Australian govt joins France in promoting nuclear energy as ‘safe and peaceful’ !
Greens spokesperson for nuclear affairs Senator Scott Ludlam said the Australia-France Joint Statement on Civil Nuclear Safety, issued on September 11th – the day before an explosion rocked the French nuclear plant of Marcoule – was a “declaration of delusion”.
“The joint statement is bizarre even without the context of the deadly blast at Marcoule. The statement claims Australia and France ‘promote the responsible development of peaceful uses of nuclear energy’, with no mention of the fact France has the third largest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world, with an estimated 300 operational nuclear warheads, and as recently as 1996 was detonating nuclear weapons in Polynesia,” said Senator Ludlam.
“Then there was the claim ‘Australia and France possess world leading research reactor facilities’. If Lucas Heights is a world leading research reactor facility, it is likely the only ‘world leading research reactor’ currently the subject of four separate investigations sparked by serious health and safety concerns made public by whistle-blowers. Lucas Heights has been plagued by a series of major technical problems. The OPAL Reactor has been closed a number of times, sometimes for months at a stretch, due to leaks and other flaws.”
“The Government claims it ‘consider(s) it important that serious nuclear or radiological events are subject to review by independent fact-finding missions… with results made available publicly’, but has refused to disclose what its agencies knew about the Fukushima disaster and when they first knew it, and voted against motions in Parliament calling for disclosure of this information. The hypocrisy is mind-blowing.”
“This fudged and evasive joint statement stands in stark contrast to the comprehensive and meticulous report ‘Costs, risks, and myths of nuclear power’, a world-wide study by expert NGOs on the implications of thecatastrophe at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.” http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/publications/costs-risks-myths.html
“This Government needs to get serious about nuclear safety. There is only one sure way to make nuclear power safe – shut it down permanently.”
Strong opposition to Toro Energy’s application to mine uranium in Western Australia
The Battle To Keep WA Uranium Free, An application has been lodged to build WA’s first uranium mine in Wiluna. It’s a shonky proposal and lacks community support. New Matilda.com By Jim Green and Mia Pepper, 13 Sept 11, Toro Energy has submitted an application to build Western Australia’s first uranium mine, at Wiluna, the beginning of WA’s iconic Canning Stock Route.
The debate over the proposed uranium mine has far-reaching ramifications. The construction of WA’s first uranium mine is likely to be the thin edge of the wedge whereas a strong show of public opposition can significantly increase the likelihood of keeping WAuranium-free. That, in turn, is important in the context of the national debate over uranium mining.
The WA Labor Opposition reaffirmed its opposition to uranium mining at its state conference in June. Recent legal advice states that an incoming Labor Government may not need to pay compensation to uranium miners if it wins the 2013 election and reinstates the uranium mining ban lifted by the Barnett Government in 2008.
The position of anti-uranium Labor Party members has been bolstered by a strong community campaign led by groups such as the WA Conservation Council and the Anti-Nuclear Alliance of WA. The August to October Walk Away From Uranium walk from Wiluna to Perth, organised by Footprints for Peace, is drumming up further support for the anti-uranium cause.
Public opinion also supports a ban on uranium mining in WA and nationally. A poll of 400 voters in four marginal Liberal-held WA seats in April found that 46 per cent opposed uranium mining, with 34 per cent in favour and 20 per cent undecided. The poll also found that among swinging voters, support for uranium mining was only 28 per cent. Voters strongly opposed to uranium mining (32 per cent) exceeded those strongly in support (8 per cent) by a factor of four.
At least two WA uranium projects have been delayed this year. In June, Mega Uraniumdelayed a feasibility study for uranium mining at Lake Maitland, and BHP Billiton put on hold the environmental approvals process for its Yeelirrie uranium project because it did not meet internal standards. The West Australian reported in June that Toro’s Wiluna project “will have to overcome weak investor sentiment in the face of a depressed uranium price and opposition to uranium mining”……
But the greatest problem with uranium mined from Wiluna — or anywhere else — is that in the best-case scenario it will end up as high-level nuclear waste. At worst it will end up as fissile material in nuclear weapons or spewing from a nuclear disaster such as that unfolding in Fukushima, Japan. http://newmatilda.com/2011/09/13/battle-keep-wa-uranium-free
Autralian govt has chosen safer airport scanners, amid claims that all scanners are ineffective
The local Office of Transport Security has sought to calm health fears by selecting a “millimetre wave” machine (see left) that uses radio waves with an energy level claimed to be comparable to a mobile phone handset held some metres away.
Body scanners can not reliably detect home-made explosives, The Australian, Karen Dearne ,September 13, 2011 TRANSPORT Minister Anthony Albanese was warned by US security advisers that body scanners could not reliably detect home-made explosives before committing to a $28.5 million plan to X-ray international travellers.
With trials of new X-ray imaging technology just concluded at Sydney airport and currently being held in Melbourne, Continue reading
Toro Energy uranium company notorious for peddling lies
The Battle to Keep WA Uranium Free, New Matilda.com By Jim Green and Mia Pepper, 13 Sept 11, “…..Toro is notorious for peddling junk science. As nuclear radiologist Peter Karamoskoswrote in The Age earlier this year:
“There seems to be a never-ending cabal of paid industry scientific ‘consultants’ who are more than willing to state the fringe view that low doses of ionising radiation do not cause cancer and, indeed, that low doses are actually good for you and lessen the incidence of cancer. Canadian Dr Doug Boreham has been on numerous sponsored tours of Australia by Toro Energy, a junior uranium explorer, expounding the view that ‘low-dose radiation is like getting a suntan’. Toro must have liked what it heard because it made him a safety consultant for the company in 2009.”
As Karamoskos goes on to note, Toro’s claims do not stand up to scrutiny: Continue reading
Solar energy lacks national plan, Australian govt slow to help
The Australian solar industry is battling to ensure that government support for large-scale development holds up, following a string of setbacks for a rooftop solar sector that has seen subsidies withdrawn or reduced across the nation…..
Australia needs national plan for large solar, says industry, Recharge 13 Sept 11, Australia risks missing its potential in large-scale solar without a stable policy and planning regime to underpin a steady pipeline of projects, the country’s renewables industry association has warned.
Launching its Large-scale Solar Policy Roadmap, Australia’s Clean Energy Council (CEC) calls on the country’s policy-makers to capitalise on the interest the federal government’s A$1.5bn ($1.6bn) Solar Flagships programme has generated among international investors. Continue reading
Australian government’s deceitful pretense that N.T. nuclear waste dump is for medical wastes
“The claim that a waste facility is required to support nuclear medicine is mischievous scare-mongering,”
Muckaty dump justification ‘nonsense, Channel 9 TV News 12 sept 11 A nuclear expert has taken aim at claims a planned waste dump in remote Australia is needed to house low level radioactive waste from hospitals.
Speaking ahead of a Senate debate this week on the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill, Dr Peter Karamoskos was critical of plans for the proposed dump. He said most radioactive isotopes generated from nuclear medicine were designated as “very low level” waste, which decayed to safe levels with in a few days to a few weeks. Continue reading
Muckaty radioactive waste dump not necessary for nuclear medicine
HEALTH PROFESSIONALS DISPUTE CANBERRA’S NUCLEAR DUMP CLAIMS , 12 sept 11, The Public Health Association of Australia and the Medical Association for the Prevention of War are tonight hosting a special forum at Charles Darwin University to address Canberra’s plan for a radioactive waste storage and disposal facility in the NT. Topics will include refuting the Federal Government’s claims about the connection between nuclear medicine and the proposed waste facility.
The forum is timely with the federal Senate scheduled to debate the highly-controversial National Radioactive Waste Management Bill (NRWMB) this week, and with the Federal Court scheduled to hear a legal challenge against the nomination of the Muckaty site next month. Medical groups have previously written to Federal Senators calling on them to reject the NRWMB (online at <http://tiny.cc/2c7z0>). Continue reading
Australia about to legislate commitment to action on climate change
Carbon tax law to embed Australia’s global pledge, SID MAHER , the Australian, September 12, 2011 LEGISLATION establishing the carbon tax will enshrine Australia’s international commitments to limit global warming to 2C and give the new Climate Change Authority discretion to set an overall limit by 2050 on greenhouse gas emissions.
The Australian understands the legislation, to be introduced into parliament tomorrow by Climate Change Minister Greg Combet, will enshrine in law Australia’s pledge to a global effort to limit temperature rise to 2C by 2050….Debate on the bills is expected to start this week but a joint parliamentary inquiry is likely to be established to run alongside the parliamentary debate. Continue reading
Australian govt stalls on helping Maralinga veterans – waiting for them all to die?
“Veterans have been knocked back for a Gold Card because the Department argues they were not exposed to harmful amounts of radiation,” Senator Xeophon said….”But we all know that there is a very high rate of cancers, disease and genetic illnesses among those who served at nuclear test sites.”…”[veterans say] the only thing I can assume is that stalling for time is waiting for us all to die and they won’t have to give anybody anything”,”
MAJOR PARTIES CONTINUE TO NEGLECT MARALINGA VETERANS 12 Sept.11, Independent Senator for South Australia, Nick Xenophon, says both the Government and the Coalition should be ashamed that they didn’t support the automatic provision of Gold Cards to Maralinga veterans, nor did they support a review into the expected costs of doing so in Parliament today. “It’s quite amazing that both the Government and the Opposition have put a blanket ban on this option without even considering it,” Nick said.
Under current legislation, veterans have to prove a direct link between their illness and their service to be eligible for the Repatriation Health Card — For All Conditions (Gold). Continue reading
Australian analysts show that uranium price is STILL going down
Uranium spot price could fall more, Star-Tribune, Tom Mast, September 11, 2011 The spot price of uranium, which tumbled following a Japanese nuclear disaster last spring, could fall even further in the short term.
That’s the assessment of Sydney, Australia-based Resource Capital Research. In its September quarter review, the firm noted a current spot price of $48.85. It is now back to the level seen after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami crippled a nuclear power complex at Fukushima, Japan…..
The firm said the fund-implied price, which is an indicator of market price expectations looking out three to six months, points to a spot price of $45.95. This reflects expectations of possible new supplies entering the market later this year…..
Australia’s ABC Radio gets “astroturfed” by the nuclear lobby
Nuclear Industry infiltrates ABC to push for an atomic Australia, Independent Australia , 10 Sept 11, The nuclear industry is using increasingly subtle methods to promote the development of a nuclear power and radioactive waste disposal industry in Australia. Noel Wauchope reports.
In the ABC radio program Ockham’s Razor, first broadcast on Sunday 4th August, Terry Krieg enthusiastically promotes the nuclear industry. This program was remarkable for two reasons:
First, Mr Krieg appeared to be not your usual expert connected with the nuclear industry. Mr Krieg, we were told, is “a retired geography and geology teacher”. Good, I thought, as it seemed that the ABC was giving an ordinary mortal a go on national radio. But was that all he was? No, alas. There was, as there always seems to be, some “astroturfing” going on.
A bit of research on the Net and we soon discover that Mr Krieg is a spokesperson for the Australian Nuclear Forum. This is an organisation dedicated, it says, to “advancing peaceful aspects of nuclear science and technology”. With that aim, the ANF provides “policy papers and information papers for schools”. Its members are “professionals with wide collective experience in nuclear science and technology”. In other words, it is a false grassroots nuclear industry lobby group.
Now, I really do think that the presenter, Robin Williams, should have told us that. But perhaps he didn’t know. It is in the interests of nuclear astroturfers to not have people know that the information they present, far from being unvarnished, comes straight from the nuclear industry itself.
Secondly, Mr Krieg came out with what the nuclear lobby has been secretly planning for Australia — that is, to establish the full nuclear cycle in this country, including storing radioactive wastes.
For these two reasons, Krieg’s promotional spruik is important.
I hope that it kicks off a clearer, more “democratic’ discussion on the nuclear industry. Australia so far has had only one real speaker who puts clearly the case against nuclear power: Dr Helen Caldicott. Yes, I know that she is an “expert”. But she has an unusual ability to speak plainly. Perhaps that is why she is ignored by Australia’s media and political big boys.
Anyway, Australia surely needs some plain speaking on this issue, so critical for our children and grandchildren’s future.
Terry Krieg should not be ignored. His vision for a totally nuclear South Australia is scary stuff.
On Climate Change and Renewable Energy Krieg, rather surprisingly, loses some scientific credibility right at the start, as he reveals himself as a climate-change denier…. On Germany… On Wind power This seems to be Terry Krieg’s main target,…. On Greenhouse gas emissions…. On Australia’s nuclear future.. On South Australia’s future…
If the Australian public is not made aware of the full meaning of the nuclear lobby’s plan, in clear “ordinary” language, Terry Krieg’s vision might well come true.http://www.independentaustralia.net/2011/media-2/nuclear-industry-infiltrates-abc-to-push-for-an-atomic-australia/
As solar energy costs fall, Australia needs to act fast developing solar expertise
the potential role of solar is quite impressive. It could be a trillion dollar market or more within a decade or two, and the world’s biggest energy technology companies are jostling for position. As Mark Twidell, from the Australian Solar Institute points out, solar is the only technology where costs are falling rapidly – most others are static or rising…..
Australian solar thinks big, Climate Spectator,Giles Parkinson, 9 Sept 11, More than 100 aspiring developers of large-scale solar plants will join financiers, policy makers and NGOs in Melbourne for yet another solar summit today – anxious to learn how they can stop meeting like this and actually go out and build stuff. Continue reading
Costs of solar energy in Australia dropping, competitive with coal
Australia, Solar Costs Actually Compete with Coal Calfinder (USA) 9 Sept 11, Solar energy. Solar panels. Solar affordability. We’ve talked about it a lot. And for good reason—solar energy is emerging more and more into the social consciousness as a great alternative for coal and other exhaustible energy. Places all around the world are finding that the cost of solar energy is dropping. Especially in Australia.
Solar power generated by photovoltaic cells has created such a drop in cost for solar energy in Australia that the energy source has become incredibly cheap. In fact, these cells produce power for as little money as coal-derived electricity.
To find out how much solar costs in your area, click here.
Such a drop in cost, says the Australian Photovoltaic Association, has allowed solar to finally rival coal. The idea is called grid parity, where the government itself has begun to rethink pricing models and availability of solar paneling.
That’s saying a lot. But these solar panels are doing a lot. Across the country, governments are abandoning the concept of paying people for the power that their solar cells generate.
Despite the controversial feed-in tariffs, blamed largely for the country’s rapid rise in electricity costs, solar panels are generating electricity so cheaply that the solar source has become competitive with coal—even without subsidies, according to Photovoltaic Association spokeswoman Dr. Muriel Watt…. http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/news/australia-solar-costs/comment-page-
Why Toro’s uranium mining plan at Wiluna should be stopped
Key concerns with Toro’s plan to mine uranium at Wiluna,
by Mia Pepper and Jim Green, 9 sept 11,
* Traditional Owners are opposed to the construction of a uranium mine at
the significant sacred site of Lake Way. Toro has not completed
Archeological and Ethnographic studies and does not already have a
comprehensive Aboriginal Heritage Management Plan.
* Uranium exported from Wiluna will at best end up as high-level nuclear
waste. At worst it will end up as fissile (explosive) material in nuclear
weapons, or in a nuclear disaster such as that unfolding in Fukushima,
Japan.
* Toro does not accept responsibility for its own application, stating
that it has “not fully verified the accuracy or completeness” of its
application.
* Lake Way is home to a unique population of Stygofauna − a
newly-discovered species of subterranean crustaceans.
* Toro has not factored in recent advice from the International Commission
on Radiological Protection that radon is twice as carcinogenic as
previously thought.
* Transport plans are presented as a “preliminary draft” and the company
plans to transport its toxic, radioactive product over many thousands of
kilometres, from Wiluna to Adelaide and Darwin.
* Uranium mining and tailings disposal in this region will occur below the
water-table and will be connected to aquatic ecosystems. There is a
significant risk of contaminating the aquatic ecosystems with changes in
water chemistry, including the mobilisation of radioactive compounds.
* The legal requirement for tailings management at the Ranger uranium mine
in the NT is effective isolation for at least 10,000 years. The minimum
standard should be the same for Wiluna.
* There has not been a calcrete uranium deposit mined in Australia and
there is only one calcrete deposit presently being mined worldwide. There
is a lack of expertise and experience in engineering and mine design for
these deposits.
* Wiluna has a number of operating mines close to town and in the region.
Despite current mining activity, Wiluna still suffers from extreme
poverty, homelessness, unemployment, violence and other social problems.
Uranium pollution in Darwin harbour – taxpayers cop the cost
Taxpayers pay for polluting Darwin harbour 1057 ABC Darwin, Sep 07, 2011 , by Vicki Kerrigan
Contaminated stormwater containing uranium, zinc, copper, arsenic, lead, cobalt, iron, nickel and magnesium gushed into Darwin Harbour last year. The Darwin Port Corporation has been ordered to to pay a 19 thousand dollar offence for the disaster. The fine has to be paid by one government department to another government department; effectively this means you the taxpayer will pay….. http://blogs.abc.net.au/nt/2011/09/taxpayers-pay-for-polluting-darwin-harbour.html
1 This month
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 