Nuclear news – Australia and beyond
Pandemic. COVID-19 Is Still Raging in Much of the World South America Is Now Covid-19 Hot Spot, With Eight Times the World’s Death Rate.
Climate.Warming stripes show that climate change is here and now. Climate in a Fiery World.NUCLEAR. Not a lot is happening, probably largely due to the pandemic. There is, of course, the continued stream of articles in the mainstream media,extolling the virtues of new nuclear reactors – most look like handouts from the industry, faithfully regurgitated by relatively ignorant journalists.
A leak at China’s showcase Taishan nuclear reactor has raised global concern for the industry. Radioactive leak at Chinese reactor could finish French nuclear exports.
A bit of good news – The pandemic has revived hope that a more sustainable world is possible.
AUSTRALIA.
Resources Minister Pitt changes Nuclear Waste Bill in the effort to gain Labor’s support. Labor consults traditional owners about the Kimba nuclear waste dump Bill, considers supporting the Bill. The Greens will be standing up for a nuclear-free South Australia. The Federal government is pulling a nuclear waste confidence trick on South Australia. Nuclear waste storage facility legislation passes Senate. Some highlights from the Senate nuclear waste dump debate. Racism on show in the Australian Senate. Premier Marshall must enforce South Australia’s legislation prohibiting nuclear waste dump. Resources Minister Keith Pitt forced to back down – now must allow legal scrutiny of the ill-advised Kimba nuclear dump plan..
Nuclear waste intended for Kimba, -used to be classified as ”high level” – now called ”intermediate”. ANSTO’s dodgy classification of nuclear wastes.
NSW Productivity Commission Has “Lost The Plot” On Nuclear Power
Kalbar’s exotic minerals mine a toxic risk to Victoria’s food bowl. https://www.michaelwest.com.au/kalbars-exotic-minerals-mine-a-toxic-risk-to-victorias-food-bowl/
INTERNATIONAL.
INTERVIEW/ Daniel Ellsberg: Smart statesmen can make bad decisions leading to nuclear war. Biden and Putin agree: ‘Nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought’. Why can’t world leaders agree that a nuclear war should never be fought? ICAN chief urges Biden and Putin to push for deep cuts in nuclear arsenals, encourage China to back away from arms race.
‘‘Advanced” nuclear reactor designs – the latest version of nuclear wishful thinking.
Earth is now trapping an ‘unprecedented’ amount of heat, NASA says.
Julian Assange and the Collapse of the Rule of Law.
JAPAN. The Fukushima nuclear disaster and the Tokyo Olympics.
EUROPE. NATO’s hostility to the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty is in conflict with its true goal – to become a non-nuclear alliance . NATO readies for a collective response to attacks in space.
UK. Fire at Hinkley Point C building site. We don’t need costly, slow, nuclear power: solar, wind, tidal and wave power can amply do the job. House-building plans thrown into doubt as doubts grow about Wylfa nuclear project.
USA.
- The real welfare cheats are weapons makers. U.S. Space Force wants to use directed-energy weapons for space superiority,.
- The Pentagon’s Project, Pele Military micro-reactors – creates more problems than it solves.
- 20 Years After Pentagon Papers, Ellsberg Reveals US weighed 1958 nuclear strike on China over Taiwan,
- Why Utah really does not need Bill Gates’ small nuclear reactors.
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission launches special investigation at Southern Georgia Vogtle 3 nuclear unit.
- Tough when even a pro nuclear voice has to deplore the corruption in the nuclear industry. Countering a love letter to the nuclear industry .
- Renewable energy consumption grew in 2020 as fossil fuels and nuclear shrank.
CHINA. Is China covering up a nuclear leak? What actually happened at Taishan? French nuclear company and Chinese government once again have a problem with their much vaunted EPR nuclear reactor design. About the radiation leaks at Taishan nuclear power station. The public is always the last to know. Safety concerns on Taishan reactor, but China wants to be world’s nuclear leader by 2050.
RUSSIA. Collaboration between Russia and Europe finally cleans up the most dangerous nuclear ship in the Arctic..
FRANCE. Is the leak in a nuclear reactor in China due to a Framatome manufacturing defect ? Climate and weather hazards to France’s nuclear reactors in summer 2021.
IRAN. U.S. wants nuclear deal done before Iran’s new president takes power.
LIBYA. For the first time, drones autonomously attacked humans.
PAKISTAN. No need for nuclear arsenal once Kashmir issue is resolved: Pakistan PM.
Resources Minister Keith Pitt forced to back down – now must allow legal scrutiny of the ill-advised Kimba nuclear dump plan.
Resources Minister Keith Pitt has been forced to abandon moves to quash legal scrutiny of a federal plan for a national radioactive waste facility near Kimba in regional South Australia.
“More than a year after he began his push to make the choice of location immune from legal challenge, Minister Pitt has had to restore this fundamental democratic right in a move that passed the Senate last night,” said ACF nuclear free campaigner, Dave Sweeney.
The Minister’s backflip to break this year-long stalemate further highlights the federal government’s piecemeal and politicised approach to radioactive waste management.
“The government has failed to demonstrate there would be any public health or radiological benefits in moving Australia’s most problematic radioactive waste from its current secure storage at Lucas Heights to a location with fewer assets and much less protection at Kimba.
“The Kimba plan shirks the hard and long-term questions. Minister Pitt is not advancing a comprehensive solution, he is merely kicking a radioactive can down a dirt road.
“There are many reasons why the Lucas Heights facility, run by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), is the best place for our worst waste until a lasting and credible waste management solution is identified.
“Lucas Heights has secure tenure, a 24/7 federal police presence, the best radiation monitoring and response capacity in Australia and around 95% of the waste is already there.
“Importantly, ARPANSA, the federal nuclear regulator, has confirmed storage at ANSTO is secure, consistent with global best practice and can safely remain ‘for decades to come.’
“The revised approach reintroduces Wallerberdina in the Flinders Ranges as a potential waste facility site, showing the government is making policy on the run and has little understanding about how damaging this plan is to community cohesion.
“In December 2019 former Minister Canavan said the Flinders Ranges was no longer being considered as a site. It is a profound failure that 18 months later it is back on the list.
“This is not a Telstra tower. Australia’s first purpose built national radioactive waste facility deserves the highest level of scrutiny – not a highly politicised approach.”
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 