This week – nuclear submarines overwhelm the news
Well, Australia’s top marketing specialist, Scott Morrison, this week excelled himself, marketing his favourite product, himself for re-election in Australia’s coming khaki Liberal Coalition campaign. World-wide fame – to play with the big toys of the big boys, even if President Biden couldn’t remember his name. I did find the coverage of nuclear submarines and AUKUS quite overwhelming – hence this too-long news summary.
AUSTRALIA
TODAY’S NUCLEAR SUBMARINE NEWSUS nuclear submarines: a dangerous nonsense. One white elephant submarine deal replaced with a worse one. French ambassador says Scott Morrison gave no warning on the nuclear submarine deal. Maritime Union of Australia calls for government spending on health, not nuclear submarines. Transparency needed so nuclear-powered subs don’t turn into nuclear power subsidies What is Scott Morrison doing in New York? Nothing on climate, it seems.
NUCLEAR SUBMARINE AND AUKUS NEWS OVER PAST FEW DAYS
What does the nuclear submarines announcement mean for Australia?
Politics. Scott Morrison’s AUKUS deal designed to win election, not make Australia safe. We need a full and transparent Inquiry in the nuclear submarine deal. Nuclear good, batteries bad: Morrison’s subs deal is thin edge of wedge . Nuclear submarines may never eventuate; it’s just Scott Morrison’s giant new election ploy. Nuclear submarine deal – the start of Morrison’s election campaign. Minerals Council quick to see nuclear submarines as step to nuclear Australia. #ScottyFromMarketing’s propaganda triumph -nuclear submarines – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuP4jOc4ibo
Opposition to submarines and AUKUS. Australia’s anti-nuclear movement ready for a big battle. Greens pick anti-nuclear candidate to challenge Treasurer Josh Fraudenberg. Australian Greens blast nuclear submarine deal. Nuclear powered submarines for Australia. Nuclear by stealth? Senator Rex Patrick calls for Inquiry before Australia moves to buy USA nuclear submarines. anger grows over Australia’s submarine deal . Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine deal is fuelling anger in the country. Concerns grow over nuclear submarine plan. Too slow, too expensive: Why nuclear power makes no sense for Australia
Safety. Nuclear-powered submarines a ‘terrible decision’ which will make Australia ‘less safe – Australian Greens. Doubts about the nuclear submarines, do they make Australia less safe? Hugh White wonders. Australia’s new nuclear submarines will have dangerous Highly Enriched Uranium, not the Low Enriched Uranium of the French ones. The AUKUS deal and nuclear submarine plan ties Australia in to any American engagement against China.
Cost Big questions remain about Australia’s nuclear submarines, but it’s a massive financial gain for nuclear corporations. How much will Australia’s nuclear submarines cost the taxpayer? Australia to lease nuclear submarines from USA, UK?.A nuclear explosionof taxpayers’ money in the new nuclear submarine plan.
(Earlier) Morrison to tear up the submarine deal with France. Too late to pull out of Australia’s botched super-expensive submarines purchase?
On a lighter note $90 Billion Nuclear Powered Subs To Bring Australia Out Of Lockdown In Time For Christmas.
Napandee radioactive waste dump plan – a nuclear waste of money.
Ballarat Council considers supporting the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Review of book: Long Half-life – The Nuclear Industry in Australia
INTERNATIONAL
New Australia, Britain, and U.S. military alliance—AUKUS— a serious escalation of the new Cold War on China. Nuclear-powered submarines have ‘long history of accidents.
New research shows drastic climate effects of even a ”limited” nuclear war.
Nuclear submarines and their disadvantages,
A bit of good news – Animal Doctor: Good news from Europe for farmed animals.
ANTARCTICA. Scientists still don’t know how far melting in Antarctica will go – or the sea level rise it will unleash.
JAPAN. TEPCO not informing the Regulation Agency for 2 years about the 25 damaged filters at Fukushima Daiichi NPP. Tepco technicians ignored Fukushima filters leaking radioactive water. Lethal radiation levels detected in Fukushima nuke plant reactor lid. New radiation scrubber begins cleaning water at Fukushima plant.
FRANCE. France angry about nuclear submarine cancelleation – recalls ambassadors to Australia, Aukus: France pulls out of UK defence talks amid row. USA. questionable rush to start Flamanville nuclear reactor despite its defects . Nuclear submarine deal planned for 18 months – French ambassador says this is treasonous
CHINA. China fears that the nuclear-powered submarines could be armed with nuclear weapons at short notice.
INDIA. Is AUKUS pact a signal to India to go for nuclear attack submarines? Aukus fallout: for years, US told India it couldn’t share nuclear submarine technology. ‘And now this.
USA.
Tragically, Biden continues same nuclear weapons ”modernization” budget as Trump’s . China still way behind USA in nuclear weaponry: time for diplomacy and negotiations on arms control. Top U.S. general feared that Trump might start a nuclear war. . Generals Should Not Have to Break the Rules to Prevent Nuclear War. Don’t Let Presidents Start Nuclear Wars on Their Own. Nuclear Modernization Casts Budget Shadow Over Air Force Plans.USA developing space-based electromagnetic warfare. U.S. generals planning for a space war they see as all but inevitable. Latest on America’s plutonium ”pits” costly fiasco Illinois nuclear stations kept alive as Senate approves Bill to subsidise Exelon. Illinois approves $700 million in subsidies to Exelon, prevents nuclear plant closures. Turkey Point nuclear station vulnerable to hurricanes, sea level rise, as climate change continues.Bipartisan House group asks Biden to stop Canada’s Great Lakes nuclear storage plans. NRC issues license to store’spent nuclear fuel‘ in Andrews . Texas to fight on against dumping of spent nuclear fuel in Andrews County. New Mexico backs Texas in opposing nuclear fuel storage. Samuel Lawrence Foundation loses court case to keep spent fuel pools as safety backup at San Onofre nuclear station. Push for nuclear power in Pueblo unlikely to succeed: renewables win favour.
UKRAINE. Chernobyl nuclear zone is becoming more radioactive: they don’t know why..
CANADA. Nuclear power: Why molten salt reactors are problematic and Canada investing in them is a waste. Responses to Candidate Questionnaire: Radioactive Waste in the Ottawa Valley.
UK.
- AUKUS military agreement – bad timing ahead of Glascow Climate Summit.
- UK’s nuclear industry decline is a permanent process.
- Climate change, sea level rise – real and present danger to UK’s Bradwell and Sizewell nuclear sites
- Earthquakes Stopped Fracking – So Why the Monstrous Silence On “Likely” Induced Seismicity Five Miles From Sellafield? Exactly Who is Protecting Who?
- Time to rethink Hinkley C nuclear plan – EDF’s biased research minimises harm to fish Protests against nuclear storage plans that could kill the tourist industry.
- The Cold War near disasters at RAF Lakenheath could have left Suffolk as a nuclear wasteland.
- A site once earmarked for nuclear power will now assemble wind turbines.
- Rolls-Royce’s grandiose plan to mine the moon and Mars.
MALAYSIA. Malaysia and Indonesia warn Australia’s Indo-Pacific pact could trigger nuclear arms race.
IRAN. The new AUKUS pact may have paved the way for Iran to move to a nuclear weapon. Iran appoints harsh critic of the nuclear deal to the Foreign Ministry. Iranian Guards Physically Harassed Female U.N. Nuclear Inspectors, Diplomats Say .
NORTH KOREA. North Korea says Australia’s submarine deal could trigger ‘nuclear arms race. N.Korea tests first ‘strategic’ cruise missile with possible nuclear capability . North Korea, nuclear proliferation and why the ‘madman theory’ is wrong about Kim Jong-ung.
RUSSIA. Russia urges IAEA monitoring, ‘transparency’ on US-Australia nuclear sub pact, Nuclear ballistic missile submarine meltdown, 1961. Russia developing more floating nuclear power plants.
ITALY. Italy launches national debate on nuclear waste disposal.
SPAIN. Nuclear power companies threaten to shut down plants if Spanish government takes action on soaring bills.
ISRAEL. Nuclear reactor worker wins NIS one million cancer compensation. Mossad assassinated Iran’s top nuclear scientist using an artificial-Intelligence-powered, remote-controlled machine gun.
CZECH REPUBLIC.. Czech government will subsidise nuclear power.
POLAND. Poland’s nuclear folly
What is Scott Morrison doing in New York? Nothing on climate, it seems.
While other world leaders arrive in New York to discuss cooperation on Covid and climate, Morrison will trying to patch up his submarine blunder. The post What is Scott Morrison doing in New York? Nothing on climate, it seems appeared first on RenewEconomy.
What is Scott Morrison doing in New York? Nothing on climate, it seems — RenewEconomy
Scott Morrison has landed in New York for a week of meeting with international leaders, but the prime minister is likely to spend the time trying to mend damaged diplomatic relationships rather than engaging with other world leaders on climate issues.
World leaders are convening in New York this week for the next session of the UN General Assembly, which will largely be focused on the ongoing response to the Covid pandemic, fostering economic recovery, and preparations for the next round of climate change negotiations that will be held in Glasgow in a few weeks time.
Several critical meetings have already been held, including a call from the UN for leaders to “stop ignoring the science.” But, like his last visit to New York, when Morrison avoided a UN climate meeting in favour of dinner with Donald Trump, he has other priorities.
Morrison major focus now will be dealing with the ongoing fallout from the cancellation of Australia’s submarine deal with France. This self-inflicted blunder has seen relations sour with the broader European community while implicating allies the United States and the United Kingdom, and possibly putting a climate deal with China at risk.
The mishandling of that deal means Morrison arrives in New York with a new level of unpopularity amongst world leaders, and now needing to navigate a frosty diplomatic relationship with European leaders threatening to scuttle a free-trade agreement between Australia and the EU that has been years in the making.
Morrison will meet with leaders from Sweden and Austria and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who has already described Australia’s treatment of France as “unacceptable”.
The European leaders could look to punish Australia on two fronts – to send a message over the cancelled $90 billion submarine deal, as well as following through with the introduction of export tariffs on Australia’s carbon intensive exports to account for Australia’s virtually non-existent price on carbon pollution.
While in the US, Morrison will meet with other leaders of the “quad” strategic dialogue, which includes US president Joe Biden, Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to discuss regional security measures.
However, it is unlikely that Morrison will engage in any discussions that relate to climate change policy – with Australia already on the outer of international talks due to a refusal to adopt stronger climate change targets.
Morrison is not listed to address the UN General Assembly, and Australia was not invited to participate in a climate change roundtable convened by UN secretary-general António Guterres and UK prime minister Boris Johnson……………… https://reneweconomy.com.au/what-is-scott-morrison-doing-in-new-york-nothing-on-climate-it-seems/
One white elephant submarine deal replaced with a worse one
Australia’s submarine policy has previously eschewed nuclear propulsion. Now, as a dowry for receiving such largesse, Canberra is offering up Australia as a confirmed US asset in policing the Indo-Pacific. US Navy commanders will be smacking their lips at maintaining attack vessels in Australia as part of the arrangement……
Nuclear white elephants: Australia’s new submarine deal, Green Left, Binoy KampmarkSeptember 16, 2021Issue 1319Australia Few areas of public expenditure are more costly and mindlessly wasteful than submarines. Australia’s effort is particularly impressive.
Pick a real winner by signing a contract for a yet-to-be-designed attack class submarine, supposedly “necessary” in an “increasingly dangerous” region. Ensure the submarine design is based on a nuclear model, but remove that attribute and charge at least twice as much for a less capable weapon. Make sure the order is for 12 of these yet-to-be-designed-and-built systems. And make sure that they are only ready sometime in the 2030s (by which time they risk being obsolete).
The dubious honour for this contract, initially costing $50 billion, went to the French submarine company DCNS (now called Naval Group), which nudged out German and Japanese contenders with pre-existing designs………
The French military establishment praised it as the “contract of the century”. Le Parisien’s editorial lauded the prospect of thousands of jobs. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian proclaimed a “50-year marriage” had begun……..
On September 15, the Canberra press gallery was awash with rumours that a divorce was being proposed.
The following day, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a security ménage à trois with the United States and Britain, with Australia as the subordinate partner. The glue that will hold this union together is a common suspicion: China.
Replacing the Attack Class submarine will be a nuclear-powered alternative with Anglo-American blessing, based on the US Virginia class or British Astute class.
The joint statement announcing the creation of AUKUS said the three countries were “guided” by “enduring ideals and shared commitment to the international rules-based order”. They resolved “to deepen diplomatic, security, and defence cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, including by working with partners, to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.”
AUKUS, they said, would be a new “enhanced trilateral security partnership” to further such goals.
The agreement is nothing less than an announcement to the region that the Anglophone bloc intends to police, oversee and, if necessary, punish…….
The first initiative is a “shared” ambition “to support Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal Australian Navy”. US and British expertise will be drawn on to “bring an Australian capability into service at the earliest achievable date” from the submarine programs of both countries…..
Australia’s submarine policy has previously eschewed nuclear propulsion. Now, as a dowry for receiving such largesse, Canberra is offering up Australia as a confirmed US asset in policing the Indo-Pacific. US Navy commanders will be smacking their lips at maintaining attack vessels in Australia as part of the arrangement……
The enduring problem of Australia being able to build these submarines will have US lawmakers pushing for their construction on home soil, a situation that could mirror the Naval Group contract headaches. Australia also lacks a shipyard able to build or maintain such vessels.
In helping create AUKUS, Canberra has exchanged one white elephant of the sea for another. It has also significantly increased the prospects for a potential nuclear conflict in the Indo-Pacific region. The warmongers will be ecstatic.
[Dr Binoy Kampmark lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. Email bkampmark@gmail.com.] https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/nuclear-white-elephants-australias-new-submarine-deal
Ballarat Council considers supporting the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
Question raised as to why Ballarat councillors are discussing nuclear weapons, https://www.3ba.com.au/news/local-news/108123-question-raised-as-to-why-ballarat-councillors-are-discussing-nuclear-weaponsNuclear arms will be on the agenda at Wednesday night’s City of Ballarat council meeting, with one councillor labelling it a waste of time.
Councillors will vote on whether or not to support a treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons.
Cr Ben Taylor says it’s disappointing they are dealing with items that have nothing to do with Ballarat.
“We’re in the middle of a lockdown, people are worried about their jobs and their kids not going to school and Ballarat City Council seems to want to put their attention on the prohibition of nuclear weapons.”
“It’s got nothing to do with Ballarat and nothing to do with Australia,” Cr Taylor said.
US nuclear submarines: a dangerous nonsense
A third reason concerns the continued use of military might as the way to address conflicts. Bellicose, top-down exercise of power demonstrates a fascination with violence and a corresponding illiteracy about non-violence
. You have to ask whether men in suits, in politics, corporations and in association with media acolytes, ever learn.
US nuclear submarines: a dangerous nonsense https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/us-nuclear-submarines-dangerous-nonsense, Stuart Rees,September 20, 2021Issue 1320Australia Unless you think that force of arms gives security and that revival of alliances with far away governments makes sense, the decision to own and operate United States nuclear submarines should be judged a dangerous nonsense.
There are four reasons for making this claim.
Foreign policy in search of an enemy — in this case China — looks like a guarantee of conflict if not war. Polarisation with little room for dialogue only benefits the arms industry, United States corporations and those in the US, Britain, Australia and China who think a taste for militarism and masculinity will show the benefits of violence. Capacity to learn from the devastation of the past is once again shoved aside.
A second reason concerns Australia’s geography: as though days of empire must not be forgotten, a country located in South East Asia and the Pacific chooses an alliance with elderly friends in Washington and London underscores my submarine despair.
Such a decision reeks of cultural disdain for diverse countries. Even if dialogue with China seems currently blocked, it should make diplomatic sense to communicate about security by being at coffee tables and in tea houses in Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and the Philippines, as well as Pacific Island nations.
Such communication would be about Millennium goals, COVID-19 vaccinations and the future of planet Earth. Alliances with those countries about those issues would make sense.
A third reason concerns the continued use of military might as the way to address conflicts. Bellicose, top-down exercise of power demonstrates a fascination with violence and a corresponding illiteracy about non-violence. You have to ask whether men in suits, in politics, corporations and in association with media acolytes, ever learn.
At a time when surveys of young people record their fear of the future and their despair that powerful, inaccessible men refuse to hear them, they are offered a massive bill for nuclear operating submarines.
Indifference to contracts and derision about trust is a fourth and final reason for disdain about the nuclear submarine alliance.
Whatever the merits of building even one submarine, at least there were years of agreement with French companies to undertake that ship building task. I understand there are up to 60 Australian naval personnel in Cherbourg, France, who have been taken by surprise at US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s announcement.
Who cares? Trust is of no consequence. Contracts can be torn up. Promises were never meant to be kept. Besides, in Morrison’s case, an election looms and boasting about national security by having US submarines gives a potential war-like platform for winning.
There are and there will be no winners.
Can anyone forget the very recent US betrayal and refusal to consult friends and allies in Afghanistan? To distract from that debacle, just pretend that Washington will provide strength and trust in submarines. This is a dangerous nonsense.
[Stuart Rees OAM is Professor Emeritus, University of Sydney, recipient of the Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize and author of Cruelty or Humanity. He is also the founding Director of the Sydney Peace Foundation. This article was first published at The New Bush Telegraph.]
Nuclear sites ‘set to flood’ due to climate change
“What’s important for UK MoD nuclear sites is the risk of near-term climate-driven storm surge. That’s the clear and present danger that neither MoD nor ONR can adequately model.”
Nuclear sites ‘set to flood’ due to climate change, The Ferret, Rob Edwards, September 20, 2021, The Faslane nuclear base on the Clyde could be forced to shut down by increasing storms and floods caused by climate pollution, according to a new report.
The nearby Trident missile store at Coulport and the nuclear submarine graveyard at Rosyth, on the Forth, are also likely to be damaged by rising waters in the future, the report says, along with six other nuclear sites in England.
There is a “significant risk” to stockpiles of military radioactive waste from “climate-drive extreme weather”, the report warns. Government safety regulators have been “relatively complacent” about the risks in the past, it claims.
Vulnerable’ nuclear infrastructure
The 38-page report has been written by Dr Paul Dorfman, a former MoD advisor who chairs the Nuclear Consulting Group think tank. “UK nuclear military bases are set to flood,” he concludes.
“Present UK coastal military nuclear infrastructure is profoundly vulnerable to flooding from sea level rise, storm intensity and storm surge, with inland nuclear facilities also facing inundation and flooding.”
MoD mitigation efforts will become “obsolete, and sooner than planned”, he argues. “Climate impact to nuclear will inevitably involve very significant expense for UK nuclear military installation operation, waste management, decommissioning, relocation or abandonment.”
Continue readingTransparency needed so nuclear-powered subs don’t turn into nuclear power subsidies
Transparency needed so nuclear-powered subs don’t turn into nuclear power subsidies, 21 Sep 21 https://www.acf.org.au/dont-turn-nuclear-powered-subs-into-nuclear-power-subsidiesPrime Minister Scott Morrison must give the Australian people confidence that his planned submarine deal will not put the nation on the path to nuclear power, nuclear weapons and nuclear waste, the Australian Conservation Foundation said today.
ACF has identified three key actions and is calling on the Prime Minister to act on these before he commits Australia to this deal:
- Mr Morrison should sign and ratify the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
- Mr Morrison should uphold the Government’s commitment to the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act, which prohibit nuclear power in Australia.
- In the interests of transparency and democracy, Mr Morrison must release the detail of this deal before he commits Australia to it. Parliament and the people need to see the fine print.
“We are calling on the Prime Minister to do his due diligence to make sure this is not a Trojan Horse for a failed technology,” said ACF nuclear free campaigner Dave Sweeney.
“The Australian Conservation Foundation has a genuine concern this nuclear subs deal could turn into nuclear subsidies.
“The Prime Minister must urgently rein in the nuclear spruikers – including those in his own government – because their views do not represent the views of the Australian community, which has repeatedly rejected this dangerous technology.”
“Nuclear reactors cost a fortune, take decades to build, come with the possibility of disastrous accidents and the certainty of eternal radioactive waste.
“The climate crisis we face is too serious and too urgent to be distracted by nuclear promises.
“Australia’s future is renewable, not radioactive.”
Maritime Union of Australia calls for government spending on health, not nuclear submarines
NO TO NUCLEAR SUBMARINES – JOBS AND HEALTH, NOT NUKES
Today, on the International Day of Peace, the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) declares its total opposition to the reckless announcement by Scott Morrison that Australia would be developing nuclear-powered submarines as part of a military alliance with the US and UK.
At a time when Morrison should have been pursuing vaccination supplies and providing maximum support to our health system and millions of people in lockdown, he has been pursuing secret military deals. The deal will continue to escalate unnecessary conflict with China. Workers have already been impacted with seafarers stranded on coal ships and some trades shut down.
Extraordinary sums of money have been wasted with the previous submarine contract scrapped only five years after it was signed. That contract was worth $90 billion – nuclear submarines will cost much more.
Only six countries in the world have nuclear submarines, and they all have nuclear power stations. Advocates for nuclear power and nuclear weapons have been emboldened. The submarines will use highly enriched uranium ideal for nuclear weapons.
The Australian government has repeatedly tried to set up nuclear waste dumps on First Nations land. This will intensify that pressure.
The billions wasted on submarines should be spent on:
· Building an Australian strategic shipping fleet in Adelaide that could operate in cabotage and international trades;
· Building renewable energy and offshore wind turbines to ensure we prevent global heating from exceeding 1.5°C;
Raising Jobseeker payments to well above poverty levels;
Pay increases for health workers and investments in our health systems;
· Pay increases for teachers and investments in public schools to make them covid-safe;
· Investing in firefighting capacity and ensuring we are ready for the next bushfire season.
Workers have no interest in war with China or any other country. Every effort should be made to pursue peaceful relations.
The MUA stands in solidarity with workers in all countries in opposing war and wasteful environmentally harmful military spending. We pledge our opposition to oppose the development of nuclear submarines in Australia, and the development of any other nuclear industry.
Scientists still don’t know how far melting in Antarctica will go – or the sea level rise it will unleash
Chen Zhao and Rupert Gladstone
The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest mass of ice in the world, holding around 60% of the world’s fresh water. If it all melted, global average sea levels would rise by 58 metres. But scientists are grappling with exactly how global warming will affect this great ice sheet.
French ambassador says Scott Morrison gave no warning on the nuclear submarine deal
‘Maybe we’re not friends’: French Ambassador claims ScoMo offered no warning about AUKUS deal A powerful French official has slammed Scott Morrison, accusing the Prime Minister of one thing to do with the submarine deal. news.com.au , Helena Burke, 20 Sep 21
The former French Ambassador to Australia has ripped into Scott Morrison for his defence of the AUKUS submarine deal, claiming the Prime Minister lied about warning France about it.
Jean-Pierre Thebault, who had been the French Ambassador in Canberra since 2020, was recalled last week after France expressed outrage at being left out of the new nuclear submarine deal between the US, UK, and Australia.
Speaking to Radio National on Monday, Mr Thebault said France had been completely blindsided by Mr Morrison’s decision to accept the new deal.
“We discover(ed) through the press that the most important person in the Australian government kept us in the dark intentionally until the last minute and was not willing to at least have the decency to enter conversation about the alternative,” Mr Thebault said.
“This is not an Australian attitude towards friends.”
Maybe we’re not friends.”
Mr Morrison had previously rejected that he had not warned France about the new deal, insisting he told French President Emmanuel Macron in June that Australia might scrap its original submarine agreement,,,,
But the French Ambassador insisted France had never been warned about the potential for a new deal which would exclude them. https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/maybe-were-not-friends-french-ambassador-claims-scomo-offered-no-warning-about-aukus-deal/news-story/467293b479eca4741c116ba5ced54751
Records smashed as renewables break through 60pct, coal output at new low — RenewEconomy
Renewables surge through 60 per cent of Australia’s main grid for first time, as output of coal and network demand also hit new lows. The post Records smashed as renewables break through 60pct, coal output at new low appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Records smashed as renewables break through 60pct, coal output at new low — RenewEconomy
“Gigawatts to terawatts:” Lightsource bp to boost solar capacity to 25GW by 2025 — RenewEconomy
Lightsource bp to lift its global solar capacity to 25GW by 2025, with its Australian operating portfolio to grow four-fold to 2GW. The post “Gigawatts to terawatts:” Lightsource bp to boost solar capacity to 25GW by 2025 appeared first on RenewEconomy.
“Gigawatts to terawatts:” Lightsource bp to boost solar capacity to 25GW by 2025 — RenewEconomy
September 20 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “Australia Claims 1.2% Of Global CO₂ Emissions – Should Be 10%” • The hypocrites in Canberra blame the big emitters India and China for climate change, but the coal they are burning is ours. We dig the stuff out of the ground, sell it overseas, and wash our hands of the outcome. We […]
September 20 Energy News — geoharvey
Submarine special – for this week in Australia
Scott Morrison’s decision on nuclear submarines is his first foray into the murly world of Khaki electioneering. A pity that Joe Biden doesn’t even remember Morrison’s name. But no matter -the big thing is to sell super expensive U.S. nuclear technology to a willing, if somewhat ignorant and unimporrtant customer.
During the coming week, this website will feature the various aspects of this extraordinarily unwise decision, (while not ignoring other important Australian nuclear issues.)
Scott Morrison’s AUKUS deal designed to win election, not make Australia safe
That Fella Down Under! Scott Morrison’s AUKUS deal designed to win election, not make Australia safe
By Michael West| September 17, 2021
Strap in for a media blitz on the threat from China. Prime Minister #ThatFellaDownUnder Scott Morrison and his merry band are about to take a war to the election. Michael West reports.
US President Joe Biden might have forgotten his name but, in the Canberra Bubble, Scott Morrison is unforgettable, a marketing maestro, a prince among men; literally, because there don’t seem to be any women among his phalanx of advisers.
The PM’s army of propagandists has been working around the clock over the past two days marketing the latest announcement to a fawning press: AUKUS, a new “Alliance for the Ages as China Threat Grows”, according to The Australian. And what results!
Christian Porter’s secret legal payments are off the front pages, as is the JobKeeper mega-rort, the biggest transfer of wealth in history from working Australians to wealthy Australians and foreign corporations.
Early Thursday morning there was no AUKUS. The AFR did have a scoop though, splashing with: “PM to announce $90b French submarine deal is dead”.
That story soon vanished from the website. Bad headline. Around 7.30, The Australian was trumpeting “A major coup for Australia”. A veritable onslaught of gushing PR ensued: the new “Forever Alliance” as Nine put it, or “Friends in Freedom” as The Australian glowed.
“Australia confirms landmark nuclear submarine deal and it’s ‘China’s worst nightmare’,” declared a truckling news.com.au.
That Fella Down Under
The funny thing was that US President Joe Biden seemed to have forgotten Scott Morrison’s name as he announced this new AUKUS alliance with Boris Johnson. “That Fella Down Under” he called him, casually gesticulating in Scott Morrison’s general direction.
Perhaps it was a deliberate thing, such was the PM’s unctuous toadying to the buffoon Donald Trump.
n any case, Australia’s massive $90 billion submarine deal with the French had been junked in a jiffy. Good thing too, because if the French had got involved in this new alliance for freedom it might have been more appropriately monikered FAUKUS.
What that will cost in tearing up this contract with the Gauls, who knows? Probably in the billions. We’ve toasted $2b so far.
What will the new subs cost? Probably more than $100 billion. As jobless Australians are degraded with their measly $4 a day rise in welfare payments, you can count on one thing; the sheer, incontestable incompetence of this government will ensure a new maelstrom of waste and spending.
They struggle to get anything right, except announcements, media relations, scare campaigns at election time.
That King of Lemons the F-35 Strike Fighter is a gilten cadaver now, debunked even by the top military figure in the US. The chair of the Armed Services Committee Democrat Adam Smith reckons they should stop throwing money down “that particular rat hole”.
For Australia, the cost of those 72 lemons is $17 billion, before running into the hundreds of billions to be maintained for life, if they can fly.
Where is New Zealand?
In light of the long-standing ANZUS treaty there was one notable omission in the AUKUS line up, New Zealand. Notwithstanding that NZAUKUS or AUKUSNZ is far too ugly an acronym, the Kiwis are too sensible to blow up their biggest trading partner, China, as the Coalition Government here has proven so adroit at doing.
Unlike #ThatFellaDownUnder, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Adern would have the sense to ask her people first if they wanted to poke the bear, tear up billions on last century military hardware and park nuclear submarines in their harbours. They don’t. They are sticking to their no-nuclear policy and won’t even let the subs in their waters, said Ardern
The whole thing is so last century, and so dangerous in geopolitical terms. To deflect from their abominable policies at home, to deflect from the retinue of scandals the likes of Christian Porter, JobKeeper, Team Australia, as the AFR calls them, or Team #ThatFellaDownUnder on Twitter, now appears certain to fight the Election by beating up the China military threat.
Murdoch loves it, Keating not
There is nothing like an enemy to exploit for political purposes, a military threat, no matter how ludicrous and unlikely. Naturally, it plays well for the craven Murdoch press which adores a war; has cheered avidly every failed US invasion from Vietnam, through Iraq to Afghanistan.
Gird the loins then for the daily barrage of provocative, misleading nonsense in the corporate media, to be followed daily – with a tad less fervour – on the airwaves of the ABC.
China has zero intention of invading Australia but already, thanks to this reckless messaging by a suborned corporate media, half the country thinks they might…………..
What is this deal which #ThatFellaDownUnder has signed up for, besides electoral fodder and domestic distraction value? Presumably we buy defence tech from the US, so it’s commercial for them. If the F-35 debacle is anything to go by they will control our submarines anyway. We weren’t allowed to control the software in our own billion-dollar jets.
AUKUS reaffirms ties with the “Mother Country” Great Britain, which has ballsed-up its own markets thanks to Brexit.
Er … uranium?
It begs the question of uranium. Do we use our own uranium, breaking tradition with decades of sensible nuclear policy? What do we do with the toxic waste? Where are these things going to be berthed? South Australia, at the bottom of the country, or at the top, somewhere near the Port of Darwin which the Coalition sold to the Chinese?
The warmongers lobby is loving it. Chief among them the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) whose executive director Peter Jennings suddenly enthused: “AUKUS sets a better direction for Australia’s defense”.
But of course, ASPI is funded by Defence, the department that is – it is paid by the Government to lobby the Government – and by foreign weapons manufacturers and the media leaks are already foreshadowing a big escalation on defence spending. The irony is that Jennings himself, a champion of the French subs deal, was awarded France’s top honour, Le Légion d’Honneur.
“Vive Australia’s choice of a French submarine,” headlined the story in The Australian.
The silence of the Labor
That Fella Down Under has also managed to wedge Labor. Not matter how foolish and provocative is AUKUS, you won’t hear a ruckus from Albo. The Opposition Leader is sticking steadfastly to his small target tactics, as well he would. Were he to kick up a stink about China provocation and cuddling up to the US and the Poms, Albanese would be pounced upon as a chicken, anti US, pro China.
And so billions will be squandered and hostilities will increase with our major trading partner and there is unlikely to be a squeak of disapproval from Labor. That of course leaves it open slather for a PMO media campaign to scare as many Australians as they can while delivering enormous profits to foreign weapons manufacturers. https://www.michaelwest.com.au/that-fella-down-under-scott-morrisons-aukus-deal-designed-to-win-election-not-make-australia-safe/
1.This month
PETITION – Stop Nuclear Submarines for Australia
GO to https://www.foe.org.au/nonuclearsubs?fbclid=IwAR3JuFtAviP_kTDb5YX3lxHDZymQu86RWp9eW4zUWb9GV966nha3VeyFvCU The Morrison government’s decision to build nuclear submarines has shocked communities around the country.
The move, which occurred without any community consultation, undermines Australia’s nuclear-free status and will generate radioactive waste for decades.
The Prime Minister must reverse the decision to build nuclear-powered submarines and commit to keeping Australia’s military nuclear free.
global pandemic, both locally and throughout our region and on urgent action to deal with the climate crisis.
Read more about the background of this nuclear submarine proposal and why this radical shift in military capability is the wrong decision for those who care about environmental and social justice.
Australia is in some ways, a world leader in renewable energy. And this is in spite of its Liberal Coalition government’s drive to suppress renewable energy!
Small scale solar power is revolutionising electricity supply in Australia, with households and small businesses benefiting from affordable rooftop solar systems, while grid prices are too high. Community energy continues to go ahead, without government support. Battery storage systems now accelerate Australia’s transition to clean energy, with almost half of large businesses shifting to renewables.
The States, and Australian cities and towns, are showing the way ahead.
- South Australia powers ahead with large scale solar systems, as well as rooftop. Wind power booms in South Australia – it s variable, at times exporting electricity to Victoria.
While South Australia heads to becoming a global renewable energy success story, in other States and Territories renewable energy is booming, too.
- Australian Capital Territory is a star leader, with its target of sourcing 100% renewable electricity .
- Queensland surges in solar energy.
- Tasmania, with its abundant hydro and wind energy, plans to be self-sufficient in renewables and already has 93% renewable energy.
- New South Wales is installing more renewables capacity than any other State.
- Victoria is catching up, and the State Labor government has launched ambitious plans and a renewable energy target of 40 per cent renewables by 2025.
- Solar energy is going ahead in Western Australia, which has its own renewable energy policy.
- The Northern Territory Government has committed to adopt a target of 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is helping to fund the rollout of solar and battery technology to remote communities.
Australia, with its abundant sunshine, and wind is the nation best suited to renewable energy. It can, combines with energy efficiency, meet Australia’s electricity needs, and also export renewable energy, and innovative clean power and water conservation systems.
We have that opportunity. We must not let it be derailed by the greed and idealogy of a few powerful Australian individuals in the nuclear cult.
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For updates: see Adelaide group Don’t Dump on SA https://www.facebook.com/dontdumponsa
No Radioactive Waste Facility for Kimba District https://www.facebook.com/noradwastekimba
And https://www.facebook.com/nodumpalliance
Please Sign: the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) sign on letter to federal Minister Pitt
Support the Barngarla People:
“Barngarla: Help us Have a Say on Kimba” to fund a legal challenge (judicial review)
Fundraiser by Barngarla People : Barngarla: Help us Have a Say on Kimba (gofundme.com)
Barngarla need as much support as we can to say NO to the Nuclear Waste Facility for KIMBA
Mahalia Bilney started this petition to Ken Wyatt (Minister for Indigenous Australians) and 1 other
Our Barngarla Mob need as much support as we can to say NO to the Nuclear Waste Facility proposed for Kimba! Help us fight to be heard and included in the importance of such a decision �� We won our native title to then be told we have no say and to go through this process all over again.
We don’t want the nuclear waste facility as they can’t guarantee it’s going to be safe and it will be a huge risk to the wildlife and environment. Not to mention the proposed areas are sacred and hold significance to my people and we don’t want more major damage to be caused, we want to try and preserve what we have left.
Research into this for yourselves, they say it’s low level but it’s technically high level! but our country marks it as low as our standards aren’t the same as the countries we’ll receive the waste from. It’s appalling and not wanted! So help us fight for our right to vote and hopefully stop it from happening.
For international nuclear news go to https://nuclear-news.net
Appeal for Australian Government’s Actions on Japan’s Dumping Nuclear Wastewater into Sea
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
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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
