Nuclear news to 1st February Australia
Crisis within a crisis: Responding to COVID-19 around the world.
Climate crisis: world is at its hottest for at least 12,000 years – study. Scientists say temperatures globally at highest level since start of human civilisation.
Still, the global nuclear lobby keeps up its unrelenting propaganda on nuclear power as the (false) cure for climate change. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0poNgL57kc&feature=emb_title Also distressing is the move for nuclear reactors to be permitted to operat for 100 years, a cunning, but dangerous, way to avoid costs of decommissioning them,
A bit of good news –. Oh dear, I had trouble finding it this week – had to revert to one a few weeks back – What went right this week: hope for stabilising the climate.
AUSTRALIA
Kimba nuclear waste dump issue is in limbo in the Australian Senate. The Australian government’s Radioactive Waste Bill does not meet required IAEA standards. Resource Minister Pitt should withdraw the Bill as the process for a Kimba nuclear waste dump has failed.
Australian Labor Party’s removal of Mark Butler as Shadow Minister for Climate Change & Energy. – an ominous sign for the nuclear-free movement Labor’s climate spokesman, Mark Butler, dumped as Labor’s climate action push collapses at a truly pivotal moment. Joel Fitzgibbon Demands Labor’s Climate Change Policy Be Solely Based On Keeping Him In A Job.
Rupert Murdoch gets a very dodgy ”Australia Day Award’‘, the honour coming from miners and bankers!
INTERNATIONAL
Avoiding a ‘Ghastly Future’: Hard Truths on the State of the Planet.
The most dangerous situation humanity has ever faced – Doomsday Clock stays at 100 seconds to midnight. Who’s next? Experts worry about East Asia and the Middle East getting nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons proliferation can be contagious.
Nuclear wastes – deliberately left to our grandchildren.
Why nuclear power is a bad way to balance renewable energy .
French parliamentarians nominate Julian Assange for Nobel Peace Prize.
Resource Minister Pitt should withdraw the Bill as the process for a Kimba nuclear waste dump has failed
George Gear , 30 Jan 21, Reports have said that there is a possibility of a federal election this year. This means clearing the decks of issues that have the potential to embarrass the government or be a distraction.
One of these is the radioactive waste site at Kimba in SA.
The selection process for the radioactive waste facility project has now been going on for over 4 years.
The government’s bill to site the facility in Kimba will not pass the senate.
The proposed Kimba facility will not get a license to operate a radioactive waste facility as it does not meet
International Atomic Energy Agency standards of burial below ground. Australia is a founding member of the
IAEA. Their standards are our standards.
The minister will not declare Kimba because of the litigation that would follow will add years to the project. The
Barngarla traditional owners have been sidelined from the decision and will litigate. They have the resources to
do it with assets of $300M according to their Adelaide lawyers.
This will still be an issue at the next election unless it is settled. It is a major factor in SA where the government
has marginal seats. Press reports have opposition to the plan in SA at 70%.
Minister Pitt, in February, should announce that he respects the fact that the senate will not pass his bill and he
has decided to withdraw it. The cross bench have actually given the government a “get out of jail free” card. The
senate is now in control of the issue. I say that the government should take back control in the way I have
suggested.
At the same time he announces that negotiations with another nominee in the self selection process has begun.
Leonora did nominate in the process. No names at this point……..
The trouble with the process to date is that it hasn’t followed the science. The PM and Premiers did this with the
Corona Virus. The outcome is positive and they were all rewarded. The waste facility is not being ruled by science
which says that the waste has to be buried underground “at depths of twenty to hundreds of metres.” This
standard has been established by scientists.
The starting point should have been talking to the regulator to confirm the standards need to get a licence to
store the waste. This still hasn’t been done and has been left to the end of the process. Imagine if the bill had
passed the senate and the proposed facility on application to the regulator ARPANSA was refused a license. The
press would have had a field day at the governments expense.
The Australian government’s Radioactive Waste Bill does not meet required IAEA standards
Peter Remta, 30 Jan 21, National Radioactive Waste Management Amendment (Site Specification, Community Fund and Other Measures) Bill2020 I understand that Minister Pitt has brought on the bill for debate in the Senate on Thursday 4 February 2021 as he has been threatening the opposing senators that if the bill fails to pass it will become a trigger for the federal government to call early election by means of a double dissolution.
establishment of the facility at Napandee which will only show up the inefficient and disingenuous conduct of the government and its agencies such as ANSTO and even ARPANSA.
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Below is the email message I sent out yesterday which includes in red my suggested draft for an amendment to the Labor
Party’s proposed amendment to the bill The effect of this draft is to require such strict compliance with the codes and standards prescribed by the International Atomic Energy Agency that would be possible for the government to continue with establishing the facility
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3A Section 4Insert:
Joint Convention means the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, done at Vienna on 5 September 1997, as amended and in force for Australia from at any time and includes without limitation the Safety Standards established or adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency which provide the fundamental principles,requirements and recommendations to ensure nuclear safety for the purposes of among other things giving full effect to the Joint Convention.
Kimba nuclear waste dump issue is in limbo in the Australian Senate
Julian Assange nominated by French parliamentarians for Nobel Peace Prize
 A Nobel Peace Prize for Julian Assange! https://melenchon.fr/2021/01/28/un-prix-nobel-de-la-paix-pour-julien-assange/ Thursday 28 January 2021, I decided to nominate journalist Julian Assange for the Nobel Peace Prize, as I have the power to do as a parliamentarian. Julian Assange is a hero of freedom. The WikiLeaks initiative has raised awareness of war crimes and serious human rights abuses. It is right that the peoples of the world express their gratitude to him.
On January 4, 2021, British justice refused his extradition to the United States, but maintained his imprisonment. More than ever, Julian Assange needs the protection of the peoples of the world. Granting him the Nobel Peace Prize would allow that.
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1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 