New $1 billion-plus Project In Queensland To Double World’s Green Hydrogen Production Capacity — The Anonymous Widower
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on ABC News.
New $1 billion-plus Project In Queensland To Double World’s Green Hydrogen Production Capacity — The Anonymous Widower
France’s President Macron quite clear that Scott Morrison lied to him
I don’t think, I know’: French President Macron says Scott Morrison lied to him. SMH, By Bevan Shields, November 1, 2021 Rome: French President Emmanuel Macron says Scott Morrison lied to him over the cancellation of a mammoth submarine contract, in a dramatic escalation of tensions between the two leaders.
Asked by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age at the G20 summit in Rome whether he could trust Morrison again, Macron replied: “We will see what he will deliver……..
When also asked whether Morrison lied, Macron said: “I don’t think, I know.”………
In Rome, Macron noted Australia had ditched a signed contract for a known submarine program in exchange for an 18-month review into how it can acquire nuclear-powered submarines from the US and UK……….
US President Joe Biden used a meeting with Macron on the eve of the G20 to claim he was unaware that France had not been given advance notice that Australia had resolved to tear up a $90 billion submarine contract……I was under the impression that France had been informed long before that the deal was not going through…..https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/i-don-t-think-i-know-french-president-macron-says-scott-morrison-lied-to-him-20211101-p594sx.html
The myth of “newer, safer, less expensive” nuclear power to fix the climate
Denise Duffield, – associate director of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles 30 Oct 21.
The myth of “newer, safer, less expensive” nuclear power has promised for decades to deliver a magical climate solution.
Unfortunately, despite billions of dollars in research and development, subsidies, loan guarantees and liability waivers, and countless promises that next-generation technology was “just around the corner,” nuclear power is not and will never be that solution. It is far too slow and costly to impact the climate crisis, and it presents insurmountable threats to public health that will worsen as the climate crisis grows.
Radioactive waste generated by nuclear power will remain dangerous for thousands of years, burdening future generations for our short-sighted gain. We need to stop wasting precious resources on false solutions that prop up uneconomical and polluting industries and invest instead in truly sustainable, community-driven solutions.
LA Times 30th Oct 2021
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-10-30/nuclear-power-climate-change
South Australia shortlists seven renewable hydrogen projects for massive export hub — RenewEconomy
South Australia shortlists seven projects that could deliver 1.5 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen to its proposed new hub. The post South Australia shortlists seven renewable hydrogen projects for massive export hub appeared first on RenewEconomy.
South Australia shortlists seven renewable hydrogen projects for massive export hub — RenewEconomy
Japan looks to renewables, role of nuclear elusive ahead of election — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
Oct 29, 2021 Japan aims to increase its reliance on renewable energy in achieving net-zero emissions, but the role of nuclear power to be played toward that end appears to be elusive even in the government’s energy plan approved by the Cabinet about a week ahead of Sunday’s general election. The plan outlines ways to […]
Japan looks to renewables, role of nuclear elusive ahead of election — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Judges Visit Site for First Time in TEPCO Shareholders’ Derivative Suit — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
Oct. 29, 2021In a lawsuit filed by shareholders of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) demanding compensation from the former management over the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, judges from the Tokyo District Court visited Fukushima Prefecture on March 29 and inspected the site of the plant. This is the first time that […]
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Judges Visit Site for First Time in TEPCO Shareholders’ Derivative Suit — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
Japan PM’s nuclear push faces resistance ahead of election — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
Oct 28, 2021 KASHIWAZAKI, Japan – A decade after triple meltdowns at Fukushima forced mass evacuations and a shut-down of the nuclear industry, Japan has restarted only a third of its 33 operable reactors Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s push to restart Japanese nuclear power plants idled after the Fukushima disaster faces stiff opposition ahead of […]
Japan PM’s nuclear push faces resistance ahead of election — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
October 31 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “Here To Stay Or Gone In 30 Years? Inside The Fight Over The Future Of The Oil Industry” • Oil is back above $80 per barrel, but production has been on the decline since the turn of the century. Even without a need to stop use of fossil fuels, the oil industry cannot […]
October 31 Energy News — geoharvey
Health impacts of nuclear accidents
Too expensive, too slow: Even the baseload argument doesn’t work for nuclear. ReNeweconomy, Mark Diesendorf 29 October 2021
”’………………………………………Health impacts of nuclear accidents
Another misleading pro-nuclear statement revived following the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in 2011 is that no excess cancer incidence has been observed around Fukushima, implying that no cancers will be induced. The logical error is to assume that the absence of evidence implies no impact.
It is still too early for most types of cancer, which have latent periods of 20–60 years, to appear around Fukushima. The only cancers likely to appear within a decade after exposure are thyroid cancer and leukemia.
A large increase in thyroid cancers has been observed in the region, but their cause is debated by some on the grounds that the increase could be the result of better screening. Leukemia is an uncommon disease and so even a large percentage increase would be impossible to verify statistically with high confidence (see UNSCEAR 2020).
Fortunately for the citizens of Tokyo, the wind was mostly blowing offshore during the meltdowns of three of the six Fukushima reactors, sending about 80 per cent of the emitted radioactive material out over the Pacific.
Soon after the disaster an exclusion zone was established around the power station and more than 100,000 people evacuated. For these reasons, Fukushima tells us very little about radiation-induced cancers.
The Chernobyl Forum, a group dominated by the International Atomic Energy Agency, estimated that the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 could be responsible for “up to 4000 cancer deaths” in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. However, the disaster also sprayed radionuclides over large areas of Europe outside those countries.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (Cardis et al. 2006) estimated that the disaster would be responsible for 16,000 cancer deaths in Europe by 2065.
Another estimate, by a team of medical researchers and practitioners in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia (Yablokov et al. 2006), found that the total number of deaths in their countries could be an order of magnitude higher, but a quantitative estimate was probably impossible due to uncertainties in the total quantities of radionuclides emitted, geographic distribution of radioactivity, and limitations in medical diagnosis and monitoring.
Most of the evidence that low-level radiation is carcinogenic comes from detailed studies of the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, medical professionals who worked with radiation, uranium miners, children who received CT scans, children living near nuclear power stations, and children who were exposed in utero in the bad old days when pregnant women were routinely x-rayed.
This is the basis of the linear-no-threshold model, the scientific understanding that the number of cancers induced by ionising radiation is proportional to the dose received and that there’s no threshold.
Was the Fukushima disaster “natural”?
Pro-nuclear campaigners claim that the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi was entirely the fault of the tsunami, that it was all just “a natural event”.
Yet the choice of technology cannot be exonerated, because it resulted in mass evacuation, compensation payments (huge in total but inadequate for individuals), destruction of the local agriculture and fishing industries, temporary loss of national tourism, temporary collapse of the electricity grid, massive removal of radioactive soil and vegetation, a multi-decades-long continuing process to decommission the reactors, and the need to import vast quantities of fossil fuels. (The latter would have been greatly reduced if the government’s prior commitment to nuclear energy hadn’t resulted in its neglect of renewables.)
Total costs have been estimated at over US$500 billion, while the nuclear power station was insured for only US$1.5 billion. …………………. https://reneweconomy.com.au/too-expensive-too-slow-even-the-baseload-argument-doesnt-work-for-nuclear/
Correcting Alan Finkel’s nuclear fallacies.
30 Oct 21 Friends of the Earth has written to Dr. Alan Finkel, Special Adviser to the Australian Government on Low Emissions Technology, correcting a number of his recent statements regarding nuclear power. The letter is online.
Dr. Jim Green, national nuclear campaigner with Friends of the Earth, said:
“Dr. Finkel is honest and intelligent ‒ which is more than can be said for some of the ideologues and idiots promoting nuclear power ‒ but his recent statements regarding nuclear power contain a number of inaccuracies.
“Dr. Finkel’s claim that the Fukushima disaster resulted in a “handful” of radiation deaths is inaccurate. The World Health Organization projects increases in all solid cancers, breast cancer, leukaemia and thyroid cancer. In addition, around 2,000 indirect deaths have been recorded. The economic costs amount to hundreds of billions of dollars and there is an incalculable human toll for the 160,000 evacuees from the disaster.
“Dr. Finkel’s claim that safety is the number one imperative underpinning the design of modern reactors is an industry claim that cannot be substantiated. Nuclear power is, in the words of Bob Carr, “cripplingly expensive” and far more expensive than renewables. The nuclear industry is trying to compete economically ‒ mostly by gouging taxpayers and electricity ratepayers ‒ and that is the number one imperative driving everything the industry does.
“Dr. Finkel’s comments about the ‘beauty’ of small modular reactors ignore the fact that the only SMR operating anywhere in the world, a Russian plant, was nine-years behind schedule, six times over-budget, produces power at an exorbitant A$270 per megawatt-hour, and is used to power fossil fuel mining operations in the Arctic. It is ugly in every respect.
“Dr. Finkel’s claim that high-level nuclear waste is being disposed of in a deep underground repository in Finland is false. The 2006 Switkowski report anticipated completion of this repository in 2010. Now, completion is anticipated in the mid-2020s. No waste has been disposed of.
“The only operating deep underground repository for nuclear waste is in the United States and was closed for three years after a chemical explosion in an underground waste barrel in 2014 ‒ the culmination of staggering mismanagement and regulatory failures.
“Here in Australia, the federal government is trying to establish a national nuclear waste dump on farming land near Kimba in SA despite the unanimous opposition of Barngarla Traditional Owners and NH&MRC guidelines which state that farming land should not be used for nuclear waste repositories.”
“The viability of renewables coupled with multiple storage technologies and demand management is a work in progress but there are promising signs. For example, South Australia has reached a 60% renewable share and the Liberal state government is enthusiastically pursuing a 100% net renewables target by 2030. Moreover, the SA Liberal government states that nuclear is not viable now and will not be viable for the foreseeable future.
“Calls for a discussion about nuclear power overlook the fact that there have been four inquiries over the past five years. The Prime Minister said just a few days ago that the federal government has no intention of repealing legislation banning nuclear power, and no state government is interested.
“Surely this is the time to have a breather from the seemingly endless nuclear debate, rather than starting yet another discussion?”
Scott Morrison is impressed by Bill Gates – of course – it’s about small nuclear reactors solving climate change
(Ed. Of course, Scott Morrison is NOT reading the genuinely well-informed book on climate – Michael E Mann’s The New Climate War )
The billionaire, the book and the PM: How Bill Gates convinced Scott Morrison on net zero, By Rob Harris October 30, 2021”……….. Gates says nuclear energy is key…….. https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/the-billionaire-the-book-and-the-pm-how-bill-gates-convinced-scott-morrison-on-net-zero-20211029-p59489.html#comments
Australians should remember our past and continuing uranium/nuclear environmental disasters
Australia has a nuclear past, we just like to forget it, St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, Chris McLennan, 29 Oct 21, No sooner did Australia announce it was going to buy a nuclear submarine fleet, there was talk of nuclear power plants as well.
Am I the only one who fears they unknowingly contracted COVID-19 or some other nasty and it has somehow warped their mind?
Nuclear this and nuclear that – everyone needs to have a nice lie down.
Australia has a poor record when it comes to nuclear power………….
One of the biggest fans of nuclear power in this country is a Senator from the Northern Territory, a veterinarian in her former life, Sam McMahon.
As someone from the Territory, she should know better
I’ll explain why in a bit.
One of the biggest fans of nuclear power in this country is a Senator from the Northern Territory, a veterinarian in her former life, Sam McMahon.
As someone from the Territory, she should know better. There are quite a few thumping great holes in the ground in her patch which need mending first.
It’s one of our dark secrets and remains one of the biggest environmental disasters in Australian history…..
Australia’s first large scale uranium mine was dug at Rum Jungle on behalf of our “Allies” in the UK and USA to fuel their nuclear weapon programs in the 1950s….
The NT Government has recently lodged plans for another go at the rehabilitation of the old mine which is today filled with water.
If it goes ahead, this will be the second go.
The mine was the first large industrial enterprise undertaken in the NT……
At Rum Jungle, a total of 863,000 tonnes of uranium ore was mined in a project under the ownership of the Commonwealth Government through the Australian Atomic Energy Commission.
The 200 hectare site closed in 1971 and was abandoned.
About $20 million was later spent trying to clean up the NT site, but the pollution continues and may continue for thousands of years.
Large volumes of radioactive mine waste (tailings) are still on the site. In 2003, an investigation of the tailings piles found that capping which was supposed to help contain this radioactive waste for at least 100 years, had failed in less than 20 years.
The latest rehabilitation efforts at Rum Jungle from 1983 to 1986 cost $18.6 million. Although at the time of the 1980s works the objectives were deemed to have been achieved, more recent studies have documented the gradual deterioration of the original rehabilitation works.
The NT and Federal Government agree there needs to be an improved rehabilitation strategy for the site.
These latest plans say the clean up would take at least five years.
No estimate was given for how much it would cost or who is going to pay for it.
The soil is contaminated, as is the groundwater and there is still waste rock needing disposal on the site.
In short, it’s a mess…….
There’s Ranger.
There is still no logical explanation as to how a big uranium mine could be allowed in the middle of perhaps Australia’s most famous national park, Kakadu, but it was.
Ranger has recently been closed and the site is somehow to be rehabilitated after more than 130,000 tonnes of uranium oxide was pulled from the place over the past three decades.
Energy Resources Australia, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, says it has spent more than $642 million in the past eight years on rehabilitation of the mountains of tailings complicated by a lake created from a vast flooded pit.
Their work is only a few years from being finished.
Only time will tell if that scar ever heals…………. https://www.theleader.com.au/story/7485098/australia-has-a-nuclear-past-we-just-like-to-forget-it/?cs=9676
Indonesia wants non-peaceful nuclear submarines to be subject to nuclear non-proliferation treaty (surprise, surprise, Australia doesn’t agree)
Caution over nuclear treaty covering subs, Canberra Times, Dominic Giannini, 29 Oct 21,
Australian officials say they don’t believe there is merit in expanding the nuclear non-proliferation treaty to nuclear-powered submarines.
Indonesian officials have said they would seek a “fourth pillar” to include the non-peaceful usage of nuclear technology, closing a “loophole” exposed by Australia’s nuclear-submarine deal with the US and UK.
They say other countries could seek to follow Australia, which would be the first non-nuclear weapons state to acquire nuclear submarines.
Foreign affairs department officials rejected the need to expand the treaty, saying the acquisition of nuclear-propelled submarines was in accordance with Australia’s non-proliferation requirements……
The Indonesians raised concerns about the potential for an arms race in the region after Australia announced its plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines through the AUKUS partnership…….. https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7488125/caution-over-nuclear-treaty-covering-subs/
The nuclear lobby’s false story on small nuclear reactors
Too expensive, too slow: Even the baseload argument doesn’t work for nuclear. ReNeweconomy, Mark Diesendorf 29 October 2021
”………………………Small Modular Reactors
The nuclear industry is nowadays creating the false impression that new reactors exist that could solve the above major problems of existing reactors while contributing to climate mitigation.
The main hypotheticals are the so-called “small modular reactors” (SMRs), small enough to be distributed around a country and modular in the sense that they could be mass-produced by the thousand in factories and erected rapidly.
However, the actual situation is that SMRs don’t exist — they are paper reactors fuelled on hot air. They could not be installed in Australia for at least 15 years, if ever. By that time, given the political will, we could have an electricity system that’s entirely powered by renewable energy, mainly solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind, supplemented by hydro.
The reason why past and current generations of commercial nuclear power reactors are very big is to obtain economies of scale. Nuclear costs have been increasing while wind and especially solar costs continue to fall.
SMRs would have to be mass-produced in hundreds, possibly thousands, to overcome the loss of economy of scale and, even then, their electricity would at best cost much the same as from existing big nuclear power reactors.
There are no orders for multiple SMRs and that’s fortunate because the risk of proliferation would be greatly increased by distributing SMRs around the countryside. Reducing proliferation risk or increasing safety or improving waste management would all increase cost……………
SMRs that simultaneously solve proliferation, safety and waste management, while reducing costs, are a dangerous fantasy. https://reneweconomy.com.au/too-expensive-too-slow-even-the-baseload-argument-doesnt-work-for-nuclear/
1 This month.
20 September –National Day of Action in Melbourne on the International Day of Peace
Help Aunty Sue Protect Her Land and Sacred Sites From Destructive Rocket Testing.
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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 