural erasure have been memorialised by artists and others. It comes as the result of research by curators Lisa Radford and Yhonnie Scarce whose fieldwork has encompassed sites of significance including Auschwitz, Chernobyl, Fukushima, Hiroshima, Maralinga, New York, Wounded Knee and former Yugoslavia.
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Submissions to the Senate Committee Inquiry into National Radioactive Management Amendment Bill. 2020. Go to our summaries of significant submissions, conveniently listed in alphabetical order at Kimba waste dump submissions or see all submissions listed at Read the Submissions
Bill Gates, while motivated to help fight climate change, has also long been trying to make a success of his nuclear technology company Terra Power. The climate emergency presents him with the perfect opportunity to promote this, and especially, to get tax–payer funding to do it, as he suggests in his new book.
Elon Musk and Bill Gates: beware of gurus toting solutions to climate change
Elon Musk has grand plans to save the world. Bill Gates has just published his book ”How To Avoid a Climate Disaster”. They both envisage tax-payer funding for their solutions. But beware of gurus toting the solution to the planet’s crisis.
If you don’t think that our home planet is in an ecocidal crisis, then you’ve been blissfully unaware of global heating, over-population, biodiversity loss, waste crises, plastic pollution, overconsumption of energy , water shortages, deforestation, nuclear danger, space junk danger, perpetual nuclear war risk…….
Visionaries like Bill Gates and Elon Musk have brought extraordinary, and beneficial advances to our human society. On the way, they have become billionaires. And good luck to them. But their wealth and fame has made them all too ready to be seen as world leaders, and to see themselves as having the solutions to world problems. This can be problematic, as in effect, some of their solutions exacerbate the problems.
The future envisioned by both Bill Gates and Elon Musk has one huge blind spot. They both foresee ever-expanding energy use, and they plan for that – problems can be fixed with technology.
On a finite planet, endless energy use just cannot work. But the concept of enough is just not in their plans. If the human species does not take up the concept of enough, we could just become an extinct species. Technology could be used to reduce energy use, but that idea fades away as Gates, Musk, and other technocratic leaders see progress as being to have ever more exciting and energy-guzzling gimmicks and activities.The digital revolution. It should be a benefit, enhancing our lives, and in many ways, it IS. But an energy price is paid in our unbridled use of digital technology. Every email, emoji, Facebook post, tweet, blogpost, Youtube, uses electricity. It’s not as if these actions just disappear ”into the cloud”. What a dishonest term that is! There is no such cloud. What there actually IS – is a host of vast areas of dirty great data” farms”. There’s another dishonest term. They’re not farms. They are soulless collections of great metal servers, using ever growing amounts of electricity, and of water, to keep them cool.
Then there’s the price at the end. It’s very hard to find out the details and the extent of toxic materials from digital technology, that are dumped in poor countries.
And, to be fair, companies like Apple, have made some efforts to reduce their ewaste. https://www.ewaste-expo.com/is-apple-delivering-on-its-environmental-claims/
However, planned obsolescence is rampant in the high tech world, resulting in the utter tragedy of ewaste pollution, – from discarded smartphones, laptops, computers, printers, TVs, fidbits, smart fridges, robots etc, the tragedy of the thousands of children working as waste-pickers in India and Africa, in slum conditions. E-waste includes many toxic materials such as lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury, that release dioxins. . ”With no health or environmental protections in the slum, the toxins contaminate the air, water, and the food consumed in the slum…….. The area is constantly covered in thick, toxic smoke from the burning of electrical cables that goes on all day and night,” – High-tech hell: new documentary brings Africa’s e-waste slum to life https://news.mongabay.com/2012/04/high-tech-hell-new-documentary-brings-africas-e-waste-slum-to-life/
Both Gates and Musk are enthusiasts for renewable energy, and in the climate crisis, they are to be applauded for their work in this direction. Yet, as with all kinds of digital technology, renewables should not be unlimited, and do have their downsides, both in the production (pollution from rare earths mining/processing), and in the final disposal, with toxic wastes, and components that are difficult to recycle. . The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimates that solar panels produced 250,000 metric tonnes of waste in 2018 alone.
Bill Gates and Elon Musk do show their awareness of the planet’s grave environmental problems, but we don’t hear from them about energy conservation, or about moving away from the consumer society. Both talk quite enthusiastically about the great increase in energy use that we can expect. They complacently predict endless energy use, just as the nuclear lobby did in its glossy advertising film ”Pandora’s Promise”
Elon Musk now plans to put 24,000 satellites into space, and is well known for his dream of colonising Mars, and This idea has, of course, been taken up by many others, and there’s a sort of general public delight in space travel and interstellar rocketry. People seem oblivious to the fact that this will require huge amounts of energy, and that the space scientists already are turning away from clean solar power, to the far more dangerous source of nuclear fission. They’re also oblivious of the state of affairs in near space, where the trillions of bits of space debris pose dangers, floating about just like the plastic pollution in the oceans. Meanwhile the military planners in USA, Russia, China are already planning for nuclear weapons and war in space.
No surprise then that Elon Musk sees nuclear power as necessary – not just for his predicted need for much more electricity on Earth, but for this obsession with satellites and rockets.
Less well understood than his push for electric cars and Tesla technologies, is Elon Musk’s investment in the cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. Running Bitcoin demands enormous amounts of electricity, as Timothy Rooks explained recently https://www.dw.com/en/why-does-bitcoin-need-more-energy-than-whole-countries/a-56573390
Bill Gates, while motivated to help fight climate change, has also long been trying to make a success of his nuclear technology company Terra Power. The climate emergency presents him with the perfect opportunity to promote this, and especially, to get tax–payer funding to do it, as he suggests in his new book.
Wake up people! These two gurus have done some good stuff. But don’t let them manipulate us into dangerous territory – with nuclear technology, so connected with weaponry, and with its dangers, and the unsolved problem of radioactive trash. Sure, technology has got to be part of solving the planet’s crises. But we need much more imaginative leadership to steer our species away from infinite consumption and infinite energy use.
