Geoscience Australia declares Darwin, Latrobe Valley high-risk earthquake zones
The Age By William Howard, 29 Jan 25
In short:
Darwin and Victoria’s Latrobe Valley have been identified as high-risk earthquake zones.
The National Seismic Hazard Assessment has been updated for the first time since 2018.
What’s next?
The Coalition has earmarked the Latrobe Valley as a potential site for a nuclear reactor if it wins the election, which is a concern for some residents.
…………………………………….In an update to the National Seismic Hazard Assessment, Geoscience Australia identified the Latrobe Valley and Darwin as the only two areas in Australia with a “higher risk of strong ground shaking”.
The Woods Point quake, centred about 130 kilometres east of Melbourne and 125km south of Ms Cox’s Traralgon South home, was the largest onshore event of its kind in the state’s modern history.
There were more than 43,000 reports from the public and the earthquake was felt in parts of New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-30/darwin-and-latrobe-valley-high-risk-earthquake-zones/104873178
Funding to electrify homes expanded as Bowen slams Opposition’s ‘nuclear fantasy’
Tim Fernandez, ABC Illawarra, Tue 28 Jan
In short:
Energy Minister Chris Bowen is calling for community groups across Australia to apply for grants to help residents install electrical appliances.
He says the scheme will reduce power bills and emissions and described the Opposition’s energy plan as a “nuclear fantasy”.
What’s next?
The expansion comes after “encouraging” results from a pilot program in NSW………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… more https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-28/chris-bowen-expands-household-electrification-scheme/104868630
Dutton’s atomic power bill for a ‘nuclear family’ could be nearly $39K
By Steve Bishop | 28 January 2025, https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/duttons-atomic-power-bill-for-a-nuclear-family-could-be-nearly-39k,19381
The Dutton nuclear power plan will cost about $264 billion if the type of reactor extolled by Shadow Energy Minister Ted O’Brien is adopted.
That’s equivalent to more than $9,700 for every man, woman and child in Australia — and $38,800 for the proverbial “nuclear family”.
The costings are simple.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton announced on 13 December:
‘By 2050, our plan will deliver up to 14 GW of nuclear energy, guaranteeing consistent and stable electricity for all Australians.’
O’Brien even produced a video highlighting the virtues of the Bill Gates-backed Natrium reactor, which provides 345 megawatts of power and is costing US$4 billion (AU$6.45 billion) for the first one being built in Wyoming by TerraPower.
Forty-one of the reactors would be needed to produce the promised 14GW of nuclear power at a cost of $264.45 billion.
Australia has an estimated population of 27.2 million, giving a total of $9,724 for every man, woman and child.
Mr Dutton has made it plain he is opposed to big nuclear facilities and the Natrium small modular reactor (SMR) reactor meshes with his pledge to ‘place the latest zero emission nuclear technologies on the sites of seven retiring coal-fired power plants’.
Another reactor that falls within his pledge to use the latest technologies is the Rolls Royce UK SMR 470 MWe which could cost between £3 billion and £4 billion (AU$5.9-7.9 billion) apiece.
Even the lower estimate of £3 billion equates to $5.9 billion. Thirty of them would be needed to meet the 14GW target, at a cost of $176.7 billion.
But Nuclear Consulting Group chairman Paul Dorfman has warned that because the Rolls Royce reactor is more than 50 per cent bigger than an SMR it “will need big sites, standard nuclear safety measures, exclusion zones, core catchers, aircraft crash protection and security”.
Ontario and the Tennessee Valley Authority are planning to use the innovative GE Hitachi BWRX-300 reactor but it has been reported that planning documents reveal a cost of around US$5.4 billion (AU$8.6 billion), amounting to a cost of $369 billion for the 43 needed to produce 14KW of power.
Another new SMR is the Westinghouse AP300 SMR.
An order for four of the reactors has been placed in the UK for the Tees Valley with the Daily Express reporting:
‘The four reactors would cost £10 billion and generate 1.2 gigawatts of power, enough for 1.6 million homes.’
That’s £2.5 billion each, or AU$4.91 billion. Forty-three would be needed to meet the LNP target of 14GW — costing $211 billion. But this does not factor in the sort of cost blow-out experienced with other SMRs.
Mr Dutton was asked by ABC journalist Bridget Brennan in June:
“So, surely Australians need to know right now how much this is going to cost? Is it going to be as much as $16 billion per site?”
The answer is very much more expensive — more than $35 billion for each of the seven sites if Ted O’Brien’s preferred Natrium reactor is adopted.
Former Miss America’s Australian nuclear tour clouded by Chinese AI blow to her employer
Royce Kurmelovs, Jan 30, 2025, https://reneweconomy.com.au/former-miss-americas-australian-nuclear-tour-clouded-by-chinese-ai-blow-to-her-employer/
Miss America 2023 winner Grace Stanke has begun her Australian tour to promote nuclear power, just as the US energy giant that employs her has taken a big market hit after Chinese company DeepSeek claimed to have found a cheaper way to make AI.
Stanke, who flew into Perth on Wednesday, is a nuclear engineer who works in public relations for Constellation to promote nuclear technology, and has been brought out for an Australian tour by campaign group Nuclear For Australia in an attempt to drum up local support for the technology.
Nuclear For Australia is nominally headed by 18-year-old Will Shackel. But Stanke’s tour has reportedly been bankrolled by Australian businessman Dick Smith, who also provided the funding to establish the group.
The tour comes amid an aggressive expansion drive by Constellation, which holds a suite of nuclear and fossil fuel assets. According to the company’s 2024 Sustainability Report, nuclear makes up 67% of its generation capacity, with natural gas and oil making up 25% and renewables and storage accounting for 8%.
Constellation has increasingly been looking to capitalise on the development of AI as a driver in future electricity demand that it hopes to meet with nuclear power.
In September last year the company announced it would buy the Three Mile End nuclear facility under a deal to supply Microsoft with power to run its AI data centres.
Earlier in January, Constellation bought out rival Calvine for $US 27 billion, a move that meant it acquired the company’s gas-plants.
As gas-peaking plants currently help smooth out spikes in the wholesale electricity market by turning on during periods of high demand — at the expense of nuclear generators — the acquisition potentially gives Constellation greater influence over wholesale prices.
Late last week, President Donald Trump announced the US would pour $US 500 billion into AI development in what has been described as an “arms race” with China, a decision welcomed by Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez.
“President Trump is right that sustaining and enhancing America’s global AI dominance goes hand in hand with reliable, abundant American electricity,” he said. “Data center developers, generators, utilities, and other stakeholders should continue to work together to accomplish the President’s goals on behalf of the American people.”
On Tuesday, however, the assumption that power-hungry chipsets needed to train and run AI data centres would continue to drive demand for “clean” nuclear power ran into a wall.
Chinese firm DeepSeek announced it developed an open large-language model (LLM) that provides roughly the same service as ChatGPT with a smaller team and a fraction of the hardware as their US counterparts.
With the Chinese market subject to sanctions that limit access to the full-power graphics processing units (GPUs) needed to build their own models, the company was forced to find a workaround to do more with less.
These GPUs perform the calculations needed to drive LLMs and are manufactured by chipmaker Nvidia that was, until Wednesday, considered the world’s most valuable publicly-traded company with a market cap of $3.45 trillion. That changed with the latest news from DeepSeek.
In December, DeepSeek claimed it cost (USD) $5.6m and two months to develop its V3 model – a portion of what it cost to create ChatGPT. The accuracy of this figure, however, is questionable as the price of electricity is unknown.
Last week the company released the full version of its R1 model that it said is 30-times cheaper to run than equivalent models produced by US competitors such as OpenAI. The company has not released the training data, but has published papers outlining its methods, effectively allowing anyone to take DeepSeek work and expand upon it for free.
The announcement of a cheaper, less-demanding model triggered a massive 17% drop in Nvidia shares — wiping off $USD593bn, and knocked 20 per cent off the price of Constellation shares. By Thursday Constellation’s performance had partially recovered but not nearly enough to make up for Tuesday’s losses.
These events coincide with the arrival of 22-year-old Stanke, now a pro-nuclear influencer, in Australia to help local campaigns sell the technology to the Australian public.
Her tour includes appearances in Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney, a parliamentary briefing and appearances at private events, including a community meeting in Lithgow, New South Wales.
The town selection is interesting as it has been a flashpoint for an anti-wind and anti-renewables campaign and has traditionally been a strong Nationals stronghold.
Lithgow falls within the federal seat of Calare which is currently held by federal independent Andrew Gee, who resigned from the National Party in 2022 over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
Australia’s new chief scientist open to nuclear power but focused on energy forms available ‘right now’
Prof Tony Haymet says nuclear industry will need to ‘rebuild their social licence’ while noting solar and wind are ‘incredibly cheap’.
Josh Butler, Guardian 28th Jan 2025 –
Australia’s new chief scientist has said he is open to the prospect of nuclear power playing a role in the country’s energy mix, but remained focused on forms of energy that were “available to help us right now”.
On his first day in the job, Prof Tony Haymet said new energy-intensive technologies like artificial intelligence could be powered by renewables, but that he thought serious discussions about nuclear in Australia were likely to be years away.
“If you go back and look at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island and so on, there wasn’t enough transparency and openness. I think the nuclear industry has accepted the fact that they have to rebuild their social licence to operate,” Haymet told a press conference when asked about small modular reactors (SMRs).
“You know, for the next chief scientist in 2030 or 2040, I think you can re-ask your question.”
Haymet said Australia shouldn’t “rule out any energy source” but said new technologies, like AI datacentres, would require much more power in the short term.
“So I’m looking at the slate of energies that are going to be available to help us right now. If we wait until we perfect wave energy or nuclear fusion, or some other source of power, we’re going to miss the bus,” he said……………………………………….
The CSIRO’s GenCost report in December reaffirmed that electricity from nuclear energy in Australia would be at least 50% more expensive than power from solar and wind, backed up with storage. Electricity from SMRs would be significantly more expensive again, with the report rejecting opposition claims that nuclear power plants could be developed in Australia in less than 15 years.
The former chair of the Antarctic Science Foundation and high-level working groups on climate change, Haymet has also held senior roles at the CSIRO, with a particular focus on oceans.
Amid a heated debate on nuclear energy, sparked by the Coalition’s pledge to build conventional large reactors and SMRs – a developing technology that does not exist anywhere on a commercial basis – Dutton and his shadow ministers have been strongly critical of scientific reports and experts who have cast doubt on the viability of an Australian nuclear power industry.
Energy experts have noted the Coalition’s modelling forecasts much lower consumption of energy in Australia than Labor’s renewables-focused energy policy, which the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, claimed would see a $4tn hit to Australia’s economy. The Coalition modelling does not forecast a reduction in power bills and the Coalition senator Matt Canavan admitted the plan was “unachievable”.
At the press conference alongside the science minister, Ed Husic, Haymet strongly backed his former colleagues in the CSIRO.
“You may not be surprised to hear that I think the CSIRO report is a very fine piece of work. I don’t know of any mistakes in it, and if you do, please let me know. Having been inside CSIRO, I see the care and the diligence that goes into these reports,” he said. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jan/28/australia-nuclear-power-plan-tony-haymet-chief-scientist
Nuclear news – week to 27 January
Some bits of good news–
More than 2,400 aid trucks enter Gaza under truce, UN says no big looting issues. The fastest energy change in history continues. Protection for half a million hectares of Amazonian forests
TOP STORIES. Operation Stargate, the project to make AI an “essential infrastructure”.
America’s ‘zombie’ nuclear reactors to be revived to power Trump golden age.
Nuclear- not good vibrations in France. Nuclear power: Engie CEO criticises Arizona ambitions to extend Doel and Tihange lifespan.
When Russian Radar Mistook a Norwegian Scientific Rocket for a U.S. Missile, the World Narrowly Avoided Nuclear War.
From the archives. St Louis radioactively contaminated sites visited by Dr Helen Caldicott
Noel’s notes. Nuclear waste springs eternal in the human folly. For Australia, the nuclear lobby brings out the big massage!
AUSTRALIA. Miss America and nuclear engineer Grace Stanke will be travelling around Australia with a host of other nuclear experts as a part of the National Nuclear Tour.
Is the world going nuclear? The hope and hype of nuclear as a climate solution. We know why nuclear build costs are soaring — and Australia faces the biggest increases. Military Spending vs Social Services: Australia’s Paradox.
NUCLEAR ITEMS
ECONOMICS.
- “We are no longer investing in nuclear.”- Engie, France. “A question arises in terms of nuclear power: should EDF give up its international ambitions?”
- A new report from the International Energy Agency is bullish on the global nuclear sector, but only if obstacles like cost overruns are addressed.
- East Suffolk MP warned “billions worthlessly invested” in Sizewell C. It is only a matter of time before nuclear development at Bradwell falls by the wayside.
- UAE’s nuclear company seeks to capitalise on AI-induced energy demand in US.
ENERGY California debunks a big myth about renewable energy.Europe posts record negative power prices for 2024 as renewables rise. Green energy in abundance.Wind, not nuclear, is the best way to meet Sweden’s climate goals, leading think tank says. Nine Swedish energy researchers find that new nuclear power is not needed. |
| ENVIRONMENT. Vegetation being removed to enable upgrade of Sizewell line.Hinkley Point C: EDF says fish issue could delay new plant operation |
| EVENTS. 9 February -UNITAR Hosts Forum on Nuclear Abolition: 80 Years On |
| HEALTH. Radiation. The Scientists Who Alerted us to the Dangers of Radiation – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyUjtpysc2Y&t=4s |
| INDIGENOUS ISSUES. Indigenous group vows to stop nuclear waste shipments unless new deal struck. |
| LEGAL. Allied Groups Reach Historic Settlement on New Nuclear Bomb Part Production – ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2025/01/21/2-b1-allied-groups-reach-historic-settlement-on-new-nuclear-bomb-part-production/ |
| MEDIA. ‘Acres of Clams’- New documentary tells story of the Clamshell Alliance – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPuE9oKh6-I |
| PERSONAL STORIES. Pete Wilkinson was well known for Sizewell C campaign work. |
POLITICS.
- Memo to Trump: Modify the US policy of sole authority to launch nuclear weapons.
- Trump says he will approve power plants for AI through emergency declaration.
- Legal challenges to infrastructure plans to be blocked in Starmer growth push. Suffolk Coastal MP said priority to hold Sizewell to account.
- Heysham power station debate sparks questions on safety and incidents.
- Anti nuclear activists celebrate fourth banniversary of nuclear weapons.
| POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. Hiroshima, Nagasaki request Trump visit to teach ‘reality’. |
| SAFETY. Lakenheath: Ministers urged to clarify nuclear deployment. Memo to Trump: Address the new threat of drone-vulnerable nuclear reactors. |
| SECRETS and LIES. North Korea beats sanctions to acquire key tool for nuclear weapons -ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2025/01/24/2-b1-north-korea-beats-sanctions-to-acquire-key-tool-for-nuclear-weapons/ The Atlas Network talking about itself |
| TECHNOLOGY. Nuclear fusion: it’s time for a reality check. Bill Gates’ nuclear energy startup inks new data center deal. |
WASTES.
- Sweden’s Nuclear Waste Plan: A 100,000-Year Gamble.
- High likelihood of radioactive waste in smoldering landfill, Missouri officials say.
- UK to dispose of, not re-use, radioactive plutonium stockpile.
- UK Plutonium Disposition Strategy.
- Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s (NWMO) proposed DGR is a speculative unproven concept.
- Northwestern Ontario nuclear waste site selection raises concerns.
- Nuclear Waste: The Dark Side of the Microreactor Boom.
- Brian Goodall slams MP over Rosyth Dockyard nuclear submarines move.
- The Changing Goal Posts of Nuclear Wastes Crazily Earmarked for “Geological Disposal” .
| WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. Memo to Trump: Cancel US Air Force’s Sentinel ICBM program. Memo to Trump: Cancel the sea-launched nuclear cruise missile. Nuclear Proliferation and the “Nth Country Experiment” |
Miss America and nuclear engineer Grace Stanke will be travelling around Australia with a host of other nuclear experts as a part of the National Nuclear Tour.
COMMENT. As I have predicted, the media emphasis is on “Miss America”, and the propaganda is so shallow as to be laughable. (Despite her obvious intelligence, Ms Stanke is not asked to say anything really sensible).
The tour is hoping to improve the public perception around nuclear science.
Grace Stanke told Peter Fegan on 4BC Breakfast, “I think nuclear energy and nuclear science as a whole is seen as some weird, unknown science that you have to spend 20 years in school to even so much as break into the industry, but that’s not the case.”
“Nuclear science is all around us, it’s in our homes. If you like bananas, you’re actually ingesting some radiation, smoke detectors use some nuclear technology.”
“All of these things that are part of our daily lives, so imagine how much more good nuclear science could do if we fully embrace this technology.”
Nuclear- not good vibrations in France
Renew Extra 25th Jan 2025, https://renewextraweekly.blogspot.com/2025/01/nuclear-not-good-vibrations-in-france.html
France is having problems with nuclear power. It was once the poster child for nuclear energy, which, after a rapid government funded build-up in the1980s based on standard Westinghouse Pressurised-water Reactor (PWR) designs, at one point supplied around 75% of its power, with over 50 reactors running around the country. Mass deployment of similar designs meant that there were economies of scale and given that it was a state-run programme, the government could supply low-cost funding and power could be supplied to consumers relatively cheaply.
But the plants are now getting old, and there has been a long running debate over what to do to replace them: it will be expensive given the changed energy market, with cheaper alternatives emerging. At one stage, after the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011, it was proposed by the socialist government to limit nuclear to supplying just 50% of French power by 2025, with renewables to be ramped up.
That began to look quite sensible when, in 2016, faults were found with the steel forgings of some of the old PWR plants. There was an extensive programme of reactor checks, with some units having to be shut down for the duration. But the industry, though chastened by stories about cover-ups, survived, and, with a new government in power led by Macron, the 50% limit was delayed. Indeed, proposals were made for significant expansion, based in part on an upgrade European Pressurised-water Reactor (EPR) design.
Macron said ‘Our energy & ecological future depends on nuclear power; our economic and industrial future depends on nuclear power; and France’s strategic future depends on nuclear power’:
The first EPR in France has been built at Flamanville on the Normandy coast, but all did not go well. It was 12 years late and four times overbudget. And new vibration problems could mean that it may not be able to run at full power. In addition, more problems (this time with stress corrosion) have been found with some of the old plants.
With at one stage, 28 of them shut down for tests and/or repairs, EDFs financial situation became increasingly weak. And, it has got worse. With, in 2024, the French government and economy also being in some disarray, it looked as if plans for more projects might have to be reconsidered, their being reports that ‘in the absence of financial commitment from the State, EDF (is) raising the possibility of halving the investments planned in the EPR2 program in 2025.’
It was the same for EDFs programme of building more EPRs in the UK- with one at Sizewell in Suffolk being proposed to follow on from the part-built one at Hinkley Point in Somerset. Indeed, the French Court of Auditors has just recommended ‘not approving a final investment decision for EDF in Sizewell C before obtaining a significant reduction in its financial exposure in Hinkley Point C’.
So what next? The somewhat beleaguered French government evidently wants the European Commission to revise EU renewable energy directive to also provide support for new nuclear! But back home, it is arguably ‘far from ready’ for a new nuclear expansion programme. And, with nuclear costs rising, the idea of treating it as ‘low risk’ compared with renewables in EU plans is being resisted. Then again EDF evidently think some new nuclear options are too risky- it has pulled out of work on its initial design for a Small Modular Reactor, so it is no longer a contender for the UK SMR competition.
What does all this mean for the UK? Well, although its overall finances are not good, up until recently, EDF has done quite well out of the UK, still running its fleet of old AGRs and its single PWR, with the UK’s funding subsidy schemes providing support for French profit-making via surcharges on UK consumers bills – in the case of the proposed new RAB scheme for Sizewell C, in advance of project completion. Indeed, some might say EDF’s exploitation of the UK has been overdone and not helpful!
Certainly, EDF’s current troubles add to the increasing level of uncertainty about Sizewell C. China had provided some backing for Hinkley, but, with there being growing concerns about security, the UK government decided that China could not be allowed to back Sizewell. So the hunt was on for new backers. However, it has proven to be hard, and with talk of the bills for these projects ballooning, allegedly to £46bn for Hinkley, the opposition lobby is getting more assertive. Hinkley Point C was originally meant to start up in 2017, but may finally get going in 2031 or so. It is a giant project, impressive in a way, but arguably not what is needed, with renewables getting so much cheaper. Same for Sizewell C- it’s getting increasingly hard to justify it.
EDF do seem to be having it tough with nuclear of late, but although the costs of the EPRs may be disputed, whatever they turn out to be, it’s far from clear if the French EPRs will be value for money. The UK has done quite well so far with renewables, which have helped it get its emissions down by a half between 1990 and 2022, compared to a 23% reduction in France, where nuclear is still predominant and renewable are, so far, less developed. Time for a change everywhere? Certainly, back in 2021, the IEA and RTE Agency in France produced a study asking if it was technically possible to integrate very high shares of renewables in large power systems like that in France. It concluded that, if coupled with adequate storage and system balancing, for renewables to supply 85-90% of power by 2050 and 100% by 2060. However, it would be expensive. But then so would continuing with nuclear, maybe more so.
The Atlas Network talking about itself
The MPS and its Atlas Network have conscientiously worked to change university campuses from places of free inquiry and critical thinking. Those beachheads in universities are matched by opportunities to find and promote “conservative” students. The idea is to shape them and potentially promote their careers in politics, the law, media, policy, academia and business.
January 26, 2025, Lucy Hamilton , https://theaimn.net/the-atlas-network-talking-about-itself/
There is much to learn about the Atlas Network from one of Ron Manners’ Mannkal Economic Education Foundation newsletters. This Mannkal newsletter was issued in April 2015. The project continues unabated.
The Atlas Network is a global interconnection of over 500 faux “thinktanks” (or junktanks), dedicated to reinforcing and propagandising the “free market” message. The Mont Pelerin Society (MPS) is considered its steering committee. The Atlas Network was designed from 1981 to metastasise similar bodies to sell “business” ideas. It finds local enthusiasts and donors around the world to eliminate obstructions to profit for American corporations and local fellow-travellers. The MPS is secretive: its membership is only rarely leaked.Ron Manners, with mining money, founded Mannkal in 1997. He is currently a life member and on the board of the MPS. He was appointed to the Advisory Council for the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in 2010. In 2020, he was awarded Atlas’s Sir Antony Fisher Achievement award. The newsletter explains that the name Mannkal originated in the cable/telex address of the company he inherited.
The Mannkal newsletter illustrates the connection to the MPS which first met in 1947. It brought together Austrian School economists such as Friedrich von Hayek and Ludwig von Mises together with the Chicago School’s Milton Friedman. The MPS, through Hayek, began the process of creating plutocrat-serving law and economics institutes in universities around America.
It also took the model provided by bodies such as the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), founded in 1946, to create the mirage that a chorus of genuine policy experts supported the political economy that the donors desired. Friedman did much of the public relations for the project before the junktanks became more organised.
In the 1950s, Brit Antony Fisher, inspired by The Road to Serfdom, visited Hayek for advice. One of the UK junktanks in the Network explains that Hayek “told him bluntly to forget politics. Politicians just follow prevailing opinions. If you want to change events, change ideas.” He instructed Fisher to found thinktanks to help shift the prevailing mood away from the consensus that government, labour and capital all had a say in how society should operate towards a world where capital could dictate all including directing the government for its own ends.
When the co-founder of the Atlas Network Heritage Foundation, Ed Feulner, visited Australia in 1985 to conduct a workshop, he contrasted Friedman’s role marketing supply side economics, privatisation and the flat tax with the need for bodies to “set the terms and agenda of public policy.” The intent was to propagandise or “market an idea.” There must be “permanent saturation campaigns with multi-pronged, longterm strategies.” Proctor and Gamble, he explained, sell Crest toothpaste by “keeping the product fresh in the consumers’ minds.” That was to be the junktanks’ role. (These are a combination of Dr Jeremy Walker’s summaries and Feulner’s own words. The essay is well worth your time to see the history and people of Atlas in Australia.)
That Adam Smith Institute essay continues to boast that the Atlas Network had grown at the time of writing to 450 bodies. Now, the essay boasts, “They are changing events all over the world – from land reform in Peru, through privatization in Britain, public debt control in Pakistan, to low-cost education in India. And spreading the ideas of liberty in even the most unlikely places, in the Muslim world from Morocco through Turkey to Yemen and Kazakhstan; in Africa from Mali and Ivory Coast to Ethiopia; in Europe and the Far East.”
The MPS and its Atlas Network have conscientiously worked to change university campuses from places of free inquiry and critical thinking. Those beachheads in universities are matched by opportunities to find and promote “conservative” students. The idea is to shape them and potentially promote their careers in politics, the law, media, policy, academia and business.
One of Mannkal’s primary roles is the selecting of libertarian students in Western Australia for scholarships to Atlas Network junktanks around the world. In this edition of the newsletter, two report back on attending an MPS conference. One celebrated attending “networking events with prominent intellectuals and businesspeople from around the world.” Another was dazzled by, “Having dinner alongside a mining magnate, the chairman of a prominent think-tank, a famous TV presenter and an ex-CIA agent”. He continued, “I was exposed to a network rich in knowledge and influence, including a plethora of world-class academics, Nobel laureates and senior political figures.” (Nafeez Ahmed’s Alt Reich shows the significance of the CIA – and their former Nazis – in the shaping of the Atlas Network.)
Melbourne’s Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), a 1943 creation, was absorbed into the Atlas Network in the era of the Liberal Party’s battle between the Wets and the Dries. It was reportedly “hijacked” by “radicals” after people senior in the body attended an MPS conference.
The newsletter report of a third scholarship holder illustrates the Cold War dread of communism that continues to motivate the MPS and its Atlas junktanks. Former Czech president Vaklav Klaus, then a member of the MPS for 25 years, spoke at a lunch. People who have suffered under communist and socialist governments are often rolled out to warn audiences of the continuing threat of authoritarianism. The offspring of refugees who have had awful experiences in such countries provide some of the enthusiastic recruits for Mannkal.
Neoliberalism was always a bunk economics that trumpeted itself as superior because it was driven by theory and rejected evidence. In fact it was an ideology – and a network of activists – that functioned to serve the rich donors. As the project became our new normal, it created ever more dramatic inequalities, resulting in the fury and pain that drives sadopopulism. Youthful interest in social democracies has been a more productive response. In 2024, the IPA was sharing American Atlas junktank Cold War 2.0 propaganda to address the risk that youth might turn away from the “freedom” they sell.
Those of us watching the Atlas Network’s Heritage Foundation plans come to fruition in the first week of Trump’s second term see where authoritarianism lurks right now. Heritage’s Mandate for Leadershiphas come a long way since its first iteration set out the Ronald Reagan economic revolution’s steps. Now it combines its ultra-libertarian positions with authoritarian social policy and autocratic governance.
In this newsletter, Mannkal boasts of 154 scholarships available. Many are to conferences. Fifteen are “midyear internships abroad.” Another 45 are “3-month internships abroad.” The students are sent to Atlas junktanks around the world with 12 partners in particular listed. They include the inspiration for Mannkal, the FEE in Atlanta mentioned above. The Institute of Economic Affairs in London is another. That’s the body that helped create Maggie Thatcher’s economics after she was inspired by The Road to Serfdom. She co-founded another Atlas junktank, the Centre for Policy Studies.
One of the interns celebrates Maggie Thatcher’s certainty of the importance of Atlas: “It started with Sir Keith and me, with the Centre for Policy Studies, and Lord Harris at the Institute of Economic Affairs. Yes, it started with ideas, with beliefs. That’s it. You must start with beliefs. Yes, always beliefs.” Thatcher and Reagan make repeat appearances as Atlas heroes in the newsletter.
Another intern went to the New Zealand Institute, where the Chief Economist is Eric Crampton, MPS director.
The intern who was sent to Atlas headquarters in Washington was delighted to attend events at several of the Atlas junktanks including the Cato Institute (where Rupert Murdoch was a board member in the 1990s) and the Leadership Institute (party to Project 2025 and, like Heritage, to the Christian Nationalist Council for National Policy). She was impressed by Tom Palmer: Atlas’s Executive Director for International Programs. His patronising speeches at the Friedman Conference over the years can be found online.
Another of the interns was deeply grateful to spend time in Melbourne at the IPA with John Roskam. Two went to the Menzies Research Centre (MRC). One was thrilled to sit in on “meetings with high-level politicians and policy-advisors.” Mathias Corman, then Finance Minister, spoke at an MRC event about “shrinking government” in New Zealand and Australia. The Atlas Network’s Project 2025 shows how brutal the cuts to government are ultimately intended to be.
The Executive Director of the Liberal Party-affiliated MRC Nick Cater has just spent the European summer with Viktor Orbán’s junktanks in Budapest.
Scholarship donors are listed in the newsletter as Manners, Gina Rinehart, Willy Packer and Toby Nichols.
One public figure who shows the path and now models the Atlas policy influence is David Seymour, Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand/Aotearoa. He was recruited on his university campus by the Atlas Association of Consumers and Taxpayers (ACT). The ACT is the now the political party that he leads. Seymour was awarded an Atlas “MBA” after a fortnight’s training at Atlas headquarters. He went on to work in the Canadian Atlas Frontier Center before returning to Atlas work in NZ. He is far from the only political leader with deep Atlas Network ties.
Austrian School economics is largely dead these days, although Atlas partners continue to try to resuscitate them. One of the intern reports in the newsletter says the “highlight of my experience was learning about Austrian economics, a stream of economics that is not taught in Australian high schools or universities.” There is a cogent reason why she was freshly discovering the contribution from “economists such as Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Joseph Schumpeter and Frederic Bastiat – important economists whose ideas or names have never once been mentioned in my four years of studying economics.” Several interns mention this inculcation of Austrian School truthiness as part of their experience.
One of the most ebullient floggers of Austrian thought in America has been Rand Paul. The intern sent to Canada’s Fraser Institute was excited to report that he met the man.
The newsletter discusses its links to the then highlight of the Atlas Network calendar in Australasian region, the Friedman Conference. In 2024, the conference was reduced to a rabble-rousing event called the Triple Conference that gave a day to libertarianism, a day to Christian Nationalism and a day to conspiracy theory nonsense.
The Mannkal newsletter also links to the History of Economic Thought Society Australia (HETSA), which hosts a Young Scholars Initiative (YSI) conference. HETSA is, anecdotally, a host to MPS figures. In 2024, this event took place at the Alphacrucis University College in NSW. Alphacrucis is the official training college of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God network, Australian Christian Churches reshaped under Hillsong’s Brian Houston. Notre Dame University, also a Catholic force in reactionary politicking and culture wars, provided the YSI organiser.
A third conference series mentioned is the “Freedom to Choose” conference, hosted by Notre Dame University and “supported” by Mannkal. The 2024 conference focused as its theme on the “enduring relevance” of Hayek’s Road to Serfdom, the book that inspired so many of the big money donors in the early history of neoliberalism.
Ron Manners pontificates on Public Choice Theory in the newsletter. This is a core aspect of Atlas’s history.
One of the key details to be gleaned from the newsletter is that this project is lifelong and often intergenerational for the donors. One of the interns at the IEA considered herself lucky to meet Hayek’s daughter who allowed the interns to “gain insight into the workings of her father first-hand!” Antony Fisher’s daughter, Linda Whetstone, was president of the MPS, chair of the Atlas Network and on the board at the IEA. Rupert Murdoch’s father Keith co-founded the IPA with Charles Kemp. Rupert was an official board member at Cato, and an unofficial conduit of the IPA, Centre of Independent Studies and MRC, whose people are regularly found on his platforms. The Kemp sons, Rod and David, were key figures in the thinktanks and the Atlas Americanisation of Australian politics.
Charles Koch has been a prime force financially and strategically at Atlas for decades.
It is hard to know how much of the change from Keynesian balanced economy to neoliberal brutality is attributable to the MPS and the Atlas Network, compared to how much might be due to the general impact of the donors and ideologues. Industry lobbies and the direct power of the plutocrats intermix with the marketing of the Atlas Network and its soft power impact for American corporations around the world.
The plutocrats ventriloquised through Atlas operations, but do not seem to feel the same compulsion to separate their goals from their faces any longer. Whether it’s Elon Musk or Gina Rinehart, they seem to feel comfortable now dictating oligarch policy for themselves.
Regardless, it’s worth watching Atlas talking about itself: the freedom it declares it fights for was always anti-democratic.
We know why nuclear build costs are soaring — and Australia faces the biggest increases
Around the world, experts have investigated why nuclear power construction costs keep going up. And we’re ignoring their lessons.
Crikey, Bernard Keane 21 Jan 25
The history of nuclear power construction is the history of costs going up and up, and delays getting longer and longer — not just over the past decade but since the 1960s. And studies of what has caused such rampant inflation show Australia is in the worst position to enter the complex and eye-wateringly expensive business of building nuclear power plants.
Global price spikes in construction materials resulting from the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine have helped push infrastructure costs up everywhere, but significant blowouts in the construction costs of nuclear power plants are a much older story (when Crikey first covered nuclear power in Australia, in 2009, the first thing we pointed out was the cost…………………………………. (Subscribers only) more https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/01/21/australia-nuclear-energy-cost-peter-dutton/
Nuclear waste springs eternal in the human folly
25 Jan 25, https://theaimn.net/nuclear-waste-springs-eternal-in-the-human-folly/
“Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never Is, but always To be blest.” – Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, 1733
Pope goes on to say – “The soul, uneasy, and confin’d from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.” I’m not sure what he means, but “never is, but always to be blest” really does suggest that the blessed solution actually never comes.
All that is fine, in the religious context. Because that way, it will all come good when we get to Heaven, in the next life.
In the nuclear waste context, the powers that be are as confident as the religious leaders, that all problems will be solved – later on, so we can go on hell-for-leather, making the poisonous trash.
‘High likelihood’ of radioactive waste in smoldering landfill, Missouri officials say
I was prompted to these thoughts by January 22nd news from Missouri – High likelihood of radioactive waste in smoldering landfill, Missouri officials say. I’ve been following this particular radioactive trash problem for at least 12 years https://nuclear-news.net/2013/05/16/radioactive-trash-in-st-louis-related-to-underground-landfill-fire/. And that fire’s still going! And that radiation is still causing cancers in the local community.
Dr Helen Caldicott, founding president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, visiting St Louis in 2016, said – the radioactive contamination in north St. Louis County is “worse than most places” she’s investigated, and called the situation “obscene.” Records reveal 75 years of government downplaying, ignoring risks of St. Louis radioactive waste.
So, the cleanup of St Louis’ County radioactive sites, contaminated by wastes from nuclear-weapons -making, goes on, with ever hopes to complete it, – while the nuclear-weapons-making goes on, creating even more radioactive trash
St Louis County is symbolic of the whole obscene nuclear waste situation across the planet.
Energy expert Kurt Cobb, writing in Oil Price, examines Sweden’s options for disposing of nuclear waste. He argues that climate change, political instability, and technological limitations could all pose threats to the long-term safety of nuclear waste storage. The Swedish plan is to fill the storage site—”60 km of tunnels buried 500 metres down in 1.9 billion year old bedrock”—sometime by 2080 at which time it will be closed.
Cobb points out that civilization, that is, human settlement in cities, has only been around about 10,000 years, but the wastes must be safe and secure for 100,00 years. The containers, copper capsules, are likely to corrode, and leak radioactive elements into groundwater, in a much shorter time.
He questions our faith in technological progress, which is supposed to absolutely solve the nuclear waste problem. It’s very like the Christian view on Alexander Pope’s statement – we’re not going to be blest in this world, so just look to life in the hereafter.
Kurt Cobb also discusses nuclear reprocessing, which brings its own problems, and still creates more waste, and he mentions other suggestions – shooting such waste into space or into the Sun.
Now here’s where I’m shocked at Mr Cobb. In all my years of reading worthy treatises on nuclear waste disposal, this is the first time I’ve found an energy expert to come up with a heretical thought like stopping making radioactive trash:
“I wonder if we were wise to create something in the first place that requires 100,000 years of care, given how heedless we as a species are to hazards of our own making that may destroy our current civilization much, much sooner than a thousand centuries from now.“
Really, Mr Cobb, wash your mouth out with soap! You don’t say things like that, if you want to be taken seriously by the world’s reputable nuclear experts.
The devil of Frontier’s nuclear modelling is not in the detail, it’s in the omissions
Alan Rai, Jan 23, 2025, ReNewEconomy
In November and December 2024, Frontier Economics released two reports on the transition required in the NEM to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, drawing on AEMO’s 2024 Integrated System Plan (ISP).
This was followed by various summaries and takeaways of the Frontier modelling by, amongst others, Steven Hamilton, Matt Kean, Kane Thornton, and David Leitch.
In contrast to some of the public reaction to date, I think Frontier’s work adds to the debate about the potential for nuclear power generation in Australia. In particular, Frontier’s work raises a philosophical question about the pace of decarbonisation we want, and our willingness to pay for it.
We might all subscribe to “Net Zero by 2050”, but the pathway to get there, as AEMO’s and Frontier’s modelling show, can clearly differ. I will return to this issue, below.
This article differentiates from what’s been publicly said and written about Frontier’s work in two important ways:
1. It focuses on the assumptions in and implications of Frontier’s modelling, whereas the bulk of the existing public discussion mixes aspects of Frontier’s analysis with political parties’ and politicians’ statements on nuclear power and their selective use of Frontier’s analysis to support their statements.
2. It discusses both of the Frontier reports, whereas the bulk of existing discussion focuses on selected aspects of Frontier’s second report.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. In conclusion
To reiterate what I started with, I think Frontier’s work adds to the debate about the potential for nuclear power generation in Australia – their modelling poses some important philosophical questions for us.
However, the above-noted challenges means Frontier’s modelling falls short of a definitive answer to whether nuclear is appropriate, at any scale and at any future time horizon, for Australia’s power sector. As Frontier appropriately noted, their modelling is not “the last word on this matter.” https://reneweconomy.com.au/the-devil-of-frontiers-nuclear-modelling-is-not-in-the-detail-its-in-the-omissions/
26 January – WEBINAR Autonomous Armageddon: Nuclear Weapons and AI
Join us for a critical webinar on Sunday, January 26, at 2:00 PM GMT “Autonomous Armageddon: Nuclear Weapons and AI“, to explore the alarming dangers posed by the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into nuclear weapons systems. Hosted by three Nobel Peace Prize-winning organizations dedicated to eliminating nuclear weapons, this event will feature expert speakers, including:
Moderator: Professor Karen Hallberg, Secretary General of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, 1995 Nobel Peace Prize.
Representative of Nihon Hidankyo, 2024 Nobel Peace Prize;
Professor Geoffrey Hinton, 2024 Nobel Prize Winner in Physics;
Connor Leahy, CEO of Conjecture (AI safety research);
Dr. Ruth Mitchell, neurosurgeon and Chair of IPPNW, 1985 Nobel Peace Prize;
Melissa Parke, Executive Director of ICAN, 2017 Nobel Peace Prize; and
Together, they will discuss the general and specific risks AI presents to nuclear command and control systems, the catastrophic humanitarian and environmental consequences of nuclear war, and ongoing initiatives to mitigate these threats. We invite you to participate in this vital discussion to address the intersection of AI and nuclear weapons.
Register here or below. A recording will be made available following the session.
Nuclear news as the Trump chaos world begins
Now we enter the chaos of Trump World. It means lies, manipulations, news that you can’t trust. I cannot keep up with the Israel, Ukraine, monster China etc stuff – though it’s all on the brink of nuclear disaster.
So, from now on, I’m confining this newsletter more narrowly to NUCLEAR news. And with an emphasis on Australia, as it now faces a nuclear industry takeover, and becoming the USA’s proxy for nuclear war against China.
TOP STORIES
California wildfires: a warning to Nuclear Regulatory Commission on climate change.
Chris Hedges: The Ceasefire Charade. Report: Israel and Hamas Agree ‘in Principle’ to Ceasefire and Hostage Deal .
Becoming a responsible ancestor – about America’s nuclear wastes.
The EPR nuclear sector: new dynamics show persistent risks -La cour des comptes .
Former nuclear energy executives face federal charges in massive Ohio bribery scheme
Noel’s notes. 2025 – Australia’s dangerous nuclear dance with Dutton? The world’s blind eye to the nightmare problem of nuclear waste disposal.
AUSTRALIA. Dutton’s new nuclear nightmare: construction costs continue to explode. Virginia, we have a problem. More Australian nuclear news at https://antinuclear.net/2025/01/20/australian-nuclear-news-13-20-january-2025/
| CLIMATE. Trump’s got a radioactive time bomb under Greenland’s ice. Wildfire risks high at nuclear plants.Weatherwatch: Could small nuclear reactors help curb extreme weather? There’s a credibility gap. |
| ECONOMICS. French energy giant EDF launches search for Hinkley Point finance after damning audit report – ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2025/01/19/2-b1-french-energy-giant-edf-launches-search-for-hinkley-point-finance-after-damning-audit-report/. French auditor recommends EDF delays UK Sizewell investment decision ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2025/01/17/2-b1-french-auditor-recommends-edf-delays-uk-sizewell-investment-decision/Sizewell C’s future in doubt as EDF told to prioritise French nuclear power. Cost of Sizewell C nuclear project expected to reach close to £40bn. EDF Energy Juggles Maintenance Amid UK’s Nuclear Energy Challenges. Ukraine’s parliament has given the go-ahead for the purchase of two old Russian nuclear reactors. |
| ENERGY. Renewable energy sets global record…but it’s not enough. |
| EVENTS. Petition/email: Save Billions, Cancel Sizewell C |
| HEALTH. Nukes kill kids. |
| HUMAN RIGHTS. Amazon Is Censoring My Most Recent Magazine Issue. |
| LEGAL. Last Energy, Texas, Utah allege NRC overstepping in SMR regulation |
MEDIA. CBS’ 60 Minutes Exposes the Biden Administration’s Complicity in Gaza Genocid.
Interviews the Whistleblowers. ‘National scandal’: The BBC’s Gaza cover-up.
Told you so: Financial Times follows Nuclear Free Local Authorities’s lead on Sizewell C cost estimate.
How Canada supplied uranium for the Manhattan Project- documentary “Atomic Reaction“
| PERSONAL STORIES. Patrick Lawrence: The Nihilism of Antony Blinken. |
| POLITICS. Over time, over budget… will our new nuclear plants ever be built? – ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2025/01/20/1-a-over-time-over-budget-will-our-new-nuclear-plants-ever-be-built/ |
| POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. The UK military’s secret visits to Israel. |
| URANIUM. Saudi Arabia plans to enrich and sell uranium as Iran commences nuclear talks with E3. |
| WASTES. Ask the locals: NFLA Chair says it is ‘prudent and proper’ for Nuclear Waste Services to consult residents over South Copeland flooding risk. Dunfermline MP Graeme Downie calls for MoD commitment to dismantle dead nuclear submarines. |
| WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. Are AI defense firms about to eat the Pentagon? Outgoing CIA director says ‘no sign’ Iran developing nuclear weapons. Submarine nuclear core project faces ‘challenges’. |
Military Spending vs Social Services: Australia’s Paradox
January 18, 2025 AIMN Editorial, By Denis Hay
Discover how Australia’s currency sovereignty allows for unlimited funding yet prioritizes military spending over essential social services.
Introduction: Australia’s Spending Paradox
Despite being a currency-sovereign nation with the ability to fund public initiatives without financial constraints, Australia’s federal government consistently prioritizes military spending and corporate welfare over social services. Why is it that when it comes to healthcare, education, and housing, the government suddenly “runs out of money”?
This article explores the reasons behind these budgetary choices, exposing how ideological biases and misinformation shape public spending priorities. By understanding currency sovereignty, we can challenge these myths and advocate for a fairer allocation of public funds.
Understanding Currency Sovereignty
What Is Currency Sovereignty?
Currency sovereignty means that a government, like Australia’s, issues its own currency and controls its supply. Unlike households or businesses, it does not rely on income to spend. Instead, it creates money through the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). This ability allows the government to finance any program it considers necessary.
Key takeaways:
– The government cannot run out of money.
– Taxes and borrowing are tools to regulate inflation, not fund spending.
– Spending decisions are constrained by resource availability and inflation, not cash limits……………………………..
Federal Spending Priorities
Military Spending
In recent years, Australia has committed to massive defence expenditures, including the controversial AUKUS deal. For 2023-24, defence spending surpassed $52 billion, a figure justified by “security concerns” and geopolitical alliances……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Conclusion
Australia’s federal government has the financial ability to fully fund social services while keeping other commitments. The persistent excuse of financial constraints reflects ideological choices rather than economic realities. By understanding currency sovereignty and advocating for change, Australians can push for a fairer society……………………………. more https://theaimn.net/military-spending-vs-social-services-australias-paradox/
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 