Nuclear by stealth? Concerns grow over nuclear submarine plan
President Joe Biden has today announced a partnership with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to expand military capabilities and collaboration in the Asia Pacific region. A key part of the deal is Australia’s acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines for the first time.
16 Sept 21, ICAN Australia views this proposal with alarm due to the increased nuclearisation of Australia’s military capability.
The submarines would be conventionally-armed, but powered by nuclear reactors and purchased from the US.
“Important questions remain over construction of the submarines and the potential imposition of military nuclear reactors on Adelaide or other cities, making construction sites and host ports certain nuclear targets,” said Gem Romuld, Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Australia. “Military nuclear reactors in Australia would present a clear nuclear weapons proliferation risk and become potential sites for nuclear accidents and radiological contamination long into the future.”
The new alliance and deal sends a message of hostility and preparations for war among nuclear-armed nations. Australia should resist becoming further embroiled with military escalation in our region.
The vast majority of Australians want Prime Minister Morrison to sign and ratify the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. While this wouldn’t bar Australia from acquiring nuclear-powered submarines, it would require Australia to ensure its alliance relationships do not involve cooperation on the use or threat of use of
nuclear weapons, a critical step forward for global security.
We reject any collaboration on nuclear weapons capabilities with nuclear-armed nations, in clear violation of international law. This proposal needs to be studied closely, with a transparent, open, evidenced based process. As the government seeks input around this proposal for nuclear powered submarines, we will be seeking a better understanding of the environmental, security, diplomatic, economic and regional implications.
“We note that the PM has clearly stated that this move does not signal future consideration of nuclear weapons. But he must match this with action – Australia must sign and ratify the TPNW now – to not do so leaves the door open for a future stealthy slide towards nuclear weapons.
The best way that the PM can assure Australians, the region and the world that he is serious about rejecting nuclear weapons is to pick up a pen today and sign the nuclear weapon ban treaty,” said Gem Romuld, Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Australia.
Too slow, too expensive: Why nuclear power makes no sense for Australia — RenewEconomy
Nuclear makes no sense economically and it makes no sense because we have better, cheaper and more viable energy alternatives right now. The post Too slow, too expensive: Why nuclear power makes no sense for Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Too slow, too expensive: Why nuclear power makes no sense for Australia — RenewEconomy
As predictable as the sun rising in the east, or the Nationals having a leadership spill, Australia is once again facing a campaign from nuclear advocates to start a nuclear energy industry on our shores. This is a rabbit hole we have been down before and the basic facts haven’t changed – nuclear energy remains too expensive, too slow to build, and makes no sense for Australia.
It makes no sense economically and it makes no sense because we have better, cheaper and more viable energy alternatives right now. We should be pursuing the much cheaper alternative of firmed renewables that will reduce power bills for Australian households and businesses while also reducing Australia’s emissions. Nuclear is another
distraction obstructing us from realising our real need – affordable,clean and reliable energy.
Morrison says sub deal won’t lead to nuclear power push in Australia. Don’t believe him — RenewEconomy
Morrison says he has no plans for nuclear power plants despite nuclear subs deal. But conservatives and the pro-nuclear lobby won’t stop trying. The post Morrison says sub deal won’t lead to nuclear power push in Australia. Don’t believe him appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Morrison says sub deal won’t lead to nuclear power push in Australia. Don’t believe him — RenewEconomy
Prime minister Scott Morrison insisted on Thursday morning that the landmark nuclear submarine deal struck with US president Joe Biden and UK prime minister Boris Johnson won’t translate into a push for nuclear power plants in Australia.
“Let me be clear: Australia is not seeking to establish nuclear weapons or establish a civil nuclear capability. And we will continue to meet all of our nuclear non-proliferation obligations,” Morrison said.
On the issue of nuclear power plants, don’t believe him. Morrison could hardly have said anything else. It’s one thing to announce a switch to nuclear powered submarines without any broad social discussion, but quite another to commit the country to nuclear power.
But the pro-nuclear lobby – both within and without the federal Coalition government – won’t be able to help themselves, even if the reality is that the sub construction won’t likely even start for the best part of a decade, such is the complexity of the technology.
The lobby will say it is bizarre that Australia could be the only country in the world planning to sustain a nuclear powered submarine fleet without a civil nuclear industry. And the argument is already being put that if Australia is happy to host nuclear power in a tin can under the sea, then why not in a land-based power plant.
Morrison to tear up the submarine deal with France
Going nuclear: PM to announce $90b French submarine deal is dead, AFR, Andrew Tillett and Matthew Cranston, 15 Sept 21,
The Morrison government is poised to tear up the troubled $90 billion contract with French shipbuilder Naval Group and partner with the United States and United Kingdom to switch to an American-made nuclear-powered submarine.
One source said the dramatic move would be justified that the shift to nuclear technology was required in light of the changing strategic circumstances as China becomes more aggressive in the region.
As an interim step, there were suggestions the US was planning to operate some of its Virginia class nuclear-powered submarines out Perth’s naval base, HMAS Stirling.
The British government, which also operates nuclear-powered submarines, is expected to support Australia with reactor technology locally.
US President Joe Biden is scheduled to give a press conference at 7am Australian time on a “national security initiative”.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton is currently in Washington DC along with Foreign Minister Marise Payne for annual defence and diplomatic talks. Mr Dutton’s office declined to comment the speculation.
But a senior government source told The Australian Financial Review Australia was going to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
It is understood Mr Morrison had tried to speak to French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, another source said.
The Morrison government is poised to tear up the troubled $90 billion contract with French shipbuilder Naval Group and partner with the United States and United Kingdom to switch to an American-made nuclear-powered submarine.
One source said the dramatic move would be justified that the shift to nuclear technology was required in light of the changing strategic circumstances as China becomes more aggressive in the region.
As an interim step, there were suggestions the US was planning to operate some of its Virginia class nuclear-powered submarines out Perth’s naval base, HMAS Stirling.
The British government, which also operates nuclear-powered submarines, is expected to support Australia with reactor technology locally.
US President Joe Biden is scheduled to give a press conference at 7am Australian time on a “national security initiative”.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton is currently in Washington DC along with Foreign Minister Marise Payne for annual defence and diplomatic talks. Mr Dutton’s office declined to comment the speculation.
But a senior government source told The Australian Financial Review Australia was going to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
It is understood Mr Morrison had tried to speak to French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, another source said.
Mr Morrison is due to travel to Washington next week for talks with Mr Biden, but it was thought that announcing the new submarine tie up with America together with the President would be deemed provocative.
Senior cabinet ministers met in Canberra on Wednesday for a top secret briefing on the shipbuilding program. Anthony Albanese and other senior Labor MPs have reportedly been briefed on the issues.
Naval Group staff, MPs and defence personnel have also been told to expect a significant briefing on Thursday.
The chief of navy, Mike Noonan, had a planned trip cancelled by Mr Morrison for Thursday’s announcement while Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead, who was commissioned to conduct a review of the submarine program earlier this year, was in Washington DC three weeks ago on the PM’s instructions, a source said.
Retired US Vice Admiral William Hilarides, who chairs the Morrison government’s Naval Shipbuilding Expert Advisory Panel, will be a key figure in the transition.
Mr Biden, Mr Morrison and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 leaders summit in Cornwall in July — a move at the time that was interpreted by some observers as a snub to Mr Morrison that Mr Biden did not grant him a one-on-one meeting.
But if the three leaders were discussing submarines, which are regarded as a country’s most sensitive military technology, that casts the meeting in a whole different light.
Naval Group was meant to build 12 submarines in Adelaide as one of the keystones of the government’s continuous naval shipbuilding program. With the submarines now to be built in the US, deep maintenance of the Collins class submarines is now likely to remain in Adelaide instead of shifting to Perth.
Terminating the contract may cost taxpayers up to $400 million.
Relations between Naval Group and the government have broken down over a series of disagreements over spiralling costs, design changes, schedule slippage and local industry involvement since the French company was selected ahead of German and Japanese designs in 2016.
The Australian Financial Review revealed in February Mr Morrison had commissioned Vice Admiral Mead and Commodore Tim Brown to examine options for Australia’s submarine program as a Plan B to the French-designed boats…………
The government’s frustration with Naval Group reached the point where in April it refused to sign a new contract for the next phase of the project, giving the company until this month to refine its offer.
While sources said the Defence Department had offered in-principle approval for the revised offer, it appears the government is about to sink the deal.
Quoting US sources, American media website Politico said the agreement between the three countries, to be known as AUUKUS, would go beyond submarines and cover sharing knowledge about advanced military technology. https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/speculation-pm-will-announce-90b-french-submarine-deal-is-dead-20210915-p58rzo
Lethal radiation levels detected in Fukushima nuke plant reactor lid — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
A remotely controlled robot inserts a dosimeter into a hole created to measure radiation levels beneath the uppermost lid of the No. 2 reactor’s containment vessel in a study on Sept. 9. The operator of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant could be forced to reconsider the plant’s decommissioning process after lethal radiation levels […]
Lethal radiation levels detected in Fukushima nuke plant reactor lid — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
3 old white politicians do a deal for the nuclear lobby
Why Biden Is Taking The Rare Step Of Sharing Nuclear Submarine Tech With Australia, https://www.npr.org/2021/09/15/1037338887/why-biden-is-taking-the-rare-step-of-sharing-nuclear-submarine-tech-with-austral AYESHA RASCOE, 15 Sept 21,
In a rare step, President Biden is announcing Wednesday that the United States plans to share its nuclear-powered submarine technology with Australia.
The announcement comes as Biden tries to refocus U.S. national security and economic policy on the threat posed by China.
There has been only one other time that the United States has shared what a senior administration official described as “extremely sensitive” technology — more than 60 years ago, back in 1958, with Great Britain. The United Kingdom will be involved with the new trilateral security partnership, known as AUKUS.
The decision comes amid escalated tension in recent years over territorial disputes in the South China Sea — a major shipping lane with oil and natural gas resources — with China building military outposts on several small reclaimed islands. The U.S. and other regional partners have stepped up their military presence in the region, and the U.S. is in the process of reorienting its military posture toward the Indo-Pacific.
Ahead of the formal announcement from the White House, a senior U.S. administration official insisted to reporters that the new security cooperation with Australia was not directed specifically at China.
“I think one of the thingsthat the United States has done most effectively in the Indo-Pacific is to secure peace and stability and to be the ultimate guarantor of that rules-based order,” the senior official said. “Over the last several years there have been questions: Does the United States still have the stomach? Do we have the wit and wisdom that we want to continue to play that role? What President Biden is saying with this initiative is, ‘Count us in.’ “
It’s about nuclear propulsion, not nuclear weaponsThe three AUKUS countries will launch an 18-month effort to determine how best to share the nuclear submarine propulsion technology, which will allow the Australian navy’s submarines to travel faster and farther, with more stealth.
“Australia has no intention of pursuing nuclear weapons,” the official told reporters. The Biden administration is working to move past the 20-year war in Afghanistan and the chaotic U.S. exit from Kabul. Biden has put countering China at the center of his economic and national security efforts, describing it as the biggest challenge of this era.
Australia’s prime minister will visit next week
Biden is set to meet in person at the White House next week with the leaders of India, Japan and Australia — what’s known as the “Quad.”
He invited leaders of Japan and South Korea as the first two foreign leaders to visit the White House in person earlier this year. And his first foreign trip in June to the Group of Seven and NATO was also focused on the economic and security threats posed by China.
For only the second time since taking office, Biden spoke last week to Chinese President Xi Jinping. He did not discuss the new security partnership “in any specific terms,” the senior U.S. official said, but emphasized to Xi that the United States planned to play a strong role in the region.
Australia’s breakthrough solar tech has eye on rooftop and mega-project markets — RenewEconomy
SunDrive’s breakthrough moment in solar cell technology could be a game-changer for Australian solar projects and for local solar cell production. The post Australia’s breakthrough solar tech has eye on rooftop and mega-project markets appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Australia’s breakthrough solar tech has eye on rooftop and mega-project markets — RenewEconomy
TEPCO not informing the Regulation Agency for 2 years about the 25 damaged filters at Fukushima Daiichi NPP — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
After finishing my stage (*Mako and her husband Ken are comedians) , we attended a Monitoring and Evaluation meeting of the Nuclear Regulatory Agency and a press conference of TEPCO today. Various terrible things came out at the Regulatory Agency meeting. As for the holes of ALPS high-performance filters, although no photos came out at […]
TEPCO not informing the Regulation Agency for 2 years about the 25 damaged filters at Fukushima Daiichi NPP — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
“Unforgivable:” Australia’s emissions cuts from grid slower than other major economies — RenewEconomy
Despite Australia’s rapid deployment of wind and solar, it still trails other major economies in the scale of emissions reductions from the grid. The post “Unforgivable:” Australia’s emissions cuts from grid slower than other major economies appeared first on RenewEconomy.
“Unforgivable:” Australia’s emissions cuts from grid slower than other major economies — RenewEconomy
Fukushima plant failed to probe cause of faulty filters — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
FILE in In this Feb. 27, 2021, file photo, tanks (in gray, beige and blue) store water that was treated but is still radioactive after it was used to cool down spent fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Japan. Technicians at Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant […]
Fukushima plant failed to probe cause of faulty filters — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
September 15 Energy News — geoharvey
World: ¶ “Sweden Is Home To One Of The World’s Tallest Wooden Structures” • The Swedish city of Skellefteå, on the shores of the Baltic Sea, is home to a new performing arts center and hotel constructed entirely of wood. Designed by White Arkitekter, it features a 20-story hotel that springs from the Sara Cultural […]
September 15 Energy News — geoharvey
Australian Greens blast nuclear submarine deal.
Floating Chernobyls: : Greens blast sub deal https://www.perthnow.com.au/politics/floating-chernobyls-greens-blast-sub-deal-c-3978289, Matt CoughlanAAP, September 16, 2021
The Greens have warned Australia acquiring nuclear-powered submarines will create “floating Chernobyls” in the heart of major cities.
The UK and US will give Australia access to top secret nuclear propulsion technology for a fleet of new submarines to be built in Adelaide through new security pact AUKUS.
Greens leader Adam Bandt believes the move increases the prospect of nuclear war in the region and puts Australia in the firing line.
“It’s a dangerous decision that will make Australia less safe by putting floating Chernobyls in the heart of our major cities,” he told the ABC on Thursday.
It’s a terrible decision. It’s one of the worst security decisions in decades.”
Mr Bandt said the Greens would fight the decision and urged Labor to do the same.
“The prime minister needs to explain what will happen if there’s an accident with a nuclear reactor now in the heart of one of our major cities?” he said.
“How many people in Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth, will die as a result of it? What is going to happen if there is a problem with one of the nuclear reactors?”
It is understood the submarines will not require a civilian nuclear capability but rather will have reactors and fuel which will last the life of the vessel.
Independent senator and former submariner Rex Patrick wants an urgent parliamentary inquiry to report before the next federal election.
Senator Patrick, who has been a vocal critic of the $90 billion French submarine deal that is now over, said scrutiny was crucial.
We have to be careful we don’t move from one massive procurement disaster into something else that hasn’t been thought through properly,” he said.
The government has sunk $2.4 billion on the French program and is negotiating on other compensation, which remains commercial in confidence.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese and three senior frontbenchers received a briefing ahead of the announcement on Thursday morning.
Napandee radioactive waste dump plan – a nuclear waste of money.
“A Nuclear waste of money – Greenies”The Advertiser 14Sept 2021 p.9 MICHELLE ETHERIDGE
RADIOACTIVE waste should be stored at an expanded nuclear medicine production site in Sydney, rather than shipped to Kimba, opponents of the Eyre Peninsula project say.
The federal government has set aside $59.8m over four years for an expansion of “temporary” nuclear waste storage at Lucas Heights, NSW. During a parliamentary committee hearing on Monday, conservation groups argued the project rendered unnecessary a plan to move intermediate-level waste to a new facility near Kimba, where it is to be stored for several decades.
The federal government says space for some types of nuclear waste at Lucas Heights will be exhausted by 2027 and the expansion will provide at least a further 10 years’ capacity until the new national radioactive waste site planned for Napandee, near Kimba, is operational about or after 2030. Conservation SA chief executive Craig Wilkins, said his organisation supported keeping the waste at Lucas Heights until a longterm deep geological (underground) repository was found.
“I and others are genuinely scratching our heads as to why this waste from ANSTO (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology) is being transferred from one temporary place that’s safe and secure to another place on an interim basis. This is … a phenomenal waste of money,” he said.
The Australian Conservation Foundation’s Dave Sweeney said waste could become stranded at Kimba in the absence of a long-term plan. ANSTO staff said the new Lucas Heights facility would have a life of about 50 years
Too late to pull out of Australia’s botched super-expensive submarines purchase?
‘Lost the plot’: How an obsession with local jobs blew out Australia’s $90 billion submarine program, By Anthony GallowaySEPTEMBER 14, 2021 Nick Minchin isn’t surprised Australia’s future submarines are arriving later than expected and $40 billion more expensive. He has seen it all before……..
I was staggered by that, no wonder we ran into financial difficulties with Defence’s estimates of maintaining and operating these things,” Minchin tells The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age…………
Now, history is repeating itself.
Australia’s 12 new attack-class submarines – Australia’s largest military acquisition in its history – were originally slated to cost between $40 billion and $50 billion. According to the latest projections they will now cost about $90 billion to build and $145 billion to maintain over their life cycle. Despite the fact former prime minister Tony Abbott promised the first of the submarines would be in the water by the mid-2020s, it is now not scheduled to become operational until the mid-2030s.
In the current debate on Australia’s submarine debacle, French-bashing has been all the rage. And with French builder Naval Group’s cost blowouts, schedule slippages and dubious commitments on meeting local content requirements – it’s been an easy sport. But it’s worth asking: would we have arrived at this point regardless of which bidder we chose? After all, Defence’s acquisition debacles are not confined to French-designed submarines…………….
And it’s not just submarines where there are inherent problems………..
………………. the Abbott government opted for a deeply flawed Competitive Evaluation Process which led to the current mess.”.
……….. On April 26, 2016, Turnbull announced France had won the hard-fought global race for the $50 billion contract and all the submarines would be built in Adelaide. According to Turnbull, the recommendation from Defence was “unequivocal” that the French proposal for a conventionally powered version of the latest French nuclear submarine design – the Shortfin Barracuda – was the best of the three options.
Is it too late to pull out?
Once Scott Morrison took over the prime ministership, the project was already going off course. By late 2019, Defence officials conceded that the cost of building and maintaining the submarines would total $225 billion over the life of the program, while concerns were mounting about Naval Group’s schedule slippages and its ability to meet its local content commitments, which were never written into the agreement.
…………. Morrison tasked Vice-Admiral Jonathan Mead and Commodore Tim Brown to look at alternative options for the submarine fleet, including long-range conventionally powered submarines that Swedish company Saab Kockums had offered the Dutch navy. The government also rejected Naval Group’s proposal outlining the next two-year phase of the program, telling the company it needed more information on how its cost and schedule projections would be met.
After taking over the defence portfolio, Peter Dutton told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age he was having some “frank discussions” with his department. A month later, Dutton revealed he had ordered life-of-type extensions for all six Collins-class submarines, which involves completely rebuilding them so they can continue to operate beyond their planned retirement date of the mid-2020s. Dutton also tasked Defence to embrace more asymmetric warfare capabilities by acquiring long-range missiles and drones, which can be “produced in bulk, more quickly and cheaply, and where their loss would be more tolerable, without significantly impacting our force posture”.
After taking over the defence portfolio, Peter Dutton told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age he was having some “frank discussions” with his department. A month later, Dutton revealed he had ordered life-of-type extensions for all six Collins-class submarines, which involves completely rebuilding them so they can continue to operate beyond their planned retirement date of the mid-2020s. Dutton also tasked Defence to embrace more asymmetric warfare capabilities by acquiring long-range missiles and drones, which can be “produced in bulk, more quickly and cheaply, and where their loss would be more tolerable, without significantly impacting our force posture”.
Within the next week, the government is expected to announce it has reached a deal with Naval Group on the next two-and-half years of the submarine program.
By then, it almost certainly will be too late to pull out. https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/lost-the-plot-how-an-obsession-with-local-jobs-blew-out-australia-s-90-billion-submarine-program-20210913-p58r34.html
27 September Australian premiere of film ”The Atom: A Love Affair”
In November the UN Climate Change Conference takes place in Glasgow and time is running out for our federal government to decide on a new climate plan.
Positive pressure is coming from state governments and the private sector who are moving away from coal and gas and investing in clean energy solutions. People power is blocking public money going to climate pollution. However, I fear that a pivot away from fossil fuels might encourage a handful of politicians and lobbyists to once again take up the toxic torch and spruik nukes in Australia.
Nuclear power is high cost and high risk. It would be a threat to our communities and natural world and, like coal and gas, has no place in our future.
We know this because we have had decades of watching its deadly and avoidable consequences hit all parts of the world. The Atom: A Love Affair documents this story and humanity’s turbulent love-hate relationship with nuclear power from post-war to present day – watch an exclusive Australian-first screening of it.
What: Australian premiere screening of The Atom: A Love Affair and Q&A with Director Vicki Lesley, former Greens nuclear spokesperson and writer Scott Ludlam and former ACF President Professor Ian Lowe AO
When: Monday 27 September 7.30pm AEST (Q&A starts at 9pm AEST)
Where: Online via livestream – buy your tickets now.
Cost: $10
Panellists:
Vicki Lesley has been working in documentaries for over 20 years. She has developed and made top-rated & award-winning TV shows for broadcasters including the BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, Discovery & National Geographic and directed independent short films which have screened at festivals around the world and online. THE ATOM: A LOVE AFFAIR is her first feature documentary.
Professor Ian Lowe AO is a leading Australian public academic and intellectual with a keen interest and direct experience in the nuclear and climate sectors and discourse. As well as being a physicist, former CEO of the Commission for the Future, President of the Australian Conservation Foundation and a referee with the International Panel on Climate Change his career has included extensive engagement with universities, research councils and advisory groups. Ian is the author of numerous books and articles, including Living in the Hothouse, A Big Fix, A Voice of Reason, Bigger or Better?, The Lucky Country? and the newly published Long Half Life – exploring the nuclear industry in Australia. He is also the author of a 2006 Quarterly Essay on the prospects for nuclear power in Australia, and a ‘flip book’ with Professor Barry Brook, giving the two sides of the nuclear argument.
Scott Ludlam was a Senator from 2008 to 2017 and served as nuclear spokesperson and deputy leader of the Australian Greens. He has also worked as a filmmaker, artist and graphic designer. Full Circle, recently published by Black Inc., is Scott’s first book and reflects a life of activism, study and travel.
Moderator:
Dave Sweeney has been active in mining, resource and nuclear issues for three decades through his work with the media, trade unions and environment groups. He has been active in some of Australia’s major community campaigns including against uranium mining in Kakadu and radioactive waste dumping in the arid zone. Dave is a co-founder of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. Dave leads the Australian Conservation Foundation’s nuclear free campaign and holds a vision of an Australia that is thoughtful about its future and honest about its past.
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.
.
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 