Albo’s Trojan Horse | The West Report
Michael West 13 Aug 24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JVfESp-A3Q
Defence Minister Richard Marles insists AUKUS milestone won’t force Australia to accept foreign nuclear waste
The Greens say legislation already before parliament would allow the UK and US to dump high-level nuclear waste in Australia from their nuclear submarines, an issue the Labor-led inquiry into the proposed laws recommended amending to prevent.
9 Aug 2024 #ABCNewsAustralia https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-0…
In short:
The defence minister says there is no circumstance where Australia would accept radioactive waste from foreign nations.
Critics of the AUKUS deal claimed Thursday’s milestone could oblige Australia to take waste from the US and UK.
What’s next?
The agreement will see secret nuclear information shared with Australia, and plans progressed to acquire second-hand nuclear submarines.
The defence minister insists Thursday’s milestone agreement on AUKUS does not oblige Australia to take nuclear waste from the United States or the United Kingdom.
Australia and the US made significant progress on Thursday towards acquiring nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS agreement, in a deal that included undisclosed “political commitments” to Australia’s partner nations, the US and the UK.
Critics of the nuclear submarine plan claimed that the deal would eventually oblige Australia to take high-level radioactive waste from the US and UK.
Defence Minister Richard Marles insisted on Friday morning that was not the case.
“Nuclear waste won’t end up in Australia, other than the waste that is generated by Australia,” Mr Marles said.
“That is the agreement that we reached with the UK and the US back in March of last year, and so all this is doing is providing for the legal underpinning of that.”
Mr Marles said there would be “no circumstance” where Australia takes waste from any other country.
Instead, Thursday’s agreement would allow for the transfer of nuclear naval technology to Australia, including restricted data never shared outside the US and UK.
The agreement also progresses plans to transfer second-hand US Virginia-class submarines to Australia, while its own submarines are being built.
Nothing unusual in undisclosed ‘additional political commitments’ on AUKUS, says PM
The government however has been pressured to further explain the details of the deal formalised on Thursday.
US President Joe Biden’s letter to Congress on the agreement said it provided “additional related political commitments”, but did not detail what those were.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton challenged the government to explain the political commitments made to the US.
“It’s certainly an unusual statement, and I think the prime minister should provide an explanation as to what Australia has signed up to,” Mr Dutton said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there was nothing out of the ordinary in the agreements the federal government had made.
“We have agreed to have nuclear-powered submarines, that is what we have agreed to, and the transfer of technology that is related to that,” Mr Albanese said.
“There aren’t extra political commitments, I’m not sure what you mean.
“There will be no nuclear [waste] transfer from either the US or UK.”
The Greens say legislation already before parliament would allow the UK and US to dump high-level nuclear waste in Australia from their nuclear submarines, an issue the Labor-led inquiry into the proposed laws recommended amending to prevent.
Mr Marles also defended himself after Labor luminary and vocal critic of the AUKUS deal Paul Keating repeated his criticisms of the program and the minister.
Mr Keating claimed that the Albanese government had sold out Labor values by adopting AUKUS from the former Morrison government, and said Mr Marles’s comments while in the US would make “any Labor person cringe”.
Mr Marles said that criticism was “not fair”, but said Mr Keating had a right to express his view.
In Taiwan, reaction from some corners was scathing.
Former US ambassador to Palau US John Hennessy-Niland, who was the first US ambassador to visit Taiwan since 1979, said Mr Keating was living in the past “and never changes”.
“Keating reveals his true colours when he talks about ‘party values’ should be paramount but what about Australia’s national interests?” Mr Hennessey-Niland told the ABC.
Wen-Ti Sung, from the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, said partnerships like AUKUS were essential to preventing future conflict.
“Forward defence planning in concert with like-minded democratic partners is how countries have managed to deter and prevent major wars,” he said.
“Long-term partnership building with at least one superpower has been the cornerstone of Australian foreign policy ever since World War II, namely ANZUS. There is no clear reason why Australia should be abandoning its almost century-long partner.
“Facing an increasingly strategically uncertain world, Australia needs to develop more partners, not less.”
Director of international affairs for Taiwan’s opposition Kuomingtang Party, Alexander Huang, said the island’s first priority was preventing conflict through both deterrence and dialogue.
Mr Huang declined to comment on Mr Keating’s “disagreement with Prime Minister Albanese and his cabinet”.
Radioactive AUKUS submarines risk community health
PETITION
Under the new AUKUS deal, Australia will import nuclear submarine technology from the US and UK.1
The revamped agreement would see naval nuclear material arrive on our shores – opening the flood gates for Australia going full-scale nuclear.
And there’s no plan for how the Albanese Government would store the radioactive waste – or which communities would have to accept risks to their health, land and water for generations.
First Nations communities have led the fight against nuclear across the continent for decades – and are not backing down. We need to back in Traditional Owners and build a movement big enough to stop this disastrous deal threatening our communities.
Nuclear would be a disaster for community health and our climate.
The AUKUS nuclear submarine agreement would cost $368 billion in public money – and is far from a done deal.2
The United States Congress has still not approved it. And the Albanese Government has a lot of work to do to create the legal, regulatory and social conditions to deal with radioactive nuclear waste.
Cuurently, there’s no plan for how the radioactive waste would be stored – or which communities would have to accept risks to their health, land and water for generations.
This gives our movement an opportunity to change the narrative, and win.
Together we can back in First Nations communities protecting Country from risky nuclear and advocate for alternative uses of this public money.
First Nations communities have led decades of resistance to radioactive waste and uranium mining, necessary for nuclear reactors.
Mirrar Traditional Owners in the Northern Territory led the national campaign to stop the Jabiluka uranium mine on their Country — successfully protecting cultural heritage, community health and their right to say no.3 And they’re still fending off dangerous uranium mine proposals on their land.4
Last year, Barngarla Traditional Owners in South Australia won an eight year fight against a radioactive nuclear waste dump that would have had disastrous consequences for community health, land and water.5
Together we can back in Traditional Owners and come together for a nuclear-free Australia to protect all of our communities.
Call to end nuclear power ban brings heated reaction in Australia
Ft.com, Nic Fildes in Sydney, 12 Aug 24
Opposition wants to change law and build new plants but critics say focus should remain on renewable energy
Liddell Power Station in Australia’s Hunter Valley burned through coal for five decades before closing last year. Opposition leader Peter Dutton now wants Liddell to be reborn as something banned in the country for a quarter of a century: a nuclear power plant. The site in New South Wales is one of seven operating or closed coal-fired plants that Dutton, leader of the centre-right Liberal party, has said could become nuclear power stations as part of a big shift in the way Australia generates its energy.
Nuclear energy is what Australia needs for its “three goals of cheaper, cleaner and consistent power”, he said earlier this year. Dutton’s pitch has pushed energy policy to the fore ahead of next year’s election, as Australia — rich in resources and a big exporter of energy in the form of coal, liquefied natural gas and uranium — grapples with how to decarbonise its economy
Anthony Albanese’s Labor government has put its focus on renewable energy, passing legislation that targets a 43 per cent cut in carbon emissions from 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050. It hopes to rapidly phase out coal — which has accounted for almost two-thirds of power generation over the past year — and deliver 82 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2030. But the opposition Liberals and their allies, the rurally focused Nationals, have pledged to abandon the 2030 target and scrap large-scale wind farm projects. They say nuclear energy could deliver power from the middle of next decade………………………………..
Dutton’s plan would reverse decades of Australian policy and require changes to national and state-level laws in Australia that ban nuclear power. The ban dates from 1998, when John Howard’s conservative government offered it as a quid pro quo to minority parties for supporting the construction of a research reactor near Sydney. It remains the country’s only reactor, producing material for medical and industrial use………………………………………………………………..
Chris Bowen, Australia’s energy minister, has dubbed the opposition’s proposal “a nuclear scam” that is too expensive, too slow to build and too risky. A report in May by CSIRO, the government science agency, argued that generating nuclear energy — whether by building large-scale plants or small modular reactors — would be significantly more expensive than renewables and that building a plant would take at least 15 years. “Long development times mean nuclear won’t be able to make a meaningful contribution to achieving net zero emissions by 2050,” the report concluded.
………………………………Marilyne Crestias, interim chief executive of the Clean Energy Investor Group, which represents investors in renewables, said conditions for putting money into projects had improved, but more was needed to improve confidence and clarity around policy. “We need more ambition on climate and energy, not less,” she said.
Jeff Forrest, a partner at LEK Consulting’s energy practice, said the nuclear idea was “a 2040s solution to an energy problem we’ve got today” and said there was frustration among investors and in boardrooms that long-term investment plans could be disrupted by the “left-field” nuclear debate. “Energy investment needs consistent and clear signals. That is really important for long-dated investments and no one wants the rug pulled out from under them,” he said. Around the Loy Yang coal-fired power plant in the Latrobe Valley in the state of Victoria, locals said the nuclear proposal would disrupt plans by its owners to make the region a renewable energy hub after the plant’s closure during the next decade.
Wendy Farmer, Gippsland organiser for Friends of the Earth and president of the Voices of the Valley community group, said the proposal would threaten A$50bn of planned renewable investment. “Are they telling investors to go away?” said Farmer. “Imposing nuclear on these communities without any consultation or discussion with the owners of the sites is an insult and a bullying tactic.”
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Tim Buckley, director of the Climate Energy Finance think-tank, said the opposition’s proposals would displace private capital with a “communist-style policy” requiring more than A$100bn of public funds. “It is not impossible, but it is financially illogical,” said Buckley, who questioned the move’s political motivations ahead of an election. “This is not nuclear versus renewables. This is about extending the climate wars.” https://www.ft.com/content/89c1ea46-29bc-4a7e-9943-a420b3f1512c
This week’s nuclear news- miles too long- sorry!
above – Julian Assange – home with his familySome bits of good news – People power changes lives – Six months of wins for human rights. Anti-corruption strategies in Nigeria are working.
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are having a positive spillover effect.
TOP STORIES
The Impact of Nuclear Weapons on Children.79 Years After Hiroshima & Nagasaki: A Grim Reminder of Nuclear Annihilation.
Mutually assured destruction is an outdated nuclear deterrence doctrine.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVunlJOyfB0
World-Ending Maneuvers? America’s Nuclear Weapons Quagmire. Inside the Nuclear-Weapons Lobby Today.
AUKUS Revamped: The Complete Militarisation of Australia.
Why US nuclear waste policy got stalled. And what to do about it.
UK’s most dangerous nuclear site pleads guilty after endangering national security.
Germany may take another 50 years to find final repository for waste from shuttered nuclear power.
Climate. Extreme heat in South Korea kills 11 and decimates livestock. ‘It made me cry’: photos taken 15 years apart show melting Swiss glaciers.
Noel’s notes. Relief – Hiroshima Day is over – now to our glorious $2 trillion nuclear weapons “modernization”! 6th August – a day of respectful remembrance, and a day of absurd nuclear hypocrisy World “experts” are kicking the nuclear waste can down the road – to our great grandchildren.
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AUSTRALIA.
- The AUKUS operations are stalled because Australia cannot meet the nuclear waste disposal requirements of the non-proliferation treaty regime. Australia, US, UK sign nuclear transfer deal for AUKUS subs – AUSTRALIA RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SPENT FUEL WASTES. Australia is still finding out what it doesn’t know about its secretive AUKUS deal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H8_vQkKkgA Australia being turned into ’51st US state‘ – former Prime Minister. Australia makes undisclosed ‘political commitments’ in new AUKUS deal on transfer of naval nuclear technology.
- Peter Dutton’s nuclear lies – ALSO AT https://antinuclear.net/2024/08/12/peter-duttons-nuclear-lies/
- Australian Conservation Foundation’s X account suspended after apparent ‘report bombing’ . Lots more Australian news at https://antinuclear.net/2024/08/09/australian-nuclear-news-headlines-8-12-august/
NUCLEAR NEWS ITEMS
| ATROCITIES. Why We Must Oppose Israel’s Dangerous Gamble Before It’s Too Late. ‘Heinous’: Children Among 100 Killed by Israel Bombing of Gaza School Just Hours After US Weapons Approval. Nothing’s changed since 1948 – except now Israel’s excuses don’t work. | CLIMATE EDF extends heat-related warning cuts at 3 nuclear plants. France Warns of Nuclear Power Cuts as Heat Triggers Water Curbs. IAEA concerned about forest fires near occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. |
| ECONOMICS. Lemon socialism? – Rolls Royce might like to gracefully get out of Small Nuclear Reactors (SMRs)? UK Government refuses to release Sizewell C’s predicted price tag. Biden’s $1.5 Billion Deal To Resurrect A Nuclear Plant Is Facing Fresh Drama. | EMPLOYMENT. Over two hundred jobs may be lost if Haverigg jail is displaced by nuclear dump. |
| HEALTH. Red Cross Hospital in Japan continuing to treat nuclear bomb victims – the hibakusha | HISTORY. US atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remembered amid growing threat of nuclear war. Hiroshima marks 79 years since atomic bombing, as nuclear war fears rise. |
| PUBLIC OPINION. What do Americans really think about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Majority of Americans support more nuclear power, but future of large-scale nuclear is uncertain. Radioactive Waste Management – Public Attitudes Survey for Scotland. | SAFETY. IAEA: Cooling pond water levels decreasing at Ukraine nuclear plant. IAEA Director General Statement on Developments in the Russian Federation, (with Kursk Nuclear Power Plant under threat). Nuclear disaster warning for two countries as Putin orders urgent mass evacuation. Will Ukraine’s attack on Russian territory lead to the seizure of the Kursk Nuclear Plant? Russia strengthens security at Kursk nuclear power plant amid Ukraine’s assault in region. It must be no to nuclear – whether energy or weapons. |
SECRETS and LIES.
- Biden administration lies on Ukraine war are monstrous.
- ‘Massive disinformation campaign’ is slowing global transition to green energy.
- Ukraine and Russia trade accusations over fire at occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
- Nine spycops snooped on anti-nuclear protests in Scotland.
- Spy cop ‘made up absurd bomb plot’ over nuclear waste on railway route.
- The Trump link to Ohio nuke corruption.
SPINBUSTER. A DUBIOUS PROSPECT? Rolls-Royce looks to sell stake in small nuclear reactor business.
URANIUM. While Cumbrian MPs Blindly Agitate for More Uranium Mining to Feed More Nuclear New Build, Indigenous Australians are celebrating Halt to Poisoning of their Lands
WASTES. Too short, ill-timed and clumsy: Welsh Nuclear Free Local Authorities critical of Trawsfynydd radioactive waste consultation. Lake District’s Coastal Nuclear Waste Dump Screw Tightens. Radiation monitoring keeps track of nuclear waste contamination. Anti-nuclear Group Criticizes Short Consultation over Trawsfynydd Lake Radioactive Contamination.
WAR AND CONFLICT.
Ukraine war briefing: Main fire at Russia-controlled nuclear plant in Ukraine extinguished. IAEA chief calls for restraint as fighting remains ongoing ‘in the vicinity’ of Russia’s Kursk Nuclear Power Plant.
Israeli policy means ‘difficult to know’ how close world is to nuclear war, warns International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). Shin Bet said to prepare bunker for Netanyahu, senior leadership amid Iranian threat. Majority of Americans Oppose Using US Troops To Defend Israel .
Nuclear weapons can never bring peace or security – only mass death.
Modernizing Nuclear War’
WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES.
- Desperate for escalation, did Zelensky bomb Zaporozhye Nuke Plant in Frustration ? US to send more military aid to Ukraine, as Ukrainian drones target Kursk and the Kursk Nuclear Power PLant
- The United States is launching a new nuclear arms race: to catch up and outsmart Russia and China.
- The Space Force can require private companies to cut off service to their other customers.
- Iran Is Better Positioned to Launch Nuclear-Weapons Program.
- UK’s Astute nuclear submarines stuck in port waiting for maintenance. ALSO AT https://antinuclear.net/2024/08/07/uks-astute-nuclear-submarines-stuck-in-port-
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 