Uranium miner Paladin loses US $40 million in last three months
Uranium miner Paladin makes $US40m loss Yahoo 7 Finance AAP , 15 Nov 13 Uranium miner Paladin Energy made a $US40 million loss in the three months to September as uranium prices remain low…….Its average realised uranium sales price for the September quarter was US$41.38 per pound, as the spot price trades around eight year lows. Paladin is looking to sell a stake in the Langer Heinrich mine. It is also cutting jobs and costs in response to falls in the price of uranium.
Japanese nuclear expert gives Queensland a warning on uranium exporting, and nuclear waste
Top Japan nuke expert warns Qld on uranium http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/19813899/top-japan-nuke-expert-warns-qld-on-uranium/ 7 News, MARTY SILK -November 13, 2013 Mining uranium is far more dangerous to human health than nuclear power, a top Japanese expert warns. Japan Atomic Energy Commission vice chairman Dr Tatsujiro Suzuki says Queensland’s government must be extremely careful if it allows mining to go ahead.
The state wants to begin assessing uranium mining applications from next year after lifting a longstanding ban.
But Dr Suzuki warns that countries must plan every aspect of uranium mining meticulously. “Mining actually poses larger risks than reactors, even when there are not accidents,” he told AAP at the Australia-Japan Dialogue in Brisbane on Wednesday.
“Uranium miners are regularly exposed, there’s high exposure in areas around mines and the potential for atmospheric contamination.
“You have to be very, very careful.”
Dr Suzuki says the key issue is how to safely store more than 1300 spent nuclear fuel rods. Japan is set to run out of nuclear waste storage capacity within six years and is looking to sign deals with uranium suppliers who are prepared to help it dispose of radioactive waste.
He added that an independent regulator should also ensure that Queensland uranium exports were only used for peaceful purposes.
Australia signed a deal to export uranium to India last year and Dr Suzuki said it couldn’t be certain that the uranium was only being used for civilian purposes.
India hasn’t signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and access to Australian uranium could help free up its domestic reserves for use in nuclear weapons.
Australia’s forgotten nuclear veterans
LEST WE FORGET NUCLEAR VETERANS HTTP://GREENS.ORG.AU/NEWS/LEST-WE-FORGET-NUCLEAR-VETERANS Between 1952 and 1963, approximately 16,000 Australian civilians and serviceman were exposed to nuclear fallout when British nuclear weapons were tested at the Montebello Islands in Western Australia, Maralinga and Emu fields in South Australia, and over the Christmas and Malden Islands.
“Today Australians mark the sacrifice, suffering and deaths of our servicemen and women in all wars, but unfortunately some of our veterans have been forgotten,” said Australian Greens spokesperson on nuclear policy, Senator Scott Ludlam.
“We are running out of time to exercise our duty of care to the 1892 Australian nuclear veterans that are denied Gold Card health care costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office at less than $30m per year. Continue reading
Abbot government backs USA corporations against Australia’s public interest
Australia backs the US at every turn against its own consumers The Age, November 14, 2013 Peter Martin Economics correspondent In public the Australian government is on the side of consumers. Yet behind closed doors it is siding with the US government to block them at every turn.
The extraordinarily detailed information on negotiating positions released by WikiLeaks shows Australia repeatedly backing the interests of the US against the objections of countries including Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and Vietnam on questions involving intellectual property. Australia is often the only one of the 12 parties to the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations to do so……..
In 2005 the High Court ruled that it was legal for Australians to use so-called ”mod chips” to bypass the copy-protection measures in Sony Playstations. In June this year a committee made up of both sides of Parliament unanimously recommended Australia amend its copyright law to put beyond doubt ”consumers’ rights to circumvent technological protection measures that control geographic market segmentation”. In other words, Australians would be completely free to modify their DVD machines to play discs made for use anywhere in the world. And to defeat the technologies that allow US giants such as Amazon and Apple to geographically segment their markets and charge Australians more than almost anyone else.
Yet in closed-door negotiations so secret the media was excluded from Australian briefings on their progress, Canberra has backed the US in trying to criminalise such measures. An amendment proposed by Canada and Singapore to the effect that it is legal to sell and import devices whose sole purpose is to defeat region coding, does not list Australia among its backers.
Canada and seven other countries want to make it clear that internet providers such as Australia’s iiNet cannot be held legally responsible for copyright infringement on their networks. In 2012 iiNet went to the High Court to enforce that right. But Australia and the US are listed in the negotiating document as opposing it…….
The WikiLeaks release comes as developments in the US put the Trans Pacific Partnership under a cloud. More than 20 Republican Congressmen have written to President Barack Obama threatening to withdrawing the ”fast track” negotiating authority that allows him to close a deal. An influential group of Democrats is about to do the same.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-backs-the-us-at-every-turn-against-its-own-consumers-20131113-2xh0p.html#ixzz2kgk1SlcQ
Anti Wind group exposed – poses as a “charitable foundation” – Senator Di Natale
Pollie Watch: Senator for Victoria holds anti-wind farm lobby to account Yes 2 renewables November 14, 2013 by Leigh Ewbank Senator for Victoria Richard DiNatale (Australian Greens) has used his first speech since the 2013 election to hold the anti-wind farm lobby to account for spreading health fears, being subsidised by Australian taxpayers, and having links to fossil fuel investors.
Rather than distracting policy makers with spurious claims of a wind farm noise disease and wasting taxpayers money, Senator DiNatale suggests the anti-wind farm groups could campaign on the health impacts of poor air quality.
“We are seeing more people dying from poor air quality than we’re seeing die from the road toll. The mining and combustion and transport of coal is one of the reasons why that’s happening. But no, this group campaigns against a clean renewable form of energy, despite the fact that if we able to make the transition to cleaner renewable energy we mitigate against some of the most important health impacts…”
DiNatale takes aim at the Waubra Foundation and their status as a ‘health promotion charity,’
“The issue here is not that the Waubra Foundation should continue to spread the misinformation that it does. The issue here is that the Australian taxpayer should be subsidising that activity. [Australian taxpayers] are subsidising the work of the Waubra Foundation–that is, every person in this country makes a donation to the anti-wind activities of the Waubra Foundation.”
In his speech, DiNatale shines a light on the background of the founder and current chairman of the Waubra Foundation, Peter Mitchell. According to DiNatale, Mr Mitchell is a “current and former director of a number of coal, gas, and uranium related companies” as well as a background campaigning against wind farms:
“[Mitchell] is a director of Lowel Resources, who are basically the ultimate holding company of a resources fund, which are companies engaged entirely in mining and energy investment including oil, gas and uranium. He’s also the former director of the Australian Petroleum Institute Limited and Molopo Limited, a company entirely invested in oil and gas ……http://yes2renewables.org/2013/11/14/pollie-watch-senator-for-victoria-holds-anti-wind-farm-lobby-to-account/
Trans Pacific Partnership helps USA corporations overcome rights of Australian citizens
the draft was ”very prescriptive” and strongly reflected US trade objectives and multinational corporate interests ”with little focus on the rights and interests of consumers, let alone broader community interests”. ”One could see the TPP as a Christmas wish list for major corporations
The full transcript of the leaked negotiating text can by found at www.wikileaks.org.
Australians may pay the price in Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement The Age, November 14, 2013 Philip Dorling A leaked draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal looks to have worrying intentions.Australians could pay more for drugs and medicines, movies, computer games and software, and be placed under surveillance as part of a US-led crackdown on internet piracy, according to details of secret trade negotiations exposed by WikiLeaks.
A leaked draft of a controversial chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement reveals the negotiating positions of 12 countries including Australia on copyright, patents and other intellectual property issues, with a heavy focus on enforcement measures against internet piracy.
Intellectual property experts are critical of the draft treaty, which they say would help the multinational movie and music industries, software companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers to maintain and increase prices Continue reading
Abbott government to gut Renewable Energy Agency, to prevent new renewable energy industry development
Australian Renewable Energy Agency To Be Gutted http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=4023 Proposed changes to ARENA’s funding would mean support for new projects would essentially disappear. 100% Renewable’s accusation prior to the election that the Coalition was no friend of renewable energyis unfortunately proving to be an accurate charge.
Continuing its slash and burn approach to years of hard work in trying to make Australia a global renewable energy leader, the Government has announced it intends cutting funding to the Agency by $435 million. While this would not impact current projects; the Agency would be left with little to drive the further development of renewable energy.
The Clean Energy Council has expressed disappointment with the news. “The government gave repeated commitments on its support for ARENA prior to the election and it is disappointing that the agency is now facing a significant budget reduction,” said the CEC’s Deputy Chief Executive Kane Thornton.
“Successive governments have now reduced and altered the level of ARENA’s funding during the short period since it was established. This unstable policy environment has had a clear impact on major technology innovators, developers and financiers, who will understandably be questioning their future in Australia.”
The Australian Solar Council has called on Parliament to block any attempt to gut the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
“The solar industry takes the government at its word when it says it is committed to tackling climate change and supporting the renewable energy industry in Australia, but so far we have only seen one half of the equation – the cuts,” said the Council’s Chief Executive, John Grimes. “Where are the government’s positive policies for direct action on climate change?”
“The work that ARENA does is an excellent example of Direct Action. This independent agency, with its annual funding prescribed in legislation, backs practical programs. This is about real action in the real world.” The anti-renewable energy crusade may not be over yet – yesterday we reported it appears Prime Minister Abbott has the Renewable Energy Target in his sights next.
Important information for Australians about UV rdaiation
Sunscreen application and skin cancer: an interview with Dr Michelle Hunt, Inner Sydney Dermatology, News Medical, November 13, 2013
How many people does skin cancer affect and is it on the rise?
Unfortunately the incidence of skin cancer has risen in Australia over the past decades. From 1982 to 2007, melanoma diagnosis increased by around 50%, and in 2011, 1544 people died due to melanoma.
Over 434,000 people are treated for one or more non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC) in Australia each year, and two in three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer by the time they are 70.
More than 2000 Australians died from skin cancer in 2011.
How effective is sunscreen at protecting the skin against sun damage? Continue reading
Tony Abbott to cut funding for Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)
Abbott government to cut $435m from renewable energy agency, SMH, Tom Arup. November 13, 2013 The Abbott government will cut funding to Australia’s $3 billion renewable energy agency by $435 million, details of its carbon tax repeal legislation reveals.
The Coalition had flagged a cut to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) when it released its pre-election costings, but at the time refused to detail how big it would be…….. Continue reading
14 November – Motion before the Senate on Fukushima and Pacific Ocean radiation pollution
NOTICE OF MOTION
SENATOR LUDLAM
I give notice that on 14 November 2013 I shall move:
That the Senate notes:
1. The nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi reactor site is progressively deteriorating;
2. Australian uranium was in each of the reactors at Fukushima on 11 March 2011, and;
3. Nuclear utility TEPCO is embarking on the risky removal of more than 1500 highly irradiated fuel rods from Unit 4 of the reactor complex.
Calls on the government to
1. Provide the Senate with an assessment of the likelihood of success, and consequence of failure of fuel recovery operations;
2. Inform the Senate of whether or not it has evaluated the contamination risks to Pacific Ocean ecosystems, fisheries and communities in the event of a fire or other accident during fuel recovery operations;
3. Regularly advise the Senate of progress toward the removal of fuel from Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 and subsequent progress toward reducing the flow of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.
Government may target Western Australia for radioactive trash dump
Mr Sweeney said substantial nuclear waste was created at Australia’s nuclear reactor Lucas Heights, 31 kilometres from the Sydney CBD, and not medical waste from cancer treatments and scientific research as the government has previously stated.
“Nuclear medicine is not the driver,” Mr Sweeney said.
“It’s deeply misrepresentative. The government has been asked not to use this language.”
Western Australia in nation’s nuclear waste dump sights SMH, Leanne Nicholson, 12 Nov 13 Australia’s nuclear waste could be dumped in Western Australia if a Federal Court challenge by traditional owners against a Northern Territory site selected by the federal government is successful.
WA, the only state with a dedicated low-level nuclear waste storage facility, has been identified by leading environmental group Australian Conservation Foundation as a legitimate option for a national nuclear waste dump if a challenge by Muckaty Station traditional owners is upheld.
Traditional owners will contest plans for the proposed low-level and intermediate level nuclear waste dump, selected by the then-Gillard government in 2010, on the Aboriginal freehold landholding, also known as Warlmanpa. The challenge states the nomination of Muckaty is invalid and the Northern Land Council did not correctly identify the traditional owners, did not consult adequately and did not get proper consent before recommending the site.
ACF’s nuclear free campaign director Dave Sweeney told Fairfax Media that if the challenge was successful, WA – previously named as a possible site for nuclear waste storage – would be considered a feasible location. “Clearly if Muckaty falls over,” Mr Sweeney said, “everywhere is going to come back into the frame and WA wasn’t ticked off but it was in the frame. Continue reading
The Honeymoon is over: post Fukushima reality check for Australia’s uranium industry
13 Nov 13 ACF has described reports of the imminent closure of the Honeymoon uranium mine in South Australia as further proof of the marginal and embattled nature of the uranium sector that highlights the need for an evidence based assessment of Australia’s uranium trade.
The Honeymoon mine in north east South Australia is set to close following a write down in the mine’s value of over seventy million dollars due to a combination of high costs, technical difficulties and a collapsing uranium price as the market fallout from the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan continues.
The Honeymoon closure is the latest in a run of bad news for Australia’s uranium industry that includes:
- Sustained losses and operational failures at Energy Resources of Australia’s Ranger mine in Kakadu
- The scrapping of plans for a massive expansion of BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam mine in SA because of the ‘uncertain’ uranium market
- A fall of around fifty per cent in the uranium commodity price and larger falls in the share value of uranium mining companies since the Fukushima crisis began
- Attempts by Queensland uranium promoters to receive ‘royalty relief’ and public concessions even before making any formal applications to mine
- Projects stalled, scrapped or deferred across WA, SA and the NT and uranium hopefuls like Toro Energy effectively stranded without the necessary approvals or financing
- Increased shareholder anger over the poor performance of uranium companies like the Perth based Paladin Energy
- Sustained global scepticism over the role of nuclear energy following Fukushima – a continuing crisis directly fuelled by Australian uranium Continue reading
High time for a Treaty with Australia’s indigenous people
Unlike nations such as New Zealand, Canada and the US, agreements such as treaties have not been reached that recognise a measure of indigenous sovereignty. Instead, in Australia, decisions have often been imposed on Aboriginal people by parliaments and governments lacking even a single indigenous member.
A treaty could give rise to stronger, and more capable, institutions of Aboriginal governance…..
Treaty with Australia’s indigenous people long overdue SMH, November 12, 2013 George Williams Professor of Law at the University of NSW Treaties and other forms of agreements are accepted around the world as the means of reaching a settlement between indigenous peoples and those who have settled their lands.
Treaties can be found in countries such as the US, Canada and New Zealand. Indeed, in nations such as Canada, new treaties are still being made.
Australia is the exception. We are now the only Commonwealth nation that does not have a treaty with its indigenous peoples. We have never entered into negotiations with them about the taking of their lands or their place in this nation. Rather than building our country on the idea of a partnership with Aboriginal people, our laws have sought to exclude and discriminate against them.
This is reflected in the text of our constitution, which in 1901 created the Australian nation. Continue reading
Australian government must stop picking on vulnerable postcodes for a nuclear waste dump
Western Australia in nation’s nuclear waste dump sights SMH, Leanne Nicholson, 12 Nov 13 “…….About 10,000 44-gallon drums of nuclear waste are stored at Woomera, South Australia. In 2002 Woomera was selected by the Howard government as the proposed site for the national nuclear waste repository.
However, the announcement received fierce opposition from the South Australian government of the day and during a legal challenge, WA was named as a potential site if the Howard government failed to secure Woomera. After a Federal Court challenge by SA, the Howard government dropped the plan in 2004.
Mr Sweeney said there was no question Australia needed a storage facility but a change in approach by government to site selection was needed and more community consultation was required to secure a location. “This has been going on for 20 years and communities have been bombarded,” Mr Sweeney said.”There has always been this urgent need for politics and post codes, there’s got to be a mature way to handle this, a fair dinkum discussion, is needed.
“They need to move this obsession with selecting vulnerable postcodes. “No community should bear the brunt of this.
“Work with the community … It’s not A plus B equals waste dump.”
“Radioactive waste is a very difficult area but it’s not the only difficult areas the government has had to work out and you don’t solve them by making top-down hard decisions.”It’s a national issue, it’s a national responsibility, it’s a legacy for all Australians, so let’s get it right.
Fairfax Media has contacted the Australian Department of Resources Energy and Tourism and the WA Department of Finance for comment http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/western-australia-in-nations-nuclear-waste-dump-sights-20131112-2xdzn.html#ixzz2kYINbTw1
Cogeneration sugar mill plants give renewable energy a new lease of life
Sugar mill renewable energy plants kick started by overseas sale. ABC Rural News, 12 Nov 13 Swiss-based company Capital Dynamic has taken over two of the country’s major renewable energy assets for an undisclosed sum.The cogeneration plants at the Broadwater and Condong Sugar Mills, in northern NSW, recommenced operations last Friday processing sugar cane trash from the current harvest.
They cost the NSW Sugar Milling Co-operative $220 million to build but have been shut down while receivers looked for a buyer.David Scaysbrook, managing director of Clean Energy Infrastructure at Capital says they have had their eye on the plants for a year.
“We have a history of taking over broken assets..we’ve done similar things in the UK in gas, coal and methane assets. We are operational experts and we think we can add something to the resuscitation of the business.”…….. Capital Dynamics refers to its purchase of the two cogeneration plants as a “compelling investment”.
The company’s David Scaysbrook, managing director the Clean Energy and Infrastructure team, says their investment breathes new life into the power plant operation and the future prospects for the local community in which they operate.
He says “especially to the local sugar cane growers who are so critical to the region’s economy.”
Capital Dynamics plans to “operate the assets over the very long term, to improve them and to deliver to their investors strong financial returns from multiple revenue sources”.
Mr Scaysbrook says it is a genuine, long-term partnership model.
The company’s chief executive officer, Stefan Ammann, says their team has decades of experience in successfully investing and operating thermal plants as well as other renewables such as wind and solar.
Capital Dynamics now owns and manages more than 230 mega watt of clean energy capacity in North America, Europe and Australia, with 68 MW of those now in northern NSW. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-11/cogen-plants-sold-to-foreign-investor/5083058
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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PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
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