Big public response on Roxby
Adelaide now 9 August 09August 08, 2009
THE State Government will deliver two reports on BHP Billiton’s proposed expansion of Olympic Dam mine because of the sheer number of responses to the company’s environmental impact statement.
Premier Mike Rann said the Government had already completed a draft submission, but would produce a second after it had sorted through the 3950 responses.
“The EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) has generated a significant public response and we believe the Government should take into account those views before making its own final submission,” he said.
Many public submissions on BHPB’s plan to expand uranium mine
Australia may supply uranium to India
(More Australian news at nuclear news Australia )
Australia may supply uranium to India for JV power plants
indian express.con. Aug 07, 2009 Cairns:
India expressed its interest in having civil nuclear cooperation with Australia amid indications that the two countries are likely to sign an energy agreement in November under which Australia may supply uranium for joint venture power plants.
Australia’s policy of not supplying uranium to countries that have not signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) was noted by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna who had discussions on a wide variety of bilateral subjects with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his counterpart Stephen Smith.
…………………Rudd is expected to visit India in November when the two countries are likely to sign an “Energy Declaration” for generation of nuclear power for which his country may supply uranium.
Overuse of CT scans – radiation and cancer risk
(Australia) Doctors ‘cavalier’ on use of CT scans
THE AUSTRALIAN Adam Cresswell, Health editor | August 07, 2009
A CONTROVERSY over excessive ordering of CT scans has widened, with the Medicare watchdog saying it is “horrified” that GPs are misusing the high-radiation technique for patients with uncomplicated back pain.
CT scans subject patients to 400 times more radiation than ordinary X-rays, and health experts warned this week that, despite the danger, doctors appeared to be referring patients for CT chest scans without good cause.
Now Tony Webber, the head of the federal government’s Professional Services Review that investigates doctors suspected of inappropriate practice and over-servicing, says he plans a crackdown on CT scans because doctors are making referrals “in a very cavalier fashion”.
CT, or computed tomography, scans pack in so much radiation that experts have estimated unnecessary chest CT scans alone could be responsible for 40 fatal cancers a year in Australia.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25894639-2702,00.html
Olympic Dam and Four Mile uranium mines will promote nuclear weapons spread
The terror of Hiroshima
ONLINE opinion, Dr Sue Wareham, 6 August 09
“………………….The Hiroshima bomb was a very small weapon by today’s standards, and yet an estimated 90,000 people died immediately and many tens of thousands more died slowly of burns, multiple injuries, radiation sickness or, later, cancer.
For nearly six and a half decades, the survivors’ message has been clear: Hiroshima never again. And yet not only do these worst of all weapons of terror remain, but they are now held by nine nations. One of the reasons is in our own backyard – uranium.
As our sales of uranium, the raw material for bomb fuel, appear set to increase with a massive expansion of the Olympic Dam mine, and the proposed opening of the Four Mile mine, both in South Australia, it is time to seriously examine the weapons proliferation record of the industry that our exports support.
In the 1970s, the Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry found that “the nuclear power industry is unintentionally contributing to an increased risk of nuclear war”. That remains as true today as it was then.
The need to ensure that nuclear weapons are not used again, as articulated by the people of Hirohima, is making a political comeback, spurred on particularly by President Obama’s commitment to “seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons”. Nuclear weapons abolition is both essential and feasible. Feasible, that is, if all existing fissile material is brought under strict international control and we stop creating more. That means leaving uranium in the ground.
Australia, with our large uranium reserves, is blessed with leverage in this issue. Even if mining and export were to continue at some level however, there is one thing at least that should be non-negotiable. No Australian uranium should go to any nation that has nuclear weapons.
That would include a number of our current customers – the US, the UK, France and China. All of them, in addition to Russia which does not (yet) receive Australian uranium, are in violation of their Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) obligation to disarm. Do we really want to supply fissile material to NPT non-compliers who continue to threaten mass destruction? That question should concern the Australian government, especially with the NPT Review coming up in early 2010.
While the nuclear industry has been plagued by a litany of major problems, its most grievous failing lies in its deliberate obfuscation regarding the civilian-military nuclear links. Its glib reassurances might help sell uranium, but at the cost of the nuclear weapons free world that has eluded us since the terror of Hiroshima.
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=9269&page=0
Growing concern over the safety of Olympic Dam Expansion
(more Australian news at nuclear news Australia )
Greens growing concern over the safety of Olympic Dam Expansion
MINING SAFETY5 August 2009GREENS MLC Mark Parnell says that BHP Billiton ‘s Olympic Dam Expansion Environmental Impact Statement contains glaring omissions alongside startling impacts.
Parnell claims that there are holes in this EIS almost as big as the mine’s open pit. For example, there is a woeful description on the 242 million tonne waste rock heap – a heap that will be so large it will be visible 30 kms away, soar higher than the Santos building and contain millions of tonnes of uranium and acid.
Parnell says the EIS is also silent on long term dust management. More than 25,000,000 litres of water will be sprayed around the site each and every day to prevent toxic dust storms, but what happens when the mining stops?
In many sections of there statement there are reportedly ‘options’ given – some sound, but expensive; others cheap and nasty. The huge concern is that the Federal and State Governments will approve the mine first, and leave it to the company to decide which options they pursue later.
Greens growing concern over the safety of Olympic Dam Expansion – Mining Safety
Nuclear reactors – targets for terrorism
by Christina Macpherson. 6 August 09
The following article mentions the previous terrorist plots aimed at Australia. These include the 2002 plan to attack the Lucas heights nuclear reactor. In the most recent event, a terrorsit plot is alleged to attack a miltary base that is close to the research nuclear reactor.
Nuclear reactors, even small “research” reactors, form attractive targets for terrorists. Any country would be safer without themThe Global War on Terror, Australia’s latest foiled attack is only one of many.
The Wall Street Journal AUGUST 5, 2009,
The Obama Administration may have erased the phrase “global war on terror” from the American political lexicon, but the threat remains very real to countries around the globe. For the latest reminder, look to Australia.
On Tuesday, authorities Down Under detained five suspects alleged to be plotting a suicide mission against a military base in the Sydney suburbs. In a press conference, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd claimed the men were linked to al Shabaab, a Somali terrorist group with ties to al Qaeda.
If true, that means that Australians are now dealing with a brand new African front to their war on terror. But like Washington, Canberra was already facing a global menace. In Indonesia in recent years, jihadists have killed 92 Australian tourists in two successive attacks in Bali, attacked the Australian embassy in Jakarta and killed three in a hotel bombing. The threat at home is equally grave. Since 2002, authorities have foiled plots to attack a nuclear facility, the national electricity grid and packed sporting events…………………………Australia may have foiled a big attack on Tuesday. But the global war on terror continues.
Jo Vallentine: there should be no expansion of Olympic Dam uranium mine
Submission to the South Australian Government, by Jo Valentine
Tony Serve Blogs 5 August 09
On behalf of the Anti-Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia, I make this submission: there should be no expansion of the uranium mining operations of BHP Billiton at Olympic Dam…………….There are four parts to my argument: 1. Warming 2. Waste 3. Water 4. Weapons
1. WARMING: Since around 2003 -4 the global nuclear industry has positioned itself as part of the solution to climate change. In what has been an unprecedented attempt to fool governments and the public about its merits, and to minimise its dangers, the nuclear industry has been cavalier with the truth, to say the very least.It claims that it is greenhouse friendly, and therefore should be a sought-after energy source for the future. The only part of the nuclear industry’s operations which is not a heavy greenhouse gas emitter is the boiling of the water in the reactor. At every other stage in the chain, from uranium mining, to milling, to transport, to enrichment, to construction of reactors, to re-processing, to storage of waste (probably requiring more transport), to making of weapons, to de-commissioning of reactors, greenhouse gases are emitted. Just take the reactor construction and deconstruction as an example of what is never referred to by the industry’s proponents…………………..Far from being any part of the answer to global warming, I submit that the nuclear industry is a major contributor to greenhouse emissions. As Storm van Leewen argues: “The Nuclear Industry should commit itself to publish a thorough analysis of the emissions of carbon dioxide and all other greenhouses gases in all processes of the fuel chain before claiming that nuclear energy is carbon free or greenhouse gas free.”
2. Wastes This is a shameful legacy to be leaving future generations – they will have to deal with the folly of this twentieth century failed experiment.
The problem of nuclear waste begins with the uranium mining process……………….
At Olympic Dam, it’s a problem (usually) of high winds sending the tailings blowing in the wind. The proposed expansion would add a further mountain of tailings, which could not be guaranteed against leakages, seepages, windstorms…………….
the storage proposed would cover an area of up to 44 square kms. to a height of up to 65 metres. This toxic mountain will probably leak as all tailings dams/pits do, for the duration of the open pit mine’s life,………..
3. WATER
In the driest state of the driest continent on earth, it is unwise, to put it mildly, to consider expanding the Olympic Dam operations……….
The fact that the water currently taken from GAB is free of charge, adds insult to the injury of water wastage. BHP Billiton plans to increase that water usage to at least 42 million litres per day – this must be rejected outright. ANAWA calls on the S.A. Government to phase out all water extraction from the GAB’s Borefield A as soon as possible.
The nuclear industry generally is a heavy water user. As Tim Flannery says “Coal fired power plants have large water requirements for cooling and steam generation, but these are dwarfed by the water needs of nuclear power.”
………….We believe that the grab for uranium by BHP Billiton and other uranium mining companies is a cynical grab for the grubby dollar while there is some vestige of hope for this ailing industry. It must be seen in light of the fact that this is a declining industry, with less nuclear power being generated each year (mostly due to ageing reactors being de-commissioned, or reactors with major problems being shut down “temporarily”) and the fact that more reactors are shutting down each year than opening, despite all the industry hype. The industry’s projections look rosy, but the new generation IV reactors are still only promises and the facts reveal that, on the other hand, renewable energies are growing at exponential rates, and would be proceeding even faster, if more research and development dollars were put their way, instead of propping up a filthy, failing industry.
Lucas Heights nuclear reactor a target for latest terrorists
(Australian) Holsworthy home to anti-terrorist unit
The Age, Britt SmithAugust 4, 2009 Holsworthy Barracks on Sydney’s outskirts, the alleged target of a suspected terrorist suicide attack, is home to thousands of troops and a major anti-terrorist unit………
….Its eastern boundary is near the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor…………………
Police say they foiled a mission by Islamic terrorists to launch a suicide shoot-out on Holsworthy in what they say would have been the worst-ever terrorist attack on Australian soil.
Labor violated nuclear waste promise
(Australian) Labor violated nuclear waste promise
ABC News Alice Springs 4 August 09
The Greens have accused the Federal Government of a huge violation of its commitment to repeal legislation forcing a nuclear waste facility on the Northern Territory.Labor made an election promise in 2007 to repeal the Radioactive Waste Management Act and maintains it will happen before next year’s federal election.Greens’ nuclear spokesman Senator Scott Ludlam is in Alice Springs this week discussing nuclear issues with concerned residents.He says the legislation needs to be repealed to take the pressure off people living near the four proposed nuclear waste sites.
“We had a Senate inquiry which I initiated, which came out here and recommended very strongly to the Government that the legislation be repealed in the first half of this year,” he said.”That clearly has not happened.”The [Government] said we will announce a site and then consult, which is in clear breach of the promise that the ALP took to the election.”
ABC Alice Springs – Labor violated nuclear waste promise: Greens
BHP Billiton tries to get free permits for greenhouse emissions
(Australian) Emissions will rise under Olympic Dam plan: greens
Sydney Morning Herald Marian Wilkinson Environment Editor August 3, 2009
BHP-Billiton’s plan to dig the biggest open-cut uranium and copper mine in the world is under attack from environmental groups who claim it will send greenhouse gas emissions soaring in the home state of the Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong.The battle over the massive expansion of the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia comes as mining companies are in talks with the Government over whether the copper industry will be granted free permits to cover greenhouse gas emissions because of export competition from countries such as Chile.If the talks are successful, BHP could be shielded from some of the high costs of greenhouse pollution associated with the mine’s expansion under the Government’s carbon pollution reduction scheme.
BHP estimates that the expanded Olympic Dam mine could produce up to 4.7 million tonnes (4.7 megatonnes) of greenhouse emissions every year at its peak, according to its environmental impact statement, which is on display. That figure is close to 1 per cent of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions today.
The Australian Conservation Foundation estimates that by 2020 the mine’s expansion will increase South Australia’s emissions by about 12.4 per cent a year.
A spokeswoman for Senator Wong told the Herald yesterday the copper industry ‘‘is working with the Department of Climate Change to assess copper’s eligibility’’ for free permits under the Government’s scheme and whether it qualifies.
Uranium mining is not considered eligible for free permits under the Government’s scheme but Olympic Dam’s main product will be its huge copper reserves.
Public submissions to the state and federal Labor governments on BHP’s environmental statement close this week.
Aborigines stand up to BHP Billiton on damage to their resources
(Australian- about iron ore, OK – but implications for uranium) –
Lore of the land as Aborigines take on BHP
The Age Jan Mayman 3 August 09
If the mining warden agrees to hear their case, they will call a series of expert witnesses, including WA’s 2009 scientist of the year, Professor Jorg Imberger, a world authority on hydrology, as well as elders to explain their fears. They are especially concerned by the cumulative impact of mining on the Pilbara’s water resources,…………..………As mining plunges deep below the water table, with huge volumes of water pumped out to expose the orebody, the traditional owners are profoundly disturbed by the impact on underground aquifers that feed springs, billabongs and waterholes all over the region……………..
Counsel for the mining company, Perth barrister Peter Quinlan, argued that human rights and public interest issues were irrelevant to the mining lease applications………………
……….WA’s Native Title Act had been repeatedly criticised by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Human Rights Committee as being discriminatory and not adequately protective of indigenous land rights.
Australia’s nuclear reactor unnecessary for medical isotopes
(more Australian news at
Werribee rejected Uranium and the nuclear fuel cycle through political action. Reactors leak and genes mutate.
DINKUMDEMOCRATS by Roger Howe, 31 July 09“……………Werribee was mooted as a potential site for a Nuclear Reactor, but the quiet giant of public opinion stirred. The proposal was quickly stilled.
Now, Labor has increased the scale of uranium mining in Australia, and continues to operate 2 nuclear reactors at Lucas Heights.
The more modern reactor was shutdown pending investigation of incidents during its operation.
The older has suffered a number of incidents, no doubt obliging the decision to replace it.
…….. with the appropriate use of particle accelerators, nuclear reactors would no longer be required for nuclear medicines and medical research, the stated justification for keeping the reactors.
Australia is trading the genetic health of generations in return for quick bucks – Is it really worth it??
Australia was once proudly nuclear free, with uranium left safely in the ground. Now we have operating and planned Uranium mines and two sick nuclear reactors. This is NOT progress.
U.S. activists battle Australian company’s new uranium mine
Activists battle new uranium mine request
They want a closer look taken by regulators.
07/31/2009
Two environmental groups are trying to block Utah’s first new uranium mine in three decades. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and Uranium Watch want the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to rethink its approval of the Daneros Mine, located about 10 miles from Natural Bridges National Monument.The groups also want the federal agency to stop Australia-based White Canyon Uranium from mining its Daneros claim until BLM’s Utah director, Selma Sierra, determines whether her agency studied the environmental consequences sufficiently.
“There are a lot of issues associated with uranium mining that were not adequately assessed before the permits were issued,” Liz Thomas, an attorney for SUWA, said Friday…………………..Besides possible harm to the air and water, she said, the cumulative impacts of the Daneros Mine and other nearby uranium For instance, mine waste, called “tailings,” from past uranium mining remains piled up on the Daneros site, Thomas noted. In addition, if old mines reopen in the area, there will be more ore trucks traveling the backcountry roads on their way to the uranium mill in Blanding.
Finding out if Australia’s federal politicians are fair dinkum about renewable energy
Renewable Energy News 30 July 09
Melbourne, Victoria, The Australian solar industry and households wanting to install solar power systems have been left hanging in recent weeks in relation to government rebates, resulting in many providers having excess stock of solar panels.
While the political powers-that-be duke out ETS legislation that incorporates the new Solar Credits program, national provider of solar power solutions Energy Matters has decided to clear some of their surplus stock by extending an offer to senior politicians -an initiative they call “SolarGate”.
Through “SolarGate”, the company will be offering senior politicians including Minister for Climate Change and Water Penny Wong, Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts Peter Garret, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Senators Xenophon, Fielding and Swann, Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, Minister for Resources and Energy Martin Ferguson and Victorian Premier John Brumby a grid connected solar power system for their homes; free of charge.
Unlike the Utegate affair, the “SolarGate” systems on offer will not be a keeper, but on loan from the company to help ensure all recipients can maintain their political integrity and avoid negative media attention.“We’re hoping by installing these systems it will not only help reduce the carbon footprint of the recipients, but also keep solar power and renewable energy close to mind for these politicians and provide some balance in relation to the heavy lobbying of the fossil fuel industry.”, states Max Sylvester, Energy Matters’ co-founder.
“Each time they look at their solar array, they’ll be reminded of solar power’s potential and the fact each passing day without the appropriate support for Australian solar energy means extra unnecessary carbon emissions being generated by filthy coal power.”
The sudden cessation of major rebates for grid connect and off grid solar power last month and the stalling of Solar Credits program funding being made available has thrown the industry in disarray, with some smaller providers having to lay off staff.
Since June, Energy Matters has fielded enquiries from thousands of Australians waiting on the Solar Credits program to be written into law so they can install a system.
Energy Matters Launches “SolarGate” Initiative. : Renewable Energy News
Australian govt’s pretense on renewable energy
THE AUSTRALIAN 31 July 09 “…………………..If the government wanted real green jobs created, as opposed to make-work and training schemes, it would uncouple its proposed 20 per cent renewable energy target from the emissions trading scheme and get it passed as soon as possible.
Access Economics has calculated that measures other than the ETS, including the renewable energy target, will create 28,000 new jobs over the next decade. The only reason to link the renewable energy target with the ETS is a cynical attempt to wedge the opposition. If a greener economy is to emerge, it must be economically viable.
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PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
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