MPs and activists push back as Ottawa pitches expansion of nuclear energy -“a dirty dangerous distraction”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is ‘going to have to be doing much more nuclear’
John Paul Tasker · CBC News · April 26 2023
Anti-nuclear activists and a cross-partisan group of MPs urged the federal government Tuesday to drop its support for nuclear energy projects, calling the energy source a “dirty, dangerous distraction” from climate action.
…………………………………… SMR technology is still in its infancy and it isn’t widely used around the world.
As of 2022, there were only three SMR projects in operation — one each in Russia, China and India — according to the International Energy Agency.
There are dozens of others under construction or in the design and planning phase — including one at Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington nuclear site.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s recent federal budget included a generous tax credit to spur clean energy development, including SMRs.
The industry lobby group, the Canadian Nuclear Association, has said the 15 per cent refundable tax credit is a recognition by Ottawa that nuclear power is “a fundamental and necessary component of Canada’s low carbon energy system.”
Susan O’Donnell, a professor and a member of the Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet are getting bad advice about nuclear energy.
“The nuclear industry, led by the U.S. and the U.K., has been lobbying and advertising heavily in Canada, trying to convince us that new SMR designs will somehow address the climate crisis,” O’Donnell told a press conference on Parliament Hill on Tuesday.
She said SMRs will produce “toxic radioactive waste” and could lead to serious “accidents” while turning some communities into “nuclear waste dumps.”
She also said there’s “no guarantee these nuclear experiments will ever generate electricity safely and affordably,” since SMRs are still relatively untested.
“Canada is wasting time that must be urgently spent on genuine climate action,” she said. “This is a dirty, dangerous distraction. We don’t need nuclear power.”
Asked how Canada would meet its baseload power requirements — the power that is needed 24 hours a day without fluctuation — without nuclear power or fossil fuel sources like natural gas, O’Donnell pointed to promising developments in energy storage technology.
Liberal MP Jenica Atwin was at the anti-nuclear press event.
“I want to be clear, I’m here as an individual, a concerned individual and a mother,” she said — before launching into remarks that raised questions about the “associated risks” and “many unknowns” of nuclear energy development, which is expected to see a sharp increase in activity due to her government’s proposed tax policies.
“When it comes to nuclear, there’s no margin for error,” Atwin said. “This is a time of action. We don’t have the luxury of waiting to see if things will pan out.”
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, who once sat in caucus with Atwin before she decamped to the Liberals, said government funding for nuclear projects is a “fraud.”
“It has no part in fighting the climate emergency. In fact, it takes valuable dollars away from things that we know work, that can be implemented immediately, in favour of untested and dangerous technologies that will not be able to generate a single kilowatt of electricity for a decade or more,” May said……………………………………………………https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/anti-nuclear-activists-ottawa-1.6821807
We are being seduced into war again by the US, this time over Taiwan
China is not a military threat to either the US or Australia. The military threat is trumped up by the US and its acolytes with their own agenda.
There is one critical and urgent thing the Australian Government should do, and that is to make it clear to the US that we will not be involved in any way with a war between China and the US over Taiwan and that none of our facilities can be used for that purpose – Pine Gap, Darwin or Tindal.
By John Menadue, 27 Apr 23 https://johnmenadue.com/we-are-being-seduced-and-trapped-into-war-again-by-the-us-this-time-over-taiwan/
The US must be told that we will not be involved in any way in a war with China over Taiwan.
After Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan the signs of our entrapment again in US war planning are everywhere.
The 2014 Force Posture Agreement with the US cedes control of certain military operations from our territory to the US eg Marines in Darwin and US B52’s in Tindal.
The 2021 AUSMIN ministerial meeting endorsed :
- Enhanced air cooperation through the rotational deployment of U.S. aircraft of all types in Australia and appropriate aircraft training and exercises.
- Enhanced maritime cooperation by increasing logistics and sustainment capabilities of U.S. surface and subsurface vessels in Australia.
- Enhanced land cooperation by conducting more complex and more integrated exercises and greater combined engagement with Allies and Partners in the region.
- Establishment of a combined logistics, sustainment, and maintenance enterprise to support high end warfighting and combined military operations in the region.
The 2021 AUKUS agreement was a clear sign to our region that instead of building bridges to our region we have decided to be a spear carrier for the US and UK- the Anglosphere. AUKUS is not to defend Australia but to support US operations against China in the South China Sea.
Our Defence Strategic Review (DSR)released this week has been’ authored’ by the United States Studies Centre(USSC), an arm of the US government. It is a tainted review. Have we no national pride in letting this happen!
Our Washington centric media don’t seem to think that it is unusual or even outrageous for a foreign agency to author an Australian defence review!!
Our seduction by the US is assisted by our Department of Defence with its close links to the Pentagon. It secretly employs US Admirals to advise on submarines. And if that is not enough we are now going to have a retired US Admiral heading the coming Naval Review. What is wrong with our Navy that an Australian can’t do the job? Has integration gone so far that we don’t have a Navy of our own that is worth the name.
And don’t think for one moment in this humiliation that Albanese and Marles thought up this US Admiral. They would have been put up to it by our defence establishment in lock step with the Pentagon.
The ADF has become a unit of the US military machine.
There is more.
The Government has rejected the Australian War Powers Reform proposal that Parliament approve any commitment to war. This is essential because we have an awful history of rushing to war. In 1914, we decided to send troops to WWI before Britain declared war. Menzies committed Australia to war in Vietnam before we even received a request. Howard committed us to the illegal war in Iraq based on false intelligence. Now the Labor Party has committed us to AUKUS in less than 24 hours despite the enormous implications. Albanese says he is proud of how quickly he agreed with Morrison!
Changes to our Defence Act are also being considered which would allow the ADF inter alia to conduct operations below the threshold of war, known as ‘grey zone’ operations. These amendments could have far reaching consequences.
At our universities, Peace Studies are run down in favour of ‘Strategic Studies’ with their US loyalists regularly appearing on our media. Think Tanks like the Australian Strategic Policy Institute are fronts for US defence interests.
Entrapment of our minds in the anti China hysteria is the work in progress of our Main Stream Media. Our fourth estate has been captured and imbedded in the US propaganda machine. The US cultural and media domination is everywhere. Alternative views are shunned. The White Man’s Media is on full display.
The disgraceful ‘Red Alert’ is the tip of a giant iceberg. The anti China propaganda is an every day event in our media including the ABC and SBS .
In the past, the ALP said NO on Vietnam and Iraq even though it was difficult at the time. As Paul Keating put it at the National Press Club recently ‘Labor has invariably got the big international (decisions) right’. But today the ALP has gone AWOL. Concerns about entrapment by the US and loss of sovereignty are brushed aside. What many of us thought were Labor policies and values count for little.
Penny Wong suggests that Keating has not kept up to date and has not had the benefit of Intelligence briefings!! But the reverse is true. The Labor Government is reverting to our colonial past, our colonial cringe – Five Eyes, AUKUS and the Anglosphere.
Wong plays with words to avoid asking or knowing whether B52’s in Tindal will be nuclear armed against China. She tells us that US forces are ‘rotated’ though Darwin and Tindal and not ‘based’ there.
The US is persistently goading China into war over Taiwan. This is consistent with US behaviour over centuries. It is driven by its self righteous belief in its ‘exceptionalism’ and the pressure of its military/industrial/security complex for endless wars. It expects other major powers like China to behave as aggressively as it has. China has no Monroe Doctrine which Americans believe gives them the God given right to interfere in other country’s affairs.
Australia has a sorry history of fighting other empires wars, first with the British and now with the US. The great risk and problem for us is that imperial powers are almost always at war.
Since its founding in 1776, the US has been at war 93% of the time. Since the end of WWI, the US has launched 201 armed conflicts around the world. During the Cold War it tried to change governments 72 times. It assassinated foreign leaders and still assassinates with drones guided from Pine Gap. It has 800 bases around the world, many of them in Japan and ROK directed at China. With our cooperation, US fleets cruise and sight see up and down the Chinese coast. At the same time as criticising China, the US refuses to ratify the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The US would have national convulsions if Chinese vessels patrolled off the Californian coast or China established military bases in Mexico!
The US is the most aggressive and violent country in the world . It lurches from one war to another. That violence abroad is mirrored in its violent gun culture at home. There is a pervasive sickness and it is not just Trump!
When we tagged behind imperial powers in the past there was little military risk to Australia. But that is not so today, with the reckless US goading of China over Taiwan. If we were involved in support of the US against China over Taiwan the results could be catastrophic for us.
China is certainly growing in influence and confidence. That is not surprising after over a century of western and Japanese invasion and humiliation. But China is not a military threat to either the US or Australia. The military threat is trumped up by the US and its acolytes with their own agenda.
In brazen mendacity Marles highlights the rapid increase in China’s military spending. But he failed to tell us that the US spends more on defence than the next nine countries combined. The US spends 3.5% of its GDP on defence. China spends 1.6%.
The Stockholm International Peace Institute only a few days ago put military spending in perspective – The United States remains by far the world’s biggest military spender. US military spending reached $877 billion in 2022, which was 39 per cent of total global military spending and three times more than the amount spent by China, the world’s second largest spender.
Surrounded by numerous US bases and the US Fleet -an itinerant naval power in the SCS as described by Paul Keating-it is not surprising that China is increasing its defence spending.
But China is a challenge to US hegemony and the US empire around the globe. The US is unwilling to come to terms with China’s success and share power and responsibility. The US insists on its own rules and domination across the globe. Empires are like that.
How do we break out of the US entrapment, the FPA, AUKUS, AUSMIN and a lot more? How can we cut through this maze of entrapment.
Peter Dutton has warned us that is ‘inconceivable that Australia would not join the US to defend Taiwan’.
There is one critical and urgent thing the Australian Government should do, and that is to make it clear to the US that we will not be involved in any way with a war between China and the US over Taiwan and that none of our facilities can be used for that purpose – Pine Gap, Darwin or Tindal.
For decades we have maintained that Taiwan is part of China.
Paul Keating has said many times that ‘Taiwan is not a vital Australian interest’. Even Defence Minister Marles, ever so close to the US, told ABC Insiders last month that ‘Australia has absolutely not given the US any commitment as part of the AUKUS negotiations that it would join (the US) in a potential war over the status of Taiwan’.
But we need to tell the US explicitly and well in advance of any possible conflict over Taiwan that we will not support the US. In a crisis it will be too late to assert our sovereignty.
Memo to Energy Resources of Australia : You have one job – clean up Kakadu uranium mess
https://www.acf.org.au/memo-to-era-you-have-one-job-clean-up-kakadu 26 Apr 23
Northern Territory and national environment groups have a clear message for Energy Resources Australia at ERA’s annual meeting in Darwin: focus on repair.
ERA is the former uranium mining company that operated the controversial Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu for 40 years, until the cessation of commercial operations in 2021.
The company, majority (86%) owned by Rio Tinto, is now responsible for delivering Australia’s costliest and most complex mine rehabilitation project.
ERA also holds the nearby Jabiluka mineral lease – the site of sustained and successful protest by the Mirarr Traditional Owners and civil society supporters from across Australia and around the world.
Despite Rio’s clear acknowledgement that any possible mining window for Jabiluka is now firmly closed, ERA continues to promote Jabiluka as an asset.
“Rio Tinto has formally accepted there is no credible business case or pathway to advance mining at Jabiluka,” said Environment Centre NT analyst Naish Gawen.
“Rio has stated it will no longer report a Mineral Resource for Jabiluka. It’s time for ERA to do the same.”
Environmentalists inside and outside the meeting will urge the ERA Board to drop the fiction of drilling at Jabiluka and address the fact of required repair at Ranger.
“Repairing the heavily impacted Ranger site is ERA’s legal responsibility,” said ACF’s nuclear policy analyst Dave Sweeney.
“ERA and Rio Tinto will be closely watched and long judged on their performance of this responsibility.”
BlueFloat promises massive windfall as race for a spot in Gippsland offshore zone hots up — RenewEconomy
BlueFloat Energy says its 2.1GW offshore wind project could bring tens of billions of dollars to the regional economy and thousands of jobs. The post BlueFloat promises massive windfall as race for a spot in Gippsland offshore zone hots up appeared first on RenewEconomy.
BlueFloat promises massive windfall as race for a spot in Gippsland offshore zone hots up — RenewEconomy
Energy Insiders Podcast: In love with wind, solar and batteries — RenewEconomy
Louis de Sambucy, the head of Neoen in Australia, on why wind, solar and battery projects are getting bigger and more complex. The post Energy Insiders Podcast: In love with wind, solar and batteries appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Energy Insiders Podcast: In love with wind, solar and batteries — RenewEconomy
Victoria’s new public energy utility begins search for first renewables and storage deal — RenewEconomy
Victoria launches market search for large-scale renewables generation and/or storage project to kickstart its revival of the State Electricity Commission. The post Victoria’s new public energy utility begins search for first renewables and storage deal appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Victoria’s new public energy utility begins search for first renewables and storage deal — RenewEconomy
“Change of philosophy:” Wind, solar and battery projects get bigger and more complex — RenewEconomy
Australia’s most successful renewable and storage developer says projects getting more complex, and new technologies require change in “philosophy” about way grid is managed. The post “Change of philosophy:” Wind, solar and battery projects get bigger and more complex appeared first on RenewEconomy.
“Change of philosophy:” Wind, solar and battery projects get bigger and more complex — RenewEconomy
NSW chooses network operator for first renewable energy zone — RenewEconomy
NSW has chosen its preferred consortium to build and operate the state’s first renewable energy zone, which might come as a surprise to the local DNSP. The post NSW chooses network operator for first renewable energy zone appeared first on RenewEconomy.
NSW chooses network operator for first renewable energy zone — RenewEconomy
Report calls for national standards on building energy efficiency, electrification — RenewEconomy
Property Council of Australia and Green Building Council set out policy recommendations to get Australia’s buildings net-zero ready, and save consumers money. The post Report calls for national standards on building energy efficiency, electrification appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Report calls for national standards on building energy efficiency, electrification — RenewEconomy
Ukraine’s nuclear power plants are still a source of nightmares years after the Chornobyl disaster
CNBC, APR 26 2023
- It’s been 37 years since the disastrous and deadly explosion at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, then a part of the Soviet Union.
- The disaster in 1986 is still considered the world’s worst ever nuclear disaster.
- Ukraine’s nuclear power plants are still a source of concern as the war continues.
…………………………………………………………………………..The disaster is still seen as the most serious accident in the history of nuclear power operation although Ukraine has remained heavily dependent on nuclear energy.
Today, its nuclear power plants have once again become a source of nightmares as fears abound for their safety and security amid the relentless fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces.
Ukraine has 15 operable nuclear reactors at four plants that generate about half of its electricity, according to the World Nuclear Association, although since the war started last February, the number of units in operation has changed over time, “with reactors put online and taken offline depending on the situation around the plants and the stability of external power supplies,” the association notes.
Most concerns around the safe functioning of the country’s power plants amid war have centered on the the nuclear power plant located in Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, which also happens to be Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
The Zaporizhzhia plant was occupied early on in the war by Russian forces (when it was attacked in the early hours of March 2 last year, it became the first operating civil nuclear power plant to come under armed attack) and it has repeatedly found itself at the epicenter of fighting since then, with both sides accusing each other of shelling near the facility and risking another potentially catastrophic nuclear accident.
There have been a number of occasions now when shelling near the plant has damaged external power lines to the facility, meaning that Ukrainian workers still running the plant have had to rely on emergency generators for the power needed for reactor cooling and other essential nuclear safety and security functions.
The IAEA’s Director-General Rafael Grossi described the unstable conditions that the plant is forced to operate in as “extremely concerning,” noting that “this is clearly not a sustainable way to operate a major nuclear facility.”
He has often repeated calls for the establishment of a demilitarized zone around the plant but, for now, that remains a distant prospect, although the IAEA was able to convince Russia to allow its inspectors to remain permanently on site to monitor safety at the plant. The IAEA has also sent inspectors to other nuclear facilities in Ukraine………………………………………….. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/26/37-years-after-chornobyl-ukraines-nuclear-plants-are-again-in-danger.html?fbclid=IwAR1LBPuusObwSd5ZQibJVClqi5jlDayFFhvoJjFjyWny6WWP6VXCG-Nlh2k—
Once Shocking, U.S. Spying on Its Allies Draws a Global Shrug
April 13, 2023, New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/13/us/politics/us-spying-allies.html
The last time a trove of leaked documents exposed U.S. spying operations around the world, the reaction from allied governments was swift and severe.
In Berlin, thousands of people protested in the streets, the C.I.A. station chief was expelled, and the German chancellor told the American president that “spying on friends is not acceptable.” In Paris, the American ambassador was summoned for a dressing-down.
That was a decade ago, after an enormous leak of classified documents detailing American surveillance programs by … Edward Snowden. The latest leak of classified documents that appeared online this year, the motive behind which remains unknown, has again illustrated the broad reach of U.S. spy agencies, including into the capitals of friendly countries such as Egypt, South Korea, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates.
Though the documents mainly focus on the war in Ukraine, they include C.I.A. intelligence briefs describing conversations and plans at senior levels of government in those countries, in several cases attributed to “signals intelligence,” or electronic eavesdropping.
Unlike in 2013, however, U.S. allies appear to be mostly shrugging off the latest examples of apparent spying. So far, the only evident political fallout from the latest leaks has occurred in South Korea, where one classified U.S. document described a debate among senior national security officials about whether to send artillery shells abroad that might wind up in Ukraine, potentially angering Russia.
Fukushima nuclear disaster – new Netflix series
Over the course of eight episodes, this multi-layered drama faithfully captures a disastrous incident from three different perspectives based on careful research. “What happened there on that day?” This story seeks to answer this question based on the true events of seven intense days from the perspectives of government, corporate organizations, and the people on site risking their lives.
This series is developed and produced by Jun Masumoto, who crafted massive hits such as the “Code Blue” series while also delivering powerful social drama series such as “Shiroi Kyoto” series and “Hadashi no Gen.” The two directors of this series are Masaki Nishiura, who has worked alongside Masumoto for many years as the director of the “Code Blue” series, and Hideo Nakata of the “Ring” series.
At 2:46 p.m. on 11 March, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake with a maximum seismic intensity of 7 (recorded at Kurihara-cho, Miyagi prefecture) struck approximately 130 kilometers off the Sanriku coast. One hour after this earthquake shook the islands of Japan, a 15-meter-tall tsunami swallowed up the Fukushima nuclear power plant in an instant. But that was only the start of the nightmare. With its cooling function lost, the power plant fell into a dangerous and uncontrollable state. The Netflix Series “The Days” starts streaming in 2023, only on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/81233755
The most at-risk regions in the world for high-impact heatwaves
Heatwaves are becoming more frequent under climate change and can lead to
thousands of excess deaths. Adaptation to extreme weather events often
occurs in response to an event, with communities learning fast following
unexpectedly impactful events.
Using extreme value statistics, here we show
where regional temperature records are statistically likely to be exceeded,
and therefore communities might be more at-risk. In 31% of regions
examined, the observed daily maximum temperature record is exceptional.
Climate models suggest that similar behaviour can occur in any region.
In some regions, such as Afghanistan and parts of Central America, this is a
particular problem – not only have they the potential for far more extreme
heatwaves than experienced, but their population is growing and
increasingly exposed because of limited healthcare and energy resources. We
urge policy makers in vulnerable regions to consider if heat action plans
are sufficient for what might come.
Nature Communications 25th April 2023
A big week in nuclear news
Some bits of good news. Total Rejuvenation of ‘Dead’ River by a Rural Indian Community Hailed as National Example . The world’s happiest countries, according to new research.
Climate. Disturbing Sea Level Studies, (Which Threaten All Nuclear Facilities Sited Close To Oceans, Rivers & Lakes). Searing heatwave hitting Southern and South Eastern Asia.
Nuclear. Folie a tout le monde? Not just USA, Russia, China – it seems that everybody is getting into the nuclear weapons race. Former Pentagon official Henry D. Sokolski pronounces “We don’t know what to do.” Indeed a profoundly true statement. Somebody better think of something, before the omnisuicide takes place – whether it be started by some deliberate military action, – or, more likely, by some unintended glitch, possibly even a trivial one.
Christina notes. Space X rocket – “A successful failure” – George Orwell would love it! Penny Wong – a huge disappointment to me. At last political folk music is back ! “Killing the Messenger #Free Julian Assange”, by David Rovics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUX2IHm7Aiw
AUSTRALIA. Opposition grows to nuclear submarines in Port Kembla. AUKUS submarines “nation building” says Admiral- No they’re not, says Rex Patrick. ‘Stupidly dangerous’: AUKUS won’t cause a Chernobyl but experts are still worried. New Zealand-Australia testiness over citizenship resolved, but nuclear sensitivities remain .
Greens support Barngarla people’s opposition to Kimba radioactive waste dump set to open after 2030
Submissions to Senate Inquiry:
- Dan Monceaux urges the Senate to keep Australia’s legal protections against the hazards of nuclear industrial facilities.
- Refuting the spurious and dishonest nuclear claims of Senator Matt Canavan.
- Grusha Leeman – Australia is much too hot for safe nuclear power – let’s not dither with the nuclear distraction.
- Timothy Nott – as a conservative opposes risky, expensive, unsustainable nuclear power.
- Larry O’Loughlin reminds Senate of the unsolved problem of nuclear wastes, and calls to retain Australia’s nuclear prohibitions.
CULTURE and ARTS. NUCLEAR AFTER-LIFE: FROM TRAGEDY TO FARCE, THE CLAIMS OF A NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE.
ECONOMICS.
- Marketing. America is going to sell heaps of Holtec’s Small Nuclear Reactors to Ukraine! US ready to lend Poland $4 billion for nuclear energy plan.
- Globally, taxpayers are on the hook for nuclear accidents. Nuclear is uninsurable and unacceptable.
- Pension funds shun Sizewell C in major blow to Britain’s nuclear ambitions. UK seeks a nuclear energy renaissance – but experts question whether it’s value for money. Rolls Royce shares OK for civil aviation, but investment in small nuclear reactors is risky. A Nuclear Revival Needs More Rules, Not Less.
- French Winter Power Twice as Pricey as Germany’s on Nuclear Woes. Nuclear Troubles Send French Winter Power Prices Soaring.
- Does India have enough insurance coverage for a nuclear disaster? Nuclear liability issues not yet resolved for Jaitapur project: French company EDF.
EDUCATION. The nuclear lobby continues to buy universities- University of Wyoming well and truly bought. With visit of Algerian President France must face up to its nuclear fallout.
EMPLOYMENT. France’s struggle to deliver a second nuclear era.
ENERGY. Earth Day 2023: A Newly Post-Nuclear Germany vs. California’s Reactor Relapse. Germany’s Energy Revolution (‘Energiewende’) is working. Renewable Energy Is Charging Ahead. Russia’s political and economic winner – its nuclear exports to Western countries.
ENVIRONMENT. Alba MP Neale Hanvey calls for Ministry of Defence to tackle nuclear decontamination at Dalgety Bay. Water shortage at Sizewell: the environmental cost.
ETHICS and RELIGION. Will Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment managers follow the govt in backing nuclear?.
HEALTH. Radiation. Dogs of war — Chornobyl. New Zealand’s nuclear test veterans seek recognition. Inadequate Protection: Current Radiation PPE is Failing to Shield Female Healthcare Workers
LEGAL. EU faces legal action after including gas and nuclear in ‘green’ investments guide.
NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. Terrestrial Energy’s molten-salt reactor gets over one hurdle – but many more to come -Will it be a lemon? Russia to set up a small nuclear reactor in the Arctic Republic of Sakha. Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant will switch back to Russian fuel, from Westinghouse fuel .
OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR. This is why Youth, MPs and ICAN are going to Hiroshima next week. Daniel Ellsberg is still fighting — Beyond Nuclear International.
POLITICS. Germany’s last nukes shut down — Beyond Nuclear. Jonathon Porritt:Germany’s nuclear nous vs UK nuclear nutters. ‘There’s a lot of posturing’: Europe’s nuclear divide grows as one plant opens and three close. Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vows to ‘unwind US empire’. SEN. MARKEY AND REP. LIEU ANNOUNCE LEGISLATION TO LIMIT U.S. PRESIDENT’S POWER TO UNILATERALLY START NUCLEAR WAR. Whaa -at ? – Bill in North Carolina legislature would define nuclear as source of CLEAN energyUS nuclear taxes — the true costs. Excitement in Kent City Council about new nuclear power (now reclassified as “environmentally sustainable”).
POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY.
- It’s High Time the US Signed a Peace Treaty with North Korea,
- S.Korea’s Yoon to meet Biden as doubts grow over nuclear umbrella. Questions about S.Korea-USA ‘ironclad’ commitment lead to impossible nuke solution.
- US warns Russia not to touch American nuclear technology at Ukrainian nuclear plant.
- Germany and Finland: Two sides of the nuclear power coin in Europe. Germany, Poland and others are pushing for new sanctions on Russia’s nuclear energy.
- French-Russian nuclear relations turn radioactive.
- Civil Society Wants Deeds, Not Words on Nuclear Disarmament: The G7 Should Listen. G7’s statement on nuclear issue hypocritical and pale. Why the disbandment of NATO is long overdue.
- Biden willing to damage US economy to counter China – US Treasury. Chinese Diplomacy Seen as Threat to US ‘Peace,’ ‘Stability’.
SAFETY. New images from inside Fukushima reactor spark safety worry. Maintenance impacted at Zaporizhzhia, says IAEA. Hungary to Prolong Nuclear Plant’s Lifetime as Expansion Stalls. Nuclear life extension plans tested by obsolete components.
SECRETS and LIES. Leaks Reveal Reality Behind U.S. Propaganda in Ukraine.
SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS. SpaceX: Should we colonise the solar system? Environmentalists say Starship failure boosts their concerns. SpaceX launches most powerful rocket in history in explosive debut – like many first liftoffs. Starship’s test was a successful failure. Warfighting domain: U.S., Polish militaries sign space agreement
SPINBUSTER. Disarming the persistent myths of a glowing nuclear renaissance. Six war mongering think tanks and the military contractors that fund them.Return to Russia: Crimeans Tell the Real Story of the 2014 Referendum and Their Lives Since — RADIATION FREE LAKELAND. In Indiana, small nuclear reactors don’t need to be “small” any more.
WASTES.
- What now for Germany’s remaining nuclear waste?
- France’s radioactive waste management agency Andra wants to increase storage capacity at Cires waste dump .
- Fukushima’s fishing industry survived a nuclear disaster – 12 years on, it fears Tokyo’s next move may finish it off. Japan hopes to start discharging Fukushima nuclear wastewater in July.
- Scrapping could be next for Russia’s nuclear-powered battle cruiser. Background briefer on nuclear waste in Canada.
- The Human Dimension to Kazakhstan’s Plutonium Mountain.
WAR and CONFLICT.
- Russia is deploying nuclear weapons in Belarus – NATO shouldn’t take the bait.
- NATO to surge troops to Russian border. 26,000 troops from 14 nations: NATO allies join largest Swedish war games in over 25 years .
- Germany okays Ukrainian strikes on Russian soil.
- Largest air exercise in NATO’s 75-year history overlaps with massive combat drills .
- New member Finland leads team in world’s largest, 38-nation NATO cyber warfare exercise .
- NATO trains French Foreign Legionaries for war with Russia in the Baltic.
- NATO conducts large-scale submarine warfare exercise in Norwegian Sea .
WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES.
- NATO partner South Korea poised to be world’s fourth-largest arms exporter.
- Impending 50-nation Pentagon/NATO Ukraine war council will focus on warplanes.
- Pentagon to deliver main battle tanks to Ukraine in weeks.
- State Department approves upgrade of entire Turkish F-16 fleet to “enhance NATO interoperability”.
- Rep. Gallagher Says War Game Shows US Needs to Arm Taiwan ‘To the Teeth’.
- US military-industrial complex is main beneficiary of fighting Russia in Ukraine – Moscow.
- Complex safety problems in overhauling USA’s nuclear weapons stockpile, especially plutonium pits.
- Global military spending increase: Militarism will cost us the earth. Three nuclear superpowers, rather than two, usher in a new strategic era. ‘It Is Skynet’: Pentagon Envisions Robot Armies in a Decade. The US Has No Plans to Give Up Nuclear Weapons -The Public Needs to Change That.
Dan Monceaux’s Submission urges the Senate to keep Australia’s legal protections against the hazards of nuclear industrial facilities
Various nuclear industrial facilities are currently prohibited in Australia. These are prohibited for good reason:
they carry with them unique and problematic risks to people, the environment and the public purse.
The legislation in its current form protects the Australian people from harm from ionising radiation,
and our land, air and waters from radioactive contamination.
If there is a genuine need for any currently prohibited nuclear industrial development to occur in Australia, a case should be made openly to the Australian people prior to, not following, the repeal of these protections.
Environment and Other Legislation Amendment (Removing Nuclear Energy Prohibitions) Bill 2022 Submission 146.
My name is Dan Monceaux, I’m a lifelong resident of South Australia, and emerging documentary
filmmaker. Through my work on the forthcoming film Cuttlefish Country, I sought to understand
the nuclear history of South Australia, from the nuclear weapons tests at Maralinga to Emu Field, to
the scramble to find and develop uranium deposits in the 1940s and 1950s to fuel the nuclear arms
race of the Cold War. It included the establishment and abandonment of uranium processing plants
at Port Pirie and suburban Adelaide (Thebarton) and a handful of other uranium mines in my home
state. My interest in nuclear legacies, including costs borne by exposed people, communities and
the environment was piqued during this work, which led me to participate in the 2015-16 Nuclear
Fuel Cycle Royal Commission as a citizen journalist. I became the chief author for the
commission’s Wikipedia article, and have made significant contributions to many other Wikipedia
articles related to nuclear subjects, from transportation to legacy sites and workers’ compensation
programs, some of which I refer to in this submission.
During the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission, I also established a Facebook discussion group
to follow and discuss the Commission’s work, which later evolved into Nuclear Fuel Cycle Watch
Australia. With roughly 500 members from around Australia, the group contains members of all
persuasions, from the curious to those staunchly pro or anti-nuclear. As a pre-text to this
submission, I wish to mention that pro-nuclear voices have typically been the most disruptive in the
group, including waves of apparently choreographed incursions from international origins, some of
whom openly admitted that they were there to disrupt, as members of a group called “Nuke
Warriors”. Once the group’s membership requirements were reset to permit Australian members
only, the discussion became less adversarial. Since changing the membership criteria, and enforcing
stricter rules on conduct, the majority of active members today are of anti-nuclear persuasion. In
response perhaps to realising their minority status, some of the active pro-nuclear members have
blocked other group members (their critics) which has distorted the discussion by allowing much of
their shared content to go unchallenged. I believe this to be a reasonable reflection of the interested
public on this issue: that members of the public engaged with nuclear issues are more likely to
oppose rather than support further nuclear industrial development.
As far as I know, the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Watch Australia group is unique in that it does not
promote a particular attitude of support or opposition to the nuclear industry. It has held true to its
original purpose: to serve as a place for exchange of information, critical analysis, discussion and
debate. Beyond my moderator’s role at NFCWA, I have personal views and I will share them
openly here and whenever asked. The views expressed in this submission are my own, and do not
reflect those of the membership of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Watch Australia.
IT STARTED WITH THE BOMB
The historic record shows that nuclear industry has from its genesis been coupled to military
interests. The development of the atomic bomb came first, with nuclear power generation a
secondary development in the application of nuclear fission. In my opinion, nuclear power was
politically useful in helping nuclear nations build and maintain both 1) a social license for their
nuclear estates and 2) the expertise to build, operate and maintain them. With the passage of time,
some of those estates have trended into decline (USA, UK, France), while perceived military
opponents have established or maintained their nuclear estates more affirmatively (Russia and
China). It is my belief that the push to enable nuclear industrial development in Australia is driven
by a fear that the strengthening nuclear estates of Russia and China could precipitate a shift in the
balance of power away from Anglo-American global domination.
Nuclear weapons remain the most destructive weapons ever created by humans, and I do not believe
that the so-called “nuclear deterrent” (aptly also referred to as M.A.D. or Mutually Assured
Destruction) has effectively prevented war or been a net-positive for humanity. My position
considers the worldwide distribution of fallout from nuclear weapons tests, and the contamination
of people, lands and the environment at every stage in the nuclear fuel chain.
The prospect of facing a nuclear winter, caused by a nuclear war, is an existential threat to life as we
know it on Earth. With the modernisation of nuclear arsenals, developments in hypersonic delivery
systems over the past decade, and advancements of artificial intelligence influencing military
technology, the threat of nuclear conflict is increasing. The Doomsday Clock, which is set by the
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists to indicate how close we are to obliterating ourselves, has the dial set
at a mere 100 seconds to midnight; the closest we have ever been to “the end”. An update is
imminent, and I’m not optimistic about the clock hands’ direction.
https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/current-time/
LEGACY SITES & CONTAMINATION
A quick look at the USA’s list of Superfund contaminated sites shows what nuclear industrial
practise leaves in its wake. Among its listed properties around the USA are hundreds of abandoned
uranium mines, some uranium mining and milling sites, some sites managed by the Department of
Energy as part of the USA’s nuclear weapons research and development program (including some
that date back to the Manhattan Project), a nuclear waste repository called Maxey Flats where
plutonium was stored that leaked, and even legacy sites left by luminous clock dial painters which
used radioactive paint.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Superfund_sites
The short history of nuclear industrial development has shown that contamination and waste have
historically been afterthoughts, but with very costly consequences for contaminated people and
environments. This is true the world over. The most obvious local example is the Ranger uranium
mine in Australia, where the remediation cost is likely to fall between 1.4 and 2.2 billion Australian
dollars. The project ran for roughly forty years in the Australian tropics, but not without
environmental problems, including periodic concerns about the contamination of nearby waterways.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_Uranium_Mine
LOSSES OF LIFE AT AND NEAR NUCLEAR FACILITIES
A quick survey of incidents involving nuclear industrial facilities or their products that have lead to
losses of life includes nuclear fuel-fabricating or production facilities at Marcoule (France),
Kyshtym (USSR) and Tokaimura (Japan). Lives have been lost at nuclear power plants in Mihama
(Japan), Surry, Virginia (USA), Jaslovské Bohunice (Czechoslavakia) and Idaho Falls (USA).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_and_radiation_accidents_and_incidents
More widely known are major accidents at power plants at Fukushima (Japan), Chernobyl (USSR)
and Three Mile Island (USA), though the extent of harm caused by the resulting plumes of
radioactive contamination from these “meltdowns” include conflicting projections of the number of
cancer developments and fatalities. In short, it is hard to prove that a particular cancer was
attributable to exposure to fallout, though fatalities did occur from thyroid cancer developments
following the Chernobyl disaster. Published estimates of numbers of fatalities occurring linked to
the Chernobyl disaster range from 4,000 to 60,000.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_the_Chernobyl_disaster
WORKERS COMPENSATION PROGRAMS
Another important measure of the inherent risk when handling or being exposed to radioactive
materials comes via reports of nuclear industrial workers compensation programs. Figures are
available for programs in the USA and UK, while other countries programs either suffer for lack of
data (Japan) or secrecy measures (France). In the USA, the Federal government administers
compensation programs that have paid out approximately $2.6 billion USD (under the Radiation
Exposure Compensation Act) and over 40,000 claims which includes downwinders (people
impacted by nuclear weapons test fallout), onsite participants (people who worked on the weapons
tests who were exposed to fallout), uranium miners, millers and ore transport workers. Another
scheme called the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program has paid out
over $22.6 billion USD and represents over 136,000 impacted workers. In the United Kingdom, the
Compensation Scheme for Radiation-linked Diseases has paid out 163 successful claims, to a total
sum of 8.9 million pounds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_Exposure_Compensation_Act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Employees_Occupational_Illness_Compensation_Program
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compensation_scheme_for_radiation-linked_diseases
Given Australia’s abundance of renewable energy ready to be harnessed, surely no sane industrialist
would seriously consider constructing a new nuclear power plant, uranium enrichment, fuel
reprocessing or fuel fabriciation facility on Australian soil, if it were to be a purely commercial
proposition. Nor should Australia engage in establishing facilities for the servicing or production of
nuclear vessels or nuclear weapons programs if we are to encourage nuclear non-proliferation as a
pathway to peace.
If there is indeed, as history and probability suggest, one or more defence interests leading this push
to repeal prohibitions, it is worth considering that the military also has a poor track record when it
comes to environmental contamination. Many airforce, army and navy facilities appear on the
USA’s Superfund contaminated site lists, with a wide range of contaminants present in lands andwaters. In the Australian context, we have recently observed that defence facilities are among the
many nationally identified as having dangerous concentrations of PFAS, impacting soil and water,
and the Department of Defence has been criticised for its poor past practises in environmental
management and its sale of contaminated sites.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/may/24/contaminated-australian-defence-sitesput-spotlight-on-environmental-record
DECOMMISSIONING COSTS
Even where environmental and safety performance has been good, nuclear facilities are very costly
to decommission at the end of their working lives. It has been estimated by the United Kingdom’s
Audit Office that the decommissioning of the UK’s nuclear estate could cost 260 billion pounds.
The decommissioning of just one complex, Sellafield, is estimated to reach 67 billion pounds and is
not expected to to be complete until 2035.
https://www.prosperoevents.com/it-is-estimated-that-the-uks-nuclear-waste-cleanup-operationcould-cost-260-billion/#:~:text=Decommissioning%20a%20nuclear%20site%20can,take%20until
%202035%20to%20complete.
The USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimates that decommissioning costs for most nuclear
power plants will cost $300-400 million USD each.
https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/decommissioning.html
CONSTRUCTION COSTS
The cost of building new nuclear power plants since the Fukushima disaster have also increased.
Emblematic of this is the Hinckley C project in the United Kingdom, which is now expected to cost
25-26 billion UK pounds to construct. In 2012, it was predicted to cost 16 billion. The project is
expected to take ten years in total to construct. There are also many nuclear power plant
developments that have been suspended or cancelled entirely. There are at least 84 such projects in
the USA alone spannig the history of the industry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cancelled_nuclear_reactors_in_the_United_States
One example of this phenomenon is Clinch River, USA. The project was to be a so-called
“advanced” breeder reactor site, with an initial estimated cost of $400 million USD in 1971. Before
the project was ultimately cancelled in 1983, the cost estimate had increased to $8 billion USD;
twenty times the original projected cost.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinch_River_Nuclear_Site
INDUSTRIAL & MEDICAL FATAL EXPOSURES
Proponents of nuclear industry often point to medical uses of radiation to help bolster their social
license. Yet radiation from engineered sources is inherently dangerous, and some of the worst
radiological disasters have involved radiation sources from medical or other domestic industrial
equipment that have been poorly handled, managed and/or disposed of.
A worker in Brescia received a fatal dose from a Cobalt-60 source at a cereal irradiation facility.
Workers in Israel and Belarus overrode safety systems to clear stuck conveyors and received fatal
radiation doses at commercial irradiation facilities. In San Salvador, three workers at a medical
irradiation plant were exposed to a Cobalt-60 source; one died and another lost a limb.
Fatal overdoses were given to three patients by Canadian-designed Therac-25 radiation-therapy
machines due to poor programming. In Epinal, France, five people were killed and twenty-four
severely injured by receiving overdoses of radiation during therapy due to a software error. In
Zarazoga clinic, Spain, eleven patients received fatal overdoses with a radiotherapy device. In
Panama, 28 cancer patients were killed during a period of gross medical negligence by lethal doses
of radiation. In Indiana, USA, an Iridium-192 source “broke off” inside a patient during
brachytherapy and was in the patient for four days where it administered a fatal dose. In Rio de
Janeiro, a 7-year old girl was given a fatal series of radiation overdoses by negligent doctors and
technicians.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_civilian_radiation_accidents
LOST RADIATION SOURCES
Radiation sources may be abandoned or disposed of improperly, thus creating a public health risk.
In Xinzhou, China a Cobalt-60 source was removed from a former environmental monitoring
station, contaminating over a hundred people and killing three. In Estonia, a thief stole a Caesium137 source which gave him a fatal radiation dose. In Samut Prakan, Thailand, a stolen Cobalt-60
source injured seven people and killed three. In Lia, Georgia, a lumberjack was killed by radiation
exposure after finding two Strontium-90 cores from radioisotope thermoelectric generators and
choosing to sleep beside them, using them as heaters.
In New Delhi, a man died after handling scrap metal containing Cobalt-60 from an incorrectly
disposed of medical source. Six others were hospitalised. In Goiania, Brazil, a Caesium-137 source
was salvaged from abandoned medical equipment and contaminated 250 people, of whom four
died. In the USA an unemployed radiation worker killed himself by intentional exposure, with the
source believed to have been a temporarily appropriated Iridium-192 source.
In Kramatorsk, Ukraine, a radiation source was found embedded in construction material of an
apartment. Prior to its discovery, six residents of the building had died from leukaemia. It is
believed to have been picked up by accident in a gravel building aggregate. Further incidents
involving lost radiation sources can be seen at the link below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_orphan_source_incident
SO WHY REPEAL SAFETY PRECAUTIONS?
So why repeal prohibitions that were clearly instated to protect Australians and the Australian
environment from nuclear weapons, nuclear hazards, radioactive pollution and escalating
militarisation? In my opinion, an argument as to why they should be repealed should precede the
movement of any bill that seeks to remove safeguards. Without providing a complete and honest
rationale, I can only assume that vested interests in allied military and civilian nuclear estates
(notably the UK and USA) are attempting to lead us in this direction. Such interests include those
seeking to arm Australia against an increasingly powerful China, as well as the many private
interests in the nuclear fuel chain who would design, build and maintain any new facilities should
they be constructed in Australia. This is a specialised field with a relatively small number of
companies eager to profit should Australia extend its participation in the nuclear fuel cycle beyond
its current reach: uranium mining in South Australia and Western Australia, and a single research
reactor at Lucas Heights. The objectives of these minority interests are not shared by the wider
Australian community and I caution the Senators who have sponsored this bill to represent the
interests of the many over the few.
The only way to mitigate the risks associated with Australia escalating regional tension by
expanding its own nuclear estate is to turn in the opposite direction. That requires following the lead
of the Nobel Peace Prize winning not-for-profit organisation, ICAN (International Campaign to
Abolish Nuclear Weapons). That organisation, founded here in Australia, actively and consistently
promotes and lobbies for global nuclear disarmament. Australia and other uranium mining nations
should also seek to phase out their production of fissile material. The risks presented by the
production, transformation, transportation, use and storage of radioactive materials are hazards
which humanity has struggled to contain since discovery, and they are unnecessary.
As the Climate Council reminds us: “nuclear power is the slowest, most expensive, most dangerous
and least flexible form of new power generation for Australia”. It is clear from the precedent set in
my own state of South Australia, that hybrid systems which combine various renewable energy and
energy storage technologies can lead states and territories to truly carbon-free electricity generation
and more resilient and reliable electricity supply. Nuclear power is not required to supply
Australia’s current or projected electricity needs. Nuclear weapons aren’t required to establish and
maintain peace.
https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/nuclear-power-stations-are-not-appropriate-for-australia-andprobably-never-will-be/
Containment remains a major problem and cost factor at every step of the nuclear fuel chain, from
radon gas inhalation and radioactive tailings management at mine sites, to long term storage of
spent, reprocessed nuclear fuel and other lower-level radioactive materials, which need to be
isolated and safeguarded for centuries. Australia should strive to support peace over war, health
over sickness and majority over minority interests by disassociating itself from nuclear power and
nuclear weapons and instead advocating for peace, harmony and renewable power generation and
storage technologies.
CONCLUSION
Out of my combined concerns for protecting human health, preventing environmental
contamination, protecting against costly “white elephants” and eliminating nuclear weapons, I wish
to express my disapproval of the proposed amendments to both the ARPANS Act 1998 and EPBC
Act 1999. The changes seek to allow the consideration and potential approval of various nuclear
industrial facilities that are currently prohibited in Australia. These are prohibited for good reason:
they carry with them unique and problematic risks to people, the environment and the public purse.
The legislation in its current form protects the Australian people from harm from ionising radiation,
and our land, air and waters from radioactive contamination.
If there is a genuine need for any currently prohibited nuclear industrial development to occur in
Australia, a case should be made openly to the Australian people prior to, not following, the repeal
of these protections. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Nuclearprohibitions/Submissions
1 This month.
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/235274195556
19 May – Webinar- Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Start: 2026-05-19 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-05-19 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
20 May – Webinar – The dangerous world of AUKUS, US, military occupation and suppression of dissent
National Webinar, 20th May, 2026, 6.30pm AEST. Confronting laws restricting/suppressing protest speech and action
Speakers: Former Sen. Rex Patrick, Lawyer Nick Hanna ,Arthur Rorris ,Jorgen Doyle, Sen David Shoebbridge,
Facilitator Kelley Tranter.
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 