Construction and transmission work begin on delayed wind farm in Victoria — RenewEconomy
Transmission and balance of plant works finally begin on delayed wind project near Port Fairy in Victoria. The post Construction and transmission work begin on delayed wind farm in Victoria appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Construction and transmission work begin on delayed wind farm in Victoria — RenewEconomy
ACT to quit gas by 2045, shift to all-electric homes and business — RenewEconomy
ACT joins Victoria with a commitment to phase out the use of gas in homes and businesses by 2045, and shift to electrification backed by solar and storage. The post ACT to quit gas by 2045, shift to all-electric homes and business appeared first on RenewEconomy.
ACT to quit gas by 2045, shift to all-electric homes and business — RenewEconomy
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station “completely out of control” – IAEA
The U.N. nuclear chief warned that Europe´s largest nuclear power plant
in Ukraine “is completely out of control” and issued an urgent plea to
Russia and Ukraine to quickly allow experts to visit the sprawling complex
to stabilize the situation and avoid a nuclear accident.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in an
interview Tuesday with The Associated Press that the situation is getting
more perilous every day at the Zaporizhzhya plant in the southeastern city
of Enerhodar, which Russian troops seized in early March, soon after their
Feb. 24. invasion of Ukraine.
Daily Mail 3rd Aug 2022
Ukraine wants to export nuclear-generated electricity to European states – but is that safe?
Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko has a problem. His
government has tasked him with convincing the EU that the country’s nuclear
fleet is safe enough to export massive amounts of
electricity to the bloc in a bid to help fill Kyiv’s depleted coffers and
bring down eye-watering European power prices.
But the Russian occupation of several Ukrainian nuclear sites since the invasion — coupled with the
minister’s very public spats over safety with the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) — have raised European fears about the safety of
Ukraine’s power system.
Politico 2nd Aug 2022
https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-pitch-export-power-europe-nuclear-safety-snag/
Biden regime provides over $8 billion in arms for Ukraine war — Anti-bellum
Radio PolandAugust 1, 2022 US president approves new $550 mln security assistance package for Ukraine US President Joe Biden on Monday greenlighted a new military assistance package for Ukraine, valued at up to USD 550 million and including additional ammunition for advanced rocket systems.Joe Biden. The move was announced by White House national security spokesman […]
Biden regime provides over $8 billion in arms for Ukraine war — Anti-bellum
Global renewables investment hits record high, boosted by solar and offshore wind — RenewEconomy
Global renewable energy investment reached $US226 billion in the first half of 2022, a record that defied supply chain challenges and cost inflation. The post Global renewables investment hits record high, boosted by solar and offshore wind appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Global renewables investment hits record high, boosted by solar and offshore wind — RenewEconomy
August 3 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “The Hollow Promise Of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors” • Nuclear power offers a great example of what happens when hype, advertisement, and belief in impossible promises are very much the norm. And Small Modular Reactors are one class of nuclear reactors that have been extensively promoted in this vein during the last decade. […]
August 3 Energy News — geoharvey
Hard-Wired for Corruption -The arms trade and Australia’s lax monitoring regimes
Chris Douglas concludes that from an anti-bribery/corruption risk perspective, Naval Group should not have been put on the shortlist for the Future Submarines program, let alone selected to partner with Australia to build the submarines. The ‘contract of the century’ was mired in unacceptable risk from the outset due to Defence’s poor risk-management processes and non-existent specific anti-bribery/corruption measures. A formal inquiry is needed both to examine how this deeply flawed decision was reached and to help prevent the situation recurring in future major defence procurement projects.
‘In the arms business, it’s always a time of war’, wrote Roeber. Without war, there is no revenue, no profit, no growth. Countries with established arms manufacturing industries therefore have a perpetual economic driver towards conflict and warfare.
To give just one example, there is no visibility around what or how much weaponry Australia has exported to Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates during the years of the Yemen war.
https://undueinfluence.substack.com/p/hard-wired-for-corruption?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email Michelle Fahy 1 Aug 22, The international arms trade, worth around US$200 billion a year, represents less than 1 per cent of world trade yet is said to account for about 40 per cent of its corruption. While estimates vary, there is little dispute amongst long-term arms industry researchers that it is the most corrupt industry on the planet. Indeed, it is said to be hard-wired for corruption.
The World Peace Foundation (WPF), housed at Tufts University in America, produces extensive research on the global arms trade, including a compendium of corrupt arms deals. It says that ‘Corruption within the industry is often treated in terms of isolated incidents, when it is, in fact, representative of the business model for the industry’.
This finding is supported by research for Transparency International’s (TI) Government Defence Integrity (GDI) index, which assesses the quality of controls for managing corruption risk in defence and security institutions. The GDI shows that 86 per cent of global arms exports between 2016 and 2020 originated from countries at moderate to very high risk of corruption in their defence sectors, while 49 per cent of global arms imports went to countries at high to critical risk of defence corruption. Australia is rated as a moderate corruption risk in the GDI, with two key areas of concern being the lack of transparency in defence procurement and weak anti-corruption safeguards on military operations.
The legal trade in arms has long been known for its susceptibility to corruption. This is due to the high value and complexity of arms deals, the close association between the arms industry and political power, and the secrecy claimed necessary for national security, all of which shield arms-related activities from scrutiny. As arms industry expert Joe Roeber pointed out, ‘Defence goods are complex and each contract contains a mix of special requirements. Comparison is remarkably difficult and effective monitoring by public watchdogs is all but impossible. An unknowable price can be manipulated to accommodate any amount of covert payments’. Further, there are very few major arms deals on offer globally each year—usually less than 10 in the range of tens of billions each meaning competition is intense—while only a small number of people make the decision on what to buy…
‘In the arms business, it’s always a time of war’, wrote Roeber. Without war, there is no revenue, no profit, no growth. Countries with established arms manufacturing industries therefore have a perpetual economic driver towards conflict and warfare.
For example, in the month leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and just days after a horrific attack in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition using a Raytheon missile that killed 90 people and injured 200, Raytheon’s CEO told investors that global tensions represented ‘opportunities for international sales’, and that he expected to ‘see some benefit’ from ‘the tensions in Eastern Europe [and] in the South China Sea’. Meanwhile, Just Security has noted that the ‘well-documented risks of corruption in the arms industry and the potential for profiteering from an arms race in the Ukraine war’ are risk factors embedded in the massive flow of lethal weaponry from the West into Ukraine…
Blanket secrecy
All countries justify secrecy around arms-related activity with claims of protecting ‘national security’. The Australian government, for example, imposes a high level of secrecy over its arms procurement, sustainment and export deals, with politicians and the Department of Defence resisting demands for greater transparency…
Australia also relies on ‘commercial-in-confidence’ justifications to protect arms industry interests. This, in combination with national security claims, has led to almost blanket secrecy around Australia’s arms exports. To give just one example, there is no visibility around what or how much weaponry Australia has exported to Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates during the years of the Yemen war. The government has only released information about the number of export permits it has approved or declined (by March 2021 Australian approvals to these two nations topped 100). However, permit numbers are not useful, as not all permit approvals translate into actual exports, and permits can cover numerous types of equipment, small or large quantities, extend for varying time periods, and even cover multiple destinations.
This is significant because the decades-long UK Campaign Against the Arms Trade has amassed a ‘mountain of evidence of corruption in arms sales to Saudi’ showing that bribery is central to the Saudi government’s approach to arms deals. Andrew Feinstein, author of the exhaustively researched 600-page book The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade, told ABC radio in 2018 that he had never seen a Saudi arms deal that didn’t involve ‘massive amounts’ of corruption, and that the percentage of a Saudi contract paid in bribes could be up to ‘about 35 per cent of the contract price’. The United Arab Emirates is also known for its secrecy, corruption, and money laundering links.
Australia’s decreasing commitment to anti-corruption measures
Australia’s extraordinary current spending on military capability—$270 billion in a decade, on top of the usual defence budget—means the domestic arms industry is awash with cash. At the same time, the public’s limited ability to scrutinise this spending has been eroded further by a defence minister, Peter Dutton, who has restricted Defence’s engagement with the media. The combination of record sums of money and little scrutiny provides fertile ground for corruption.
Australia’s performance on anti-corruption measures has nose-dived in recent years:
- It recorded its worst ever score on a global anti-corruption index in 2022, dropping four points (from 77 to 73) and falling to 18th place. Australia has now dropped 12 points in a decade, from a high of 7th (85 points) in 2012.
- Its membership status at the Open Government Partnership risks being put under review because it has ‘acted contrary to the OGP process’ and failed to submit its latest national action plan.
- Its negligible attempts to investigate and prosecute cases of foreign bribery have been criticised by the Working Group for the OECD’s Anti-Bribery Convention (it expressed concern over ‘the continued low level of foreign bribery enforcement… given the size of Australia’s economy and the high-risk regions and sectors in which its companies operate’ and ‘its long-standing challenges in attributing wrongdoing to corporate entities’).
- It has been named an ‘international laggard’ in expanding anti-money-laundering laws in line with recommendations by the G7’s Financial Action Task Force, one of only three countries, alongside Haiti and Madagascar, to have failed to do so. Australia now risks being put on a grey list of countries that don’t meet international money-laundering standards. (Australia has been resisting anti-money-laundering regulation for fifteen years.)
- A dedicated federal anti-corruption body still has not been established…
Red flags
‘The biggest corruption risk in an arms deal is a company’s decision to pay bribes to secure the deal’, says Sam Perlo-Freeman, former Program Manager for Global Arms and Corruption, World Peace Foundation, Tufts University. Decisions to pay significant bribes are made at a company’s highest levels, and while no amount of technical anti-corruption measures will eliminate high-level corrupt behaviour, strong whistleblower protection mechanisms can increase the probability of exposure. Other anti-corruption measures are also important, particularly at lower levels where zealous company employees might be tempted to cut corners to advance their careers. However, such technical measures do not tackle the underlying political and economic drivers of high-level corruption in the arms industry, where winning large deals is necessary for corporate survival and price is not the primary concern. As Joe Roeber noted incisively, bribery in this context ‘is not just a simple add-on to the procurement process, but distorts the decisions. What would the equilibrium level of trade be without the stimulus of corruption?’ …
No evidence has emerged of…extensive corrupt practices in Australia, but there are regular red flags of possible arms industry corruption. Chris Douglas, a 31-year veteran of financial crime investigation for the Australian Federal Police, who now runs his own consultancy, is an Australian expert in anti-bribery and corruption measures. He says that such compliance programs are a necessary component of good corporate and public governance—essential for preventing corruption in the defence industry. Although he has lodged numerous Freedom of Information requests (FOIs) with the Defence Department about anti-bribery/corruption measures on major procurements, he says, ‘I have not detected an ABC [anti-bribery/corruption] program being used in any of the major defence projects I have examined’.
Douglas says that the Department of Defence ‘has not caught up with modern corporate management practices’ and has no understanding of how to use anti-bribery/corruption risk-based assessments to manage the significant risks posed by bribery and corruption in its projects, particularly major ones. As he puts it: ‘That any department would not undertake an ABC risk assessment when such large sums of money are involved, in an industry that is rated high for corrupt behaviour, speaks volumes about a poor culture within that department’.
Repeated cost blowouts and delays are just two of the red flags for corruption that are regularly found in Australian defence procurement and sustainment projects. The cost of these to the public is substantial.
While there are numerous examples of red flag projects, here are just three.
Naval Group—submarine contract
This contract was abandoned with the arrival of AUKUS, but the original deal with Naval Group requires a public inquiry to examine the full extent of the process by which the internationally lucrative ‘contract of the century’ was awarded. The need for an inquiry has been amplified given the shock shredding of Defence’s largest ever contract, a decision which made international news and may yet cost Australia billions.
Continue readingThe Anti-China Brainwashing Is Working: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
Caitlin Johnstone 2 Aug 22, If someone criticizing the most dangerous agendas of the most powerful and destructive government on earth looks like “Russian propaganda” or “Chinese propaganda” to you, it’s because you yourself have been brainwashed by propaganda.
The western propaganda campaign against China is succeeding, even among many who consider themselves anti-war or critical of establishment power. Whatever sick future agendas they’re manufacturing consent for, they’ll be able to roll right on out. People’s brains are turning to soup.
❖
The best case scenario for Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan visit — the absolute best case — is that it ratchets up cold war tensions with China that threaten us all and benefit ordinary people in no way. The worst case scenario is as bad as anything you can possibly imagine.
So why are we being told that it’s still happening? Well, as Antiwar’s Dave DeCamp reminded us a few months ago, one major factor is that it facilitates US military expansionism geared toward encirclement strategies against China.
“The United States no longer sees Taiwan as a ‘problem’ in our relations with China, we see it as an opportunity to advance our shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Raymond Greene, the deputy director of the de facto US embassy in Taipei, said last year.
Imagine if the Democratic Party fought against Republicans as hard as they fight against world peace……..
Taiwan is a US military asset, not a US ally. That’s a very significant difference that everyone, especially the Taiwanese, would do well to keep in mind………
It’s a safe bet that a minority of Americans could find Taiwan on a map, and that of these the overwhelming majority believe it’s just some island nation that China randomly decided it hates…….
There needs to be a major war every generation or two, otherwise peace becomes normalized and becomes the expectation. If you allow that to happen then war begins to stand out against expected norms like the freakish abomination that it is, and militarism looks insane.
They use propaganda to facilitate war, but they also use war to facilitate propaganda. Keeping the wars going helps the propaganda machine spin war as something normal and expected and to be continuously prepared for. It acts as an immunosuppressant against the public’s natural, healthy rejection of war. The more normalized war becomes, the more suppressed our collective immune system’s rejection of it becomes.
War is the absolute worst thing in the world. It’s the most insane thing humans do. The most destructive. The least sustainable. The most conducive to human suffering. Only by very aggressive narrative management can the public be dissuaded from insisting on peace…………………..
Westerners are only encouraged to contemplate the horrors of war when it is someone else’s war.
https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/the-anti-china-brainwashing-is-working?r=19f8t&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=direct
“Exciting and pivotal moment:” NSW prepares for big switch from coal to renewables — RenewEconomy
AEMO briefs investors on the first of many auctions designed to bring in wind, solar and storage to replace ageing coal plants in the country’s biggest grid. The post “Exciting and pivotal moment:” NSW prepares for big switch from coal to renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.
“Exciting and pivotal moment:” NSW prepares for big switch from coal to renewables — RenewEconomy
South Australia’s biggest renewables hub lands a second power offtake deal — RenewEconomy
The stage one wind farm of Neoen’s massive Goyder Renewables Zone has notched up its second power purchase deal, this time with Flow Power. The post South Australia’s biggest renewables hub lands a second power offtake deal appeared first on RenewEconomy.
South Australia’s biggest renewables hub lands a second power offtake deal — RenewEconomy
“World first” network innovation promises more wind and solar, less curtailment — RenewEconomy
Victorian network company Powercor finds way to squeeze more wind and solar onto its grid without expensive new infrastructure or hefty curtailment. The post “World first” network innovation promises more wind and solar, less curtailment appeared first on RenewEconomy.
“World first” network innovation promises more wind and solar, less curtailment — RenewEconomy
There is no shortage of gas, or fossil fuel cartels, in Australia — RenewEconomy
Sudden price falls in gas and electricity markets have caught out Australia’s fossil fuel cartels – like a trillion dollar toddler – with their hands in the cookie jar. The post There is no shortage of gas, or fossil fuel cartels, in Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.
There is no shortage of gas, or fossil fuel cartels, in Australia — RenewEconomy
Beatty Nevada Nuclear waste explosions, in the desert.
Terry Southard 2 Aug 22,
Explosions of nuclear waste from pieces of decommissioned San onofre reactor, by San diego.The pieces of the reactor and the other waste from the San Diego, San Onofre reactor decommissioning, started blowing up in the desert outside beatty Nevada. Later the San onofre nuclear waste was dug up and transfered, to a nuclear waste facility outside salt lake city Utah. The explosions, were caused by the decay heat and pyrophoricty of the radionuclides, in the waste and that had accumulated on the reactor pieces.
We simply, don’t get to learn from the mainstream media, about these radioactive hazards.
New Mexico was on fire this summer. 800 thousand acres burned. So much nuclear waste and fallout, in New Mexico, from bomb building and testing. I would not be surprised, if there is a major uptick in lung cancers, and other cancers, in New Mexico in the next 5 years . Nuke bombs exploded under rivers in New Mexico, project gas buggy. Uranium waste catastrophes. Nuclear waste dumps in many places. Largest plutonium core operation in the world at Los Alamos, by Santa fe. Wipp plutonium dump, by Clovis.
These explosions were caused by parts of the decommisioned, highly radioactive pieces of the San onofre reactor, buried in Nevada for a few years. They had to dqqig them up, after the explosions and, moved them to utah. You would have thought, peopke in Utah, would have known better.
Steppenwolf just stick yur head into the sand, pretend that all is grand and everything will be ok
This will happen at other shoddy nuclear waste operations in the usa. Typically under-regulated, and under supervised by cheap and mismanaged, foreign owned nuclear waste management companies. Give them an inch and, they take a mile. They bribe state legislators and start taking in nuclear waste, from other countries. Countries like Japan and Estonia. That happened at the white mesa nuke waste operation, by blanding, utah. I think there is greater risk of wildfires, in the white mesa area, from the pryophoric effects of radionuclide dust from white mesa, blowing into surrounding areas.. There was a truck full of nuke waste owned by energy fuels, by Salt Lake City, that caught fire in 2018. The white mesa, energy fuel operation is trucking in nuke waste, from all over the world.
Radionuclides generate their own heat and can start fires on their own even in small amounts, like the plutonium did at rocky flats. That is why the US Armed forces, uses depleted uranium in bombs, bullets and, other munitions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Flats_Plant
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/515622
Wildfires and cancer
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(22)00067-5/fulltext
More wildfires and cancer
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2022/05/17/wildfires-cancer-risk-study/5531652723109/
Wildfires are increasing cancer rates in the World.
https://thescotfree.com/opinion/incident-at-santa-susana-a-meltdown-a-fire-and-a-cover-up/
Is nuclear disarmament possible?
Aljazeera, 2 August 22, “We are pushing closer and closer to that point where [nuclear weapons are] eventually going to be used, and we have to drastically change,” says Beatrice Fihn, the executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, ICAN.
“It is the nuclear-armed states, and it’s the nuclear-allied states in NATO, for example, that really have to lead this charge,” she says of the push for disarmament.
ICAN was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for spearheading the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Fihn says it is imperative for all countries to eliminate nuclear weapons, adding that the treaty is a “way of creating a revolution in this nuclear structure that we created”.
“The powerful have always lost their power when the majority has risen up and stood against it.” On UpFront, Marc Lamont Hill sits down with ICAN Executive Director Beatrice Fihn to discuss nuclear threats and the fight for global nuclear disarmament.
1 This month.
Australians deserve the truth
about
AUKUS – https://aukuspublicinquiry.com/
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 