Nuclear news this week – Australia and more
Coronavirus. Omicron proves we’re not in control of Covid – ‘only global action can stop this pandemic’
Climate Change. Heating at the Poles will determine the fate of this life on Earth.
Nuclear. Last week, it was France that dominated nuclear industry news. This week, it’s Russia and Norway. The news brings together the issues of climate change and of nuclear danger. The melting of the Arctic now enables Russia to forge ahead with its search for mining fossil fuels there, with the result that Norway is taking a keener than ever interest in monitoring levels of ionising radiation in the region,
AUSTRALIA.
- Submarines. France’s Foreign Minister raises concerns about AUKUS, nuclear submarines, and risks of weapons proliferation. Australian government using a loophole to evade international non-proliferation treaties, to get nuclear submarines? Australia’s Minister for Defense Peter Dutton Mocks ‘Silly’ China Criticism of Nuclear Subs. K and Australian consultancy firms get together in anticipation of nuclear submarine programme.
- Nuclear waste dump plan, Legislative and regulatory obstacles, highly dangerous wastes – Kimba nuclear dump is still an uncertain project. Many wheels to turn before that Kimba nuclear dump can go ahead, especially if Labor wins in elections. Kimba temporary nuclear waste dump plan is unnecessary, now that federal government has approved upgraded storage plan at Lucas Heights.
- The people of South Australia are being excluded from the discussion and decisions about the Federal govt’s planned nuclear waste dump. Kimba residents who oppose the nuclear waste dump plan are not backing down. How the federal government gets around the problem of trucking nuclear waste over Aboriginal land. Federal government spinning the virtues of nuclear waste to Whyalla, Port Lincoln, Ceduna, who had no say in the decision.
- Uranium mining.Traditional owners of Mulga Rock say Vimy Resources, planning uranium mining, is not listening to Aboriginal people .
- Labor backs bill forcing charities to reveal donors .
INTERNATIONAL.
In the next extradition court case for Julian Assange, we can expect the judge there to be very biased against Assange.
Analysis: Small Modular Reactors Are Decades Away. That Suits the Fossil Lobby Just Fine..
Nuclear risks are laid bare by COVID-19
Omicron Variant: For Better or For Worse?NATO foreign ministers meeting ends with veritable declaration of war.
Nuclear power is a failure – former French Environment Minister.
The nuclear consequences of cyber vulnerabilities.
Fact check: Is nuclear energy good for the climate?
COP 26 agreement that energy efficiency investments needed for at least half of the investments needed to stall global heating..‘Deluge of plastic waste’: US is world’s biggest plastic polluter
Renewable energy growing at a fast pace, China and India leading the way.
The only true purpose of small nuclear reactors- to promote the nuclear weapons industry, and hide its costs – theme for December 21.
Small Nuclear Reactors – the Big New Way – to get the public to fund the nuclear weapons industry
November 28, 2020
so-called “small nuclear reactors”
Downing Street told the Financial Times, which it faithfully reported, that it was “considering” £2 billion of taxpayers’ money to support “small nuclear reactors”
They are not small
The first thing to know about these beasts is that they are not small. 440MW? The plant at Wylfa (Anglesey, north Wales) was 460MW (it’s closed now). 440MW is bigger than all the Magnox type reactors except Wylfa and comparable to an Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor.
Only if military needs are driving this decision is it explicable.
”Clearly, the military need to maintain both reactor construction and operation skills and access to fissile materials will remain. I can well see the temptation for Defence Ministers to try to transfer this cost to civilian budgets,”
Any nation’s defence budget in this day and age cannot afford a new generation of nuclear weapons. So it needs to pass the costs onto the energy sector.
How the UK’s secret defence policy is driving energy policy – with the public kept in the dark. https://www.thefifthestate.com.au/energy-lead/how-the-uks-secret-defence-policy-is-driving-energy-policy-with-the-public-kept-in-the-dark/ BY DAVID THORPE / 13 OCTOBER 2020
Many wheels to turn before that Kimba nuclear dump can go ahead, especially if Labor wins in elections.
David Noonan Facebook: Fight to stop a nuclear waste dump in South Australia. 5 Dec 21. Regarding the planned nuclear waste dump at Kimba, South Australia, there will be better potential options if Federal ALP win office (and some if SA Labor do too);
there will have to be an SA Parliamentary Inquiry (likely starting sometime May on, after the elections & likely after any Judicial Reviews into Min Pitt’s siting decision & process has run its course);
there will be an EPBC Act environmental assessment including on transport issues and involving ‘public consultation’;
ARPANSA will (we expect) do separate Licensing processes – for proposed Low Level Disposal, with (better) ‘public consultaion’, and await the outcome of the EPBC Act assessment before making their Licensing decision (this will be very hard to head off if Lib gov’s are re-elected);
And in parallel or subsequently ARPANSA hold a separate process over indefinate above ground Storage of nuclear fuel wastes & ILW; ARPANSA (and a new ALP fed gov & even an SA Labor gov) will have and hear a range of concerns over co-located indefinate Storage of ILW et al and could eventually decide its preferable to retain such wastes at ANSTO Lucas Heights – until an ILW disposal option arises. There are a lot of wheels to turn yet…
Analysis: Small Modular Reactors Are Decades Away. That Suits the Fossil Lobby Just Fine
Perhaps it is no coincidence that the fossil fuel lobby in all three countries is keen to support nuclear power as “one of the answers to climate change.” Unlike renewables that can be deployed quickly, new nuclear power is decades away, providing breathing space for a dying industry to go on exploiting fossil fuels while nuclear power plants are built.
Analysis: Small Modular Reactors Are Decades Away. That Suits the Fossil Lobby Just Fine. https://www.theenergymix.com/2021/12/01/analysis-small-modular-reactors-are-decades-away-that-suits-the-fossil-lobby-just-fine/December 1, 2021
Primary Author: Paul Brown @pbrown4348 Media outlets and the energy journalists employed by them seem to have lost their critical faculties when it comes to writing about small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), according to critics who think the industry has no hope of delivering on its promises to build a new generation of power stations.
In the build-up to the climate talks at COP 26 in Glasgow, through the negotiations and afterwards, small modular reactors were repeatedly discussed enthusiastically in newspaper articles, government announcements, and by the nuclear industry.
In every article or press release these reactors, which in the UK have yet to leave the drawing board, were touted as a vital part of Britain’s efforts to reach zero emissions by 2050. The same treatment has been given to similar plans in Canada, France, and the United States.
Oil Price reported Rolls Royce, the British engineering giant, was “breathing life back into the nuclear industry” by promising the first reactor in operation by the early 2030s and 10 by 2035.
After months of hype, having been given £210 million of British government money and raised £250 million from private investors, Rolls Royce has finally applied to the UK licencing authority to have its design approved so construction can begin.
Rolls-Royce SMR has been established to deliver a low-cost, deployable, scalable, and investable program of new nuclear power plants,” said CEO Tom Samson. “Our transformative approach to delivering nuclear power, based on predictable factory-built components, is unique, and the nuclear technology is proven. Investors see a tremendous opportunity to decarbonize the U.K. through stable baseload nuclear power, in addition to fulfilling a vital export need as countries identify nuclear as an opportunity to decarbonize.”
Meanwhile, campaigners and climate policy specialists at the Glasgow talks were looking for fast, deep cuts in carbon emissions before 2030, to enable the planet to have a chance of staying below 1.5°C. They cast Rolls-Royce’s plans, which have been re-announced repeatedly over several months, as another prime example of “greenwash” or “kicking the can down the road.”
Nor did campaigners at Glasgow miss the fact that Britain, Canada, and the United States, the three countries with most enthusiasm for small modular reactors, have something else in common: Their wish to go on extracting oil and gas that scientists say needs to be kept in the ground if the 1.5°C limit is not to be breached.
Perhaps it is no coincidence that the fossil fuel lobby in all three countries is keen to support nuclear power as “one of the answers to climate change.” Unlike renewables that can be deployed quickly, new nuclear power is decades away, providing breathing space for a dying industry to go on exploiting fossil fuels while nuclear power plants are built.
Jonathon Porritt, chair of the U.K.’s Sustainable Development Commission between 2000 and 2009 and founder member of Forum for the Future, is scathing about the plans of the U.K. government and Rolls Royce.
He says taking the SMR through the Generic Design Assessment process takes at least four years, more likely five, and even if it passes it will take years to build, given the need to find sites and seek planning permission amid likely public opposition.
To be generous, Porritt said, it would be 2035 before the first was commissioned, let alone the five to 16 reactors Rolls Royce wants to build.
“It is therefore of zero benefit in terms of meeting the (British) government’s own target of a 78% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how many times ministers bang this particular drum, or how many times deplorably gullible journalists in the BBC, Financial Times, Times, and the Daily Telegraph suck it all up. Moonshine is still moonshine.”
“It’s all such a pathetic waste of time—and of taxpayers’ money,” he added. “Whatever the time scale, SMRs will never compete with renewables plus storage.”
Porritt went on to discuss tidal stream energy using undersea turbines rather like wind turbines, which two British companies are developing with some success, and the even greater potential of using the tidal range—the height difference between low and high tide—to generate electricity to generate electricity through traditional turbines. Since Britain has the second-highest tides in the world after Canada and is surrounded by the sea, it has huge potential—but is ignored by the U.K. government.
“If our government was genuinely serious about energy security (instead of finding ways of propping up Rolls-Royce to support our nuclear weapons program), tidal power would be top of its list,” Porritt concluded.
Not all publications, however, agree with the mainstream British press about nuclear power. Under the headline “Nuclear Power Won’t Save the World—It Won’t Even Help”, published in the Green Energy Times, climate writer and retired computer engineer George Harvey said the cost estimates and timetables for nuclear power were never realistic.
“All told, we might say that putting money into nuclear power goes beyond being a monumental waste,” he wrote. “It detracts from the overarching issue of dealing with climate change by making that money unavailable for dealing with the problem using less expensive, more reliable energy that can be built far more quickly.”
In the next extradition court case for Julian Assange, we can expect the judge there to be very biased against Assange
Now the most powerful judge in England and Wales, Burnett will soon rule on Assange’s extradition case. The founder of WikiLeaks faces life imprisonment in the US. ……………………
As minister, Duncan did not hide his opposition to Julian Assange, calling him a “miserable little worm” in parliament in March 2018.
Duncan watched UK police pulling the WikiLeaks publisher from the Ecuadorian embassy via a live-feed in the Operations Room at the top of the Foreign Office.
He later admitted he was “trying to keep the smirk off [his] face”, and hosted drinks at his parliamentary office for the team involved in the eviction.
ASSANGE JUDGE IS 40-YEAR ‘GOOD FRIEND’ OF MINISTER WHO ORCHESTRATED HIS ARREST
Julian Assange’s fate lies in the hands of an appeal judge who is a close friend of Sir Alan Duncan – the former foreign minister who called Assange a “miserable little worm” in parliament. DECLASSIFIED UK
MATT KENNARD AND MARK CURTIS 2 DECEMBER 2021 LORD CHIEF JUSTICE IAN BURNETT, THE JUDGE THAT WILL SOON DECIDE JULIAN ASSANGE’S FATE, IS A CLOSE PERSONAL FRIEND OF SIR ALAN DUNCAN, WHO AS FOREIGN MINISTER ARRANGED ASSANGE’S EVICTION FROM THE ECUADORIAN EMBASSY.
The two have known each other since their student days at Oxford in the 1970s, when Duncan called Burnett “the Judge”. Burnett and his wife attended Duncan’s birthday dinner at a members-only London club in 2017, when Burnett was a judge at the court of appeal.
Now the most powerful judge in England and Wales, Burnett will soon rule on Assange’s extradition case. The founder of WikiLeaks faces life imprisonment in the US. ……………………
As minister, Duncan did not hide his opposition to Julian Assange, calling him a “miserable little worm” in parliament in March 2018.
In his diaries, Duncan refers to the “supposed human rights of Julian Assange”. He admits to arranging a Daily Mail hit piece on Assange that was published the day after the journalist’s arrest in April 2019.
Duncan watched UK police pulling the WikiLeaks publisher from the Ecuadorian embassy via a live-feed in the Operations Room at the top of the Foreign Office.
He later admitted he was “trying to keep the smirk off [his] face”, and hosted drinks at his parliamentary office for the team involved in the eviction.
Duncan then flew to Ecuador to meet President Lenín Moreno in order to “say thank you” for handing over Assange. Duncan reported he gave Moreno “a beautiful porcelain plate from the Buckingham Palace gift shop.”
“Job done,” he added………………………………. https://declassifieduk.org/assange-judge-is-40-year-good-friend-of-minister-who-orchestrated-his-arrest/
The people of South Australia are being excluded from the discussion and decisions about the Federal govt’s planned nuclear waste dump
Flinders Local Action Group
Bob Tulloch, 5 Dec 21, IS SOUTH AUSTRALIA DESTINED TO BE A NUCLEAR STATE? Six years ago, the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (DIIS) suddenly burst into our lives with their push to establish a National Nuclear Waste Management Facility within our communities.Our lives, friendships and communities where fractured and torn apart, the effects still lingering today. The communities I refer to are Hawker/ Quorn in the Flinders Ranges and Kimba on Eyre Peninsular in South Australia.The ‘pro facility’ doctrine was loud, clear, and biased. Presented in a process where ‘community consultation’ was co-opted to ‘manufacture consent’. A process tightly controlled by DIIS with little room for alternative points of view, local dissent controlled with intimidation and bullying tactics.
It came as a shock to those involved, that our Government would use such tactics to push through their agenda, culminating after 40 years of failed efforts.This is when I started investigating behind the scenes in an attempt to understand why the Federal Government wanted to establish a nuclear waste facility at Kimba, so far from the main source of supply, Lucas Heights.
The Federal Government, under the NRWM Act, has the power to over ride state laws and has used these powers during the site characterisation study of the site Napandee near Kimba, which has now been officially declared as the site for a National Nuclear Waste Facility.
The Marshall Government is keen to set up a nuclear defense industry in South Australia to compliment the proposed nuclear submarine industry.Our state opposition, although opposed to the recent site selection process, is keeping very quiet, not forgetting under Jay Weatherall’s leadership in 2016, introduced the idea of importing the world’s nuclear waste to South Australia.My concern is, the people of South Australia are now being left out of the conversation and the decision making process.
Kimba residents who oppose the nuclear waste dump plan are not backing down.
Opposing residents refusing to back down on nuclear stance, Port Lincoln Times
- Claire Harris 2 Dec 21,. Kimba residents opposed to the nuclear waste facility being built in the district are not backing down on their stance, following the selection of the Napandee site by the federal government earlier this week.
No Radioactive Waste on Agricultural Land in Kimba or SA president Peter Woolford said he was disappointed in the announcement, but not surprised.
“It’s a bitter pill to swallow, because last week we were announced SA Ag Town of the Year, and now we’re the nuclear dump town,” he said.
“Ag is our big passion, it’s made Kimba, and will be a big factor influencing Kimba in future, so we’re standing up and opposing this because we want to protect what we have.”
Mr Woolford said he didn’t “subscribe to the theory” that the nuclear waste facility would be issue-free.
“We all take out insurance not because we know something is going to happen, but to protect against a potential risk if something does happen – this is no different,” he said.
He said the group would seek legal advice going forward to explore all avenues, potentially including a judicial review.
Retired Kimba farmer Peter McGilvray also opposes the choice and expected the community would remain divided on the issue.
“The damage is done. I came here in 1976 and was never going to leave, but this has pushed the button for me, and now I don’t plan on staying much longer,” he said.
Despite the criticism, Napandee site owner Jeff Baldock said the definitive decision was a step in the right direction for the town….. https://www.portlincolntimes.com.au/story/7534854/opposing-residents-refusing-to-back-down-on-nuclear-stance/s
Federal government spinning the virtues of nuclear waste to Whyalla, Port Lincoln, Ceduna, who had no say in the decision.
Roni Skipworth Facebook: No nuclear waste dump anywhere in South Australia ·
Those here who are of Aboriginal Culture please be aware this is happening in Whyalla Pt Lincoln Ceduna. The Federal Government didn’t want to include the Barngarla Custodians of Eyre Peninsula’s input when a new site for Australian Nuclear Waste Dump in Kimba Farming District. Though now that the Barngarla Culture is taking the Federal Government to COURT they want input from those towns mentioned. To give them SPIN in how the Culture can receive $$$, employment n investment into ANSTO the company who creates Nuclear Medicine in Lucas Heights NSW.
The Farmers The Landowners and City dwellers of SA hav been fighting this for 6-7yrs with State n Federal Govs. The best place to hold this Dump is at Lucas Heights as they received $60 million grant to extend ANSTO. Now Rowan Ramsay and the property owner of Napandee with the Mayor of Kimba are rubbing their hands together in bonuses of your well earned and Gst Taxes to start building in 4 years.
I live within the 50km limit though we and other neighbours on the borders of Kimba and in Wudinna didn’t have a say as well as the Barngarla Custodians have a vote. We meaning Mother Earth and those who have said NO seemed not to be heard.Please spread this to your friends and families of the Barngarla Culture of Eyre Peninsula.
How the federal government gets around the problem of trucking nuclear waste over Aboriginal land.
– Kazzi Jai 5 Dec 21, (Facebook No nuclear waste dump anywhere in South Australia) . The [Napandee . Kimba] property is not now Aboriginal land, as there is no Native Title over this piece of land. However there are parcels of land with Native Title neighbouring the site, which are used for camping and hunting by the Barngarla people of the region 2 The present Bill new section 19B empowers the Minister to acquire additional land for road access., thus overcoming Native Title on those areas. Minister Pitt says he will introduce an amendment to ensure that Title rights cannot be compulsorily acquired. (from Hansard)
Australia’s Minister for Defense Peter Dutton Mocks ‘Silly’ China Criticism of Nuclear Subs
Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton derided the “inflammatory” remarks, describing them in a television interview as “provocative, sort of comical statements, really that are so silly it’s funny.”
Dutton had said at the weekend that he could not conceive of a situation in which Australia would not support the United States in the event of armed conflict with China over control of Taiwan.
Australia Mocks ‘Silly’ China Criticism of Nuclear Subs, Australia increased its defense spending in 2020 and is focusing on projecting military power in the Indo-Pacific. Defense News., STAFF WRITER WITH AFP NOVEMBER 19, 2021 Australia on Friday openly mocked a senior Chinese diplomat’s warnings about its plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, saying they were “so silly it’s funny.”
The Chinese embassy’s charge d’affaires, Wang Xining, said Australia would become the “naughty guy” if it procures the submarines, which are capable of stealthy, long-duration missions.
Nuclear-powered submarines are designed to launch long-range attacks, Wang argued in an interview with The Guardian.
“So who are you going to attack? You are no longer a peace lover, a peace defender, you become a sabre wielder in certain form,” said Wang, who is China’s top representative in Australia since the previous ambassador’s departure last month after a five-year term.
Wang said Australia had “zero nuclear capacity” to deal with any trouble affecting the submarines and asked if politicians were ready to apologize to people if any incident occurred.
Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton derided the “inflammatory” remarks, describing them in a television interview as “provocative, sort of comical statements, really that are so silly it’s funny.”
Dutton said the acting Chinese ambassador “is probably reading off a script from the Communist Party but I think most Australians see through the non-productive nature of the comments.”………
In his interview with The Guardian, Wang also cautioned Australian politicians not to do anything “destructive to the relationship”.
Dutton had said at the weekend that he could not conceive of a situation in which Australia would not support the United States in the event of armed conflict with China over control of Taiwan.
Icy relations between Australia and China have led to a freeze in high-level diplomatic contacts for almost two years…….. https://www.thedefensepost.com/2021/11/19/australia-china-nuclear-subs/
Fukushima Daiichi Frozen Wall Section Fails — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
November 26, 2021 A section of the frozen wall at Fukushima Daiichi has melted. The portion south of unit 4 has had problems remaining fully frozen for years. Now TEPCO admits it has melted in recent weeks. This portion of the frozen wall has had issues for years. Recent changes to the nearby K drainage […]
Fukushima Daiichi Frozen Wall Section Fails — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
Study: Fukushima discharge to affect entire Pacific Ocean in 10 years — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
An aerial image of tanks holding nuclear-contaminated water at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma, Fukushima, Japan, February 13, 2021. 03-Dec-2021 Chinese scientists have mapped out the potential global effects of Fukushima discharge, suggesting that the contaminated water, if poured forth, may sprawl onto the entire Pacific Ocean within 10 years. The study, published […]
Study: Fukushima discharge to affect entire Pacific Ocean in 10 years — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
Tracking contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear accident — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
(a) Sub-processes of macroscopic and microscopic diffusion analyses and their relationships. Results of (b) macroscopic and (c) microscopic diffusion analyses for 1 unit relative concentration of approximately 29Bq/m3. (d) Variations in the pollutant concentration in the waters near the three coastal cities. (e) Comparison of the pollutant concentration curves by macro and micro methods. Credit: […]
Tracking contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear accident — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
Explosive renewable energy growth in US — Beyond Nuclear International
US renewable share is triple that of nuclear power
Explosive renewable energy growth in US — Beyond Nuclear International
Labor has produced a brilliant renewables plan wrapped up in a terrible climate plan — RenewEconomy
Labor has cancelled out the massive increase in renewable potential by allowing for greater emissions in transport, industry and agriculture. The post Labor has produced a brilliant renewables plan wrapped up in a terrible climate plan appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Labor has produced a brilliant renewables plan wrapped up in a terrible climate plan — RenewEconomy
1.This month.
Zoom webinar – “Nuclear Winter: The Environmental Consequences of a Nuclear Exchange.”
April 7th at 11:30 am PST / 2:30 pm EST
Nuclear Winter: The Environmental Consequences of a Nuclear Exchange”
Join us for an informative webinar with renowned atmospheric scientist, Professor Brian Toon, as he discusses the environmental risks and global impacts of a nuclear war. Despite the potential damage caused by the blast from even small nuclear weapons, many countries continue to invest in and expand nuclear arsenals. Professor Toon will provide a scientific assessment of civilian fatalities, agricultural failures, climate concerns, and complications with food supply that would follow any international nuclear conflict. We need to plan how to prevent nuclear conflict and avoid catastrophe. Politicians and military planners must be made aware of global climate and agricultural complications that would ensue. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from, and engage in, this vital conversation
The Road to War brings a sharp focus to why it is not in Australia’s best interest to be dragged into a war with China which will almost inevitably go nuclear very quickly. The filmmaker has interviewed some of Australia’s senior foreign policy analysts who have vast experience behind them in analysing what really is going on here as the United States rattles its sabres with China. And sets us up to be its proxy, like the poor Ukranians have been fed into the Meatgrinder. So America can remain the Top Dog. The Road to War reveals how the United States through its spy base at Pine Gap and by stationing six nuclear capable B52 bombers in the Top End (without permission from the traditional owners) is making Australia a prime nuclear target if the current war of words suddenly melts down into full scale war.
The Road to War shows the implicit connection between Carbon emissions (the US military uses a whopping 70% of America’s annual petroleum to move its armies and vast War Machine around the globe to its 800+ military bases..but under a loophole wangled at Kyoto, the US military does not have to report its C02 annual emissions). The Road to War starts screening at selected cities and regional centres in March. See the trailer end for details.
Antinuclear 