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.
Baseload coal is rapidly losing value, and poses biggest risk to Australian utilities — RenewEconomy
Coal will struggle to remain economically viable beyond 2030. Companies with a heavy exposure, like AGL, need to act quickly to survive. The post Baseload coal is rapidly losing value, and poses biggest risk to Australian utilities appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Baseload coal is rapidly losing value, and poses biggest risk to Australian utilities — RenewEconomy
Australia’s hidden carbon market: New options allow companies to out-bid government — RenewEconomy
Surging prices in voluntary market means that carbon abatement projects are now likely to be funded by companies rather than the government. The post Australia’s hidden carbon market: New options allow companies to out-bid government appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Australia’s hidden carbon market: New options allow companies to out-bid government — RenewEconomy
September 13 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “Australia Is Shaping Up To Be The Villain Of COP26 Climate Talks” • If Australia’s allies were worried that the country might cause them problems at upcoming climate talks in Glasgow, the events of the past week should leave little doubt in their minds. Australia made clear that it plans to pursue a […]
September 13 Energy News — geoharvey
“No new coal:” Majority of coal projects abandoned since Paris but China is key — RenewEconomy
World edges closer to point of “no new coal” after widespread collapse of new coal proposals and growth of government commitments to end coal. The post “No new coal:” Majority of coal projects abandoned since Paris but China is key appeared first on RenewEconomy.
“No new coal:” Majority of coal projects abandoned since Paris but China is key — RenewEconomy
1 This month
17 October, Free Public Talk on Nuclear Issues in South Australia
David Noonan will speak on public interest concerns over the new Roxby Downs Indenture Act 2026 on BHP copper-uranium mining and ore processing in SA, and on how AUKUS may face SA with a High-Level nuclear waste agenda.
Dr Jim Green will discuss international developments in the field of nuclear power including ‘small modular reactors’ and Generation 4 ‘advanced’ nuclear reactor concepts.
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
