Assange may finally leave Ecuadorian embassy in London as health worsens – report Julian Assange, who has spent more than 2,230 days in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, is expected to leave the building soon with his health deteriorating, sources say.
This latest information about the WikiLeaks founder, who was already expected to leave the embassy “in the coming weeks,” was Wednesday by Bloomberg which cited “two people with knowledge of the matter.” The news agency reported that the whistleblower’s health “has declined recently.”
The news comes days after Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno announced that Assange must “eventually” leave the embassy. “Yes, indeed yes, but his departure should come about through dialogue,” the Ecuadorian president said in answer to a reporter’s question on whether he will eventually have to leave.
“For a person to stay confined like that for so long is tantamount to a human rights violation,” Moreno said, stressing that Ecuador wants to make sure that nothing “poses a danger” to the whistleblower‘s life.
The whistleblower’s health is deteriorating, according to the Courage Foundation, a group that fundraises for the legal defense of whistleblowers. Assange is in “a small space” and has “no access to sunlight,” the group , adding that this has a serious impact “on his physical and mental health.”
Rape allegations, stemming from Assange’s visit to Sweden in August 2010, were the main reason that he sought refuge in London’s Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 when a warrant was issued for his arrest. Assange maintained that he could be extradited from Sweden to the US, where he would be prosecuted for his whistleblowing and would not receive a fair trial. Swedish prosecutors dropped the investigation in 2017, but a British warrant for violating bail conditions still stands.
Washington simply “wants revenge” for the “embarrassment” WikiLeaks caused it, and wants it to serve “as a deterrent to others,” human rights activist Peter Tatchell told RT earlier in July. “Someone who’s published that information in the same way that the New York Times or the Guardian publish information, I don’t think they should face risk 30 or 40 years in jail in the United States,” Tatchell added.
Launched in 2006, the WikiLeaks project is aimed at exposing government and corporate secrets. It garnered global attention back in 2010 with its massive release of classified US military documents, which included those detailing how American military equipment was deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Assange won thousands of admirers, with many applauding his willingness to speak the truth.
The Department has completely stage managed the initial identification and nomination of the current sites at Kimba and all the accompanying procedures for the Kimba community before the nominations were made
It has similarly staged managed all subsequent aspects of the nominations including such things as selecting and effectively running the various community advisory groups including preparing meeting agenda and minutes
AZARK SUBMISSION to SENATE COMMITTEE INQUIRY INTO THE SELECTION PROCESS FOR A NATIONAL RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITY IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA (Submission no. 110)
INTRODUCTION
This submission is made by Azark Project Pty Ltd (ACN 618 973 792) on behalf of itself and Shire of Leonora and Goldfields Carbon Group Pty Ltd as the joint participants in and proponents of what is known as the Azark Project.
The Azark Project relates to the nomination of a previously identified and examined area of land near Leonora in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia as the site for selection by the federal government for the national for a national radioactive waste management facility.
In addition the Azark Project includes the possible development at that site of an underground nuclear waste disposal facility as a commercial enterprise.
TENOR OF SUBMISSION
It is submitted that the selection process adopted by the federal Department of Industry Innovation and Science and its responsible minister for the selection of a site for a national radioactive waste management facility at Kimba and Hawker in South Australia is completely inappropriate and lacks any proper and thorough investigation and assessment.
It seems that the selection of a site at Kimba is a predetermined decision by the federal government irrespective of the site suitability and the strong objections of a large community group which makes a complete mockery of the selection process.
Moreover the federal government has seemingly no regard to the financial aspects involved as it is intent on unnecessarily wasting taxpayers’ money by literally buying the support of the community while failing to properly assess and consider the far cheaper and technically superior option and advantages of the Azark site at Leonora in Western Australia.
The events and reasons for that submission are more full explained in the following notes on the respective nominations.
The overall submission is that the process by which the federal government is determining the site is neither appropriate nor thorough and fails to properly deal with the referred terms relating to financial compensation and the definition and determination of broad community support including indigenous support and consequently it is submitted that the process relevant to the Kimba and Hawker nominations has become a farcical exercise. Continue reading →
(Azark-) No interference with the heritage sites area would exist • No other heritage problems . No watercourses or other issues with water or flooding since well above the floodplain in low rainfall region. nominated site is geologically completely stable and free of all seismic activity as granite hard rock which has not moved for 2.6 billion years.
Submission AZARK PROJECT to Senate Inquiry (submission No 110) Attachment 1
LEONORA WESTERN AUSTRALIA COMPARISONS OF SITES
BARNDIOOTA (SOUTH AUSTRALIA) VS AZARK SITE (WESTERN AUSTRALIA)
COMPARISON DESCRIPTION
BARNDIOOTA (SOUTH AUSTRALIA) AZARK SITE COMMENT Size 6,300 ha 3,000 ha Only 100 ha at most required for the facility, but whole area is typographically the same throughout Topography Relatively flat and dry Totally flat and dry Entire Azark nominated site and surrounding land is granite hard rock 4km deep throughout and well above the floodplain Being hard rock granite, there is no water table
these seismic surveys are many times more intensive and informative than what has been suggested for Kimba (and Hawker)
The Azark Project has on several previous instances fully documented all of the features and attributes of its site and the availability of all infrastructure and services and manpower which would fully support and cater for the construction and operation of both an above or below ground facility
AZARK PROJECT LEONORA Submission to Senate (no. 110) Attachment 3 National Radioactive Waste management Facility Site Charcterisation Project Comparison of the site characterisation by AECOM of Kimba with the Azark Project site
Technical assessment information for the Azark Project at Leonora compared to the AECOM Characterisation Project for Kimba – February 2018
Amidst the worst drought in living memory, the world’s driest continent is also heating up due to climate change. Critics say too little is being done to prevent increasing temperatures and decreasing rainfall.
New South Wales, which is Australia’s most populous state and about the size of France, was declared 100 percent in drought on Wednesday.
Despite the fact that it is winter, farmers in the state and throughout the southern region of Australia are struggling to maintain their livelihood as crops fail and livestock die.
With grazing land turned to dust, some farmers have resorted to hand-feeding to keep their stock alive. They also have permission to shoot kangaroos that compete for pasture. Depression and suicide among farmers are on the rise.
And yet, there is no end in sight to this crippling drought, unseen for generations. The predicted start of bushfire season has been brought forward two months in New South Wales to prepare for what could be an apocalyptic summer scenario.
Though Australia is the driest inhabited continent on Earth and has regularly experienced intense droughts since modern record-taking began after European colonization, the relatively fertile southern regions continue getting hotter while receiving less rain.
Autumn of 2017 in southern Australia was the driest for 116 years. And 2017 was also the hottest year ever in New South Wales.
Increasing drought
“These regions experienced increasing intensity and frequency of hot days and heat waves over the past 50 years, in turn increasing drought severity,” said Lesley Hughes, a professor of biology at Sydney’s Macquarie University and councillor with the Climate Council — a climate change information nonprofit created after the current government closed down the state-funded Climate Commission.
But the “source of the problem is complex,” she told DW.
Scientists are confident that warming linked to human-induced climate change “has contributed to a southward shift in weather fronts from the Southern Ocean, which typically bring rain to southern Australia during winter and spring,” Hughes explained of the reduced precipitation.
As rain-inducing weather fronts drift away from land to the Southern Ocean, the risk of drought has increased, especially in agricultural heartlands such as the Murray Darling Basin in New South Wales.
Benjamin Henley, a research fellow in climate and water resources at the University of Melbourne, shares this view.
“Climate model projections suggest that with anthropogenic emissions, the storm track will shift south, reducing rainfall [over land] in the south,” he told DW.
But global warming could also be increasing the intensity of drought. “Higher temperatures during droughts, which influence evaporation rates, can be due to both the lack of rain itself [due to the reduced evaporative cooling], and the higher probability of warmer temperatures due to climate change,” Henley explained.
“Less than 1% of the total wastes of the nuclear reactor comes from medical use… For Intermediate Level Waste, (ILW) ARPANSA says repeatedly that there is no urgency for a news interim waste facility. Internationally, ILW is stored near reactors….
ANSTO is expanding nuclear activities, which will mean massive increases in wastes.
Information about nuclear medicine has been over-blown. It’s very clear that nuclear medicine will continue regardless of the dump”
Cyclotrons are the fastest growing area of producing nuclear medicine. Canada and UK are phasing in cyclotrons. ANSTO’s massive reactor plans mean not only more ILW, but also massive costs. Selling nuclear medicine gets back only 10% of the costs of managing the wastes”
“for informed consent, people need excellent information. Tours offered to ANSTO, not to Woomera. People told by Bruce Wilson “this site will not leak”
Scott Ludlam –
“The argument “that ILW has to be moved – that is contestable. If it is perfectly safe,as claimed, why the push for moving it far away? We should not have the process for an interim site before having the process for permanent disposal. Is it a case of ‘out of sight out of mind’ “
“What’s the definition of ‘Broad Community Support’ ? What will you do if both communities (general and indigenous) are not broadly supportive?
The material will be dangerous for 10,000 years. On a politicaland electoral basis- we do have time. You are not letting medicine down if you think that this interim waste dump is not an appropriate thing to do.
Jim Green. –
Reminds about the “-overarching legislation- allows Federal government to override local communities and State governments. Overrides legislation on Aboriginal rights. There’s a need to remove undemocratic aspects of the National Radioactive Waste Management Act” (Bruce Wilson then criticises Jim Green’s ‘very emotive language’)
“About the operation of the facility. It will not be operating all of the time. There will be several dozen jobs over the first 3 or 4 years. .. Wates volume – one truckload every 10 weeks. For 90% of the time, workers would be doing nothing. The fcaility is likley to be opened once every 3-5 years. That was the government plan – it based its estimates on facilites overseas. But they are not comparable, (much greater). At most there’s be a handful of security jobs. (Dr Adi Paterson answered this with an expansive vision of the dump being the centre of a scientific mission, and “a really cool form of tourism”)
Many traditional owners would say that they have been treated disgracefully by the Department”
Dave Sweeney.
“it is incumbent on the proponent to demonstrate the need for an activity. There has been no pre-study of the net benefit. The regulator wants 2 separate licenses – for Low Level Wastes (LLW) and Intermediate Level Wastes (ILW) There should be 2 separate debates. There should be a detailed business case – We are told that this is an internal matter – a matter for cabinet.
You need to select the pathway (to final disposal) , including the transport route, before selecting the interim waste facility site. We have 10,000 years lasting wastes, yet the Minister wants a decision on 20 August. A purpose built national radioactive Waste Facility demands a higher level of scrutiny.”
“Nuclear medicine has been used as the argument, time and time again – that people who don’t support the nuclear waste dump are not supportive of nuclear medicine”
Sweeney spoke of the”power imbalance” “hard for Aborigines, for a farmer working 12 hours on a header – to go against detailed information from the State.”
Slow down nuclear process: Sweeney, Whyalla News, Louis Mayfield 7 August 18 An environmentalist is urging the federal government to slow down their site selection process for the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility as a community vote looms for Kimba and Hawker.
Nuclear Free Campaigner Dave Sweeney has accused Federal Resources Minister Matt Canavan of being on a politically-influenced timeline to lock in a location for the nuclear facility.
Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency CEO Dr. Carl Magnus Larsson said there was no urgency to move intermediate nuclear waste from the Lucas Heights reactor in Sydney at a Community Information Session in Kimba on Monday.
“Last night it was heartening to hear that it’s not the regulator who is pushing this timeline it’s politics,” Mr Sweeney said.
“Instead of rushing this decision we need to seriously explore the long-term management options for long-lasting nuclear waste before moving it from a site with a high level of expertise and security to regional South Australia.
“We don’t need to make a decision by Christmas, we need to get it right.”…….. Mr Sweeney said there was increasing unrest in the Kimba community about the federal government’s plans to potentially use the ports in Whyalla, Port Pirie and Port Lincoln to transport nuclear waste.
“People are wanting detailed consultation, they want the government to outline what they’re going to do with the ports before they go ahead with it,” he said.
The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) is continuing its long-running stance against the shipping of any nuclear material in or out of South Australia.
The Turnbull Government has shortlisted three sites in South Australia that could be used to permanently hold low-level nuclear waste and temporarily store intermediate-level waste.
Two of these sites are at Kimba, on the Eyre Peninsula, while a third is near Hawker, in the northern Flinders Ranges.
Whyalla, Port Lincoln and Port Pirie were named as potential nuclear waste ports in three “Site Characterisation, Technical Reports” released by the Federal Department of Industry in July.
MUA South Australian Branch Secretary Jamie Newlyn said MUA members are long time opponents of Nuclear Waste Storage in Australia and led the charge against the former SA Government’s International Waste Dump Royal Commission and consequent citizens’ jury.
“The Turnbull Government’s recent declaration that sites in Kimba and Flinders Ranges could be used to store intermediate-level nuclear waste is incredibly concerning,” Newlyn said.
“The MUA is further alarmed that the Federal Department of Industry has identified Whyalla and Port Pirie – where our members currently work – as potential ports to unload this toxic and unsafe material.
“The MUA, along with the mayors of Port Pirie and Whyalla, have been blindsided by this announcement yet the safety of port workers and the communities through which this hazardous material is transported is critical.
A postal ballot will begin in Kimba and Hawker on August 20 to determine public support.
Federal Minister for Resources Matt Canavan has said the facility would need “broad community support” to go ahead, noting that he will take into account the views of neighbouring landholders and the Adnyamathanha Traditional Lands Association (ATLA).
Before the ballot, a Senate inquiry into the site selection process, which includes the impact a community benefits program is having on support, will hand down its findings.
“The Turnbull Government is dividing communities, dividing families and dividing friendships over this decision and are trying to ruin the fabric of these country areas,” Newlyn said.
“The MUA will be discussing this with our members in the region to explain the dangers and we are confident that our decisions will again be on the right side of history.
“The MUA is well-known for taking a strong stand against South Africa’s apartheid regime, supporting Indonesian independence, demonstrating against the Vietnam War and refusing to load pig iron to Japan in the lead-up to World War II.”
NUCLEAR TRANSPORT, Whyalla News (print edition, 9 Aug 18 ) Whyalla’s port could be used to receive and ship nuclear waste to and from a waste management facility, according to a report by the Federal Industry Department (DIIS).
But the federal government, who have plans to establish a National Radioactive Waste Management Facility (NRWMF) in Kimba or Hawker, have poured cold water on the idea.
Whyalla, Port Lincoln and Port Pirie were named as potential nuclear waste ports in three “Site Characterisation, Technical Reports” released by the Federal Industry Department (DIIS) in July.
A shipment of nuclear waste is due from Sellafield in UK and a shipment out of Port Kembla is planned from the ANSTO Lucas Heights reactor of nuclear waste received from France in 2015.
“There is potential to have waste shipped from Port Kembla, NSW to key port locations such as Whyalla, Port Pirie and Port Lincoln,” say DIIS in their site characterisation report for Lyndhurst.
“From here, waste would either be shipped via road or rail to the waste facility location. This may be necessary for the transportation of TN81 containers.”
But Member for Grey Rowan Ramsey there wouldn’t necessarily be enough waste to be shipped via sea.
“Any discussions about use of ports are only possible options,” he said.,
Friends of the Earth environmentalist David Noonan believes the federal government could face ‘serious obstacles’ to secure the use of a port to move nuclear waste.
“These targeted port communities are denied a say in Minister Canavan’s pending decision on siting a Federal dump in South Australia,” he said.
“They haven’t been consulted on use of their ports, and are excluded from ‘votes’ in the Hawker and Kimba districts between August and September on whether or not to locate a NRWMF in those areas.
Mr Noonan claimed that the federal government had been targeting ports to transport nuclear waste in South Australia for over two years.
Mr Ramsey said there had been no decision to locate the facility in South Australia so far.
“Two communities are to vote later this month as to whether they are willing to host the facility. If neither agrees there is no project,” he said.
Mayor Lyn Breuer said she would not commit to supporting the use of Whyalla’s port for transporting nuclear waste until the council received a guarantee it would be safe.
“While I don’t think it would have any significant environmental impact on our community barring an accident, this would require significant community consultation,” she said.
“In the past Whyalla has opposed any nuclear or radioactive shipping in this region.”
Susan Craig Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA, 9 Aug 18 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S PROPOSAL IS IN BREACH OF THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC AGENCY GUIDE ON TWO COUNTS.
UNDER PARAGRAPH 2.22 AT PAGE 12 STATES:
2.22 In the classification scheme set out in this Safety Guide, low level waste is waste that is suitable for NEAR SURFACE DISPOSAL. This is a disposal option suitable for waste that contains such an amount of radioactive material that robust containment and isolation for limited periods of time up to a FEW HUNDRED YEARS are required.
This requirement is pretty much copied into the ARPANSA Guide under the heading of LOW LEVEL WASTE (LLW) at page 13 in Section 3.2
WITH RESPECT TO INTERMEDIATE LEVEL WASTE THE IAEA GUIDE UNDER PARAGRAPH 2.28 AT PAGE 14 STATES:
2.28 Intermediate level waste is defined as waste that contains long lived radionuclides in quantities that need a greater degree of containment and isolation from the biosphere than is provided by NEAR SURFACE DISPOSAL. Disposal in a facility at a depth of between a FEW TENS AND A FEW HUNDREDS OF METRES is indicated for ILW.
Again practically the same description is given on page 15 of ARPANSA Guide under the heading of INTERMEDIATE LEVEL WASTE.
As both IAEA and ARPANSA clearly say BOTH LLW and ILW has to be “near surface disposal” and certainly not above ground as proposed by the Department on behalf of the federal government.
Julian Assange should ensure he’s granted immunity from prosecution before testifying to the Senate Intelligence Committee, former CIA officer John Kiriakou told RT, citing previous US attempts to charge those who did testify.
“If Assange is offered immunity by the committee, he then could not be charged with the crime because anything he said before the committee could not be used against him,” Kiriakou stressed, recalling how in 1987 former marine Oliver North was granted congressional immunity in exchange for his testimony on the Iran-Contra affair.
The Department of Justice then filed multiple felony charges against North, and he was arrested. But the Supreme Court later dismissed the charges, citing his immunity. Kiriakou believes the same measure can shield Assange, who has spent the last six years living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London fearing extradition to the US. Continue reading →
Between 120-150 people put in three hours in a very cold hall listening to presentations from ARPANSA, ANSTO, DIIS and others then to responses to pre-submitted questions.
As usual there was considerable running down of the clock and unrelated/ off the mark responses – but still a fair bit of interest and use, including:
ARPANSA
no urgency to move ILW from Lucas Heights – this was clear and repeated – proponent would need to prove need/ rationale and safety case
new ARPANSA code has reaffirmed that siting on agricultural land is less preferred (nb: this is guidance, not a requirement)
will require two separate license applications for LLW and ILW as they have different requirements
12-18 months further work required on Woomera waste characterisation
ANSTO
lots of detailed nuclear medicine/ science application talk – scant explanation of need to move ILW
CEO agreed with ARPANSA that current ILW storage at LH is ‘safe’
including already returned reprocessed waste returns there is a maximum of five TH81 casks of ILW over the next forty years
DIIS
‘possible no current site will be selected’
uncertainty re transport route and use of local ports
intention is to amend the NRWM Act to make the community benefit fund larger and more directed by some form of community input – but only post site selection
Minister is the sole decision maker and they are expecting some ADJR challenge
ballot is ‘Kimba’s last chance’ – there will no further offers or re-visiting if not supported
Calls for a nuclear waste facility in WA. Business News Western Australia, 7 August 18 Western Australia based Azark projects is calling on the Federal government to review its preference for a nuclear waste storage facility in South Australia, with the George Gear led company proposing Leonora as a more suitable location……. https://www.businessnews.com.au/article/Calls-for-nuclear-waste-facility-in-WA
Kram Nikpmis Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA, 7 Aug 2018
The Federal Government selects prime agricultural wheat farmland and the most seismically active Flinders Ranges to become Australia’s Radioactive Nuclear Waste Central Depot. Questions have not been answered truthfully and the site selection process smacks of a fixed match.
NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP – Senate Committee of Inquiry
This is Maralinga 2018, where deception and bribery are at the helm of this decision, rather than an intelligent, transparent nuclear waste planning for the future safety of all Australians. There are infinitely better options for a national low level and INTERMEDIATE level waste dump providing world’s best practice PERMANENT facilities that have been put forward, which the Federal Government are choosing to ignore. For more see.www.nodumpallicance.orghttps://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
Vince Coulthard Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA, 7 Aug 18am sick and tired of the lies about me in relation to the nuclear waste dump.
I do not want it anywhere in Adnyamathanha Yarta/country.
As Adnyamathanha people we have been entrusted by our ancestors, with the responsibility of caring for our country and there is no way any sane person would want to poison our land for hundreds of generations to come.
I know some people are trying to discredit me by misquoting me but anyone who knows me would already know there is NO WAY I would support this waste dump and only FOOLS sucked in by the $$$ would think it was ok to make these accusations against me.
And to suggest that I would want this toxic dump anywhere near my homeland and my family is even more foolish. This is ridiculous and I would ask that you please share this status as I have had enough of this slander. https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
Antinuclear 