This week’s news – Australia and more
As the Afghanistan crisis continues, many writers consider the underlying causes of the USA’s prolonged wars, and reveal the staggering profits made by the weapons-making corporations. From the corporate point of view, the 20 year war has been a great success.
Coronavirus:more than 212.1 million cases of COVID-19 The reported global death toll stood at more than 4.4 million. The Delta variant puts a strain on health systems. Several countries struggle, with lockdowns needed – e.g.in Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand. Case numbers rise in France. Debates go on about child vaccination, mandatory vaccination, and booster doses of vaccine.
Climate. Global heating and its effects, extreme weather events keep on. The IPCC Report finds we will cross the 1.5C warming danger line in the 2030’s, pretty well no matter what we do.
NUCLEAR, Very quietly indeed – you could easily miss this, – come two positive events for the nuclear-free movement; exclusion of nuclear from the Green Zone at COP26, and USA’s nuclear regulator rejecting the push to weaken radiation safety standards.
Some bits of good news: What went right this week: how we saved Earth before, plus more positive news, Australia’s ‘healing journey’.
AUSTRALIA.
Australia’s participation in America’s wars. Was it worth it? Little chance for genuine community consultation on Napandee nuclear waste dump decision.
Kimberley Land Council: New heritage bill is skewed to the mining industry.. Young people rebel on climate. Australian government moves to limit charities’ ability to campaign during election period
INTERNATIONAL
USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission affirms that a little ionising radiation may be bad for health.
Nuclear lobby miserable, but Friends of the Earth relieved, that nuclear industry is excluded from the Green Zone at COP26 Climate Summit.
The tie between climate change and nuclear weapons.
Action on climate change is stalled by unwise spending on small nuclear reactors.
Frozen conflicts and forever wars. WikiLeaks and the Crimes of the West in Afghanistan.
Renewables are beating nuclear,
Bill Gates and the corporates behind the fake solutions to climate change. Arnie Gundersen writes to Bill Gates – about public funding for Gates’ false Natrium nuclear solution to climate change.
Australian nuclear news this week
News – oh dear – it’s all too much. And a kind of lethargy sets in, in this uncertain time of pandemic. I’ve started to type in green bold just those items that I selected as particularly interesting.
The big news this week is the Afghanistan story.This USA -led futile military adventure comes to an end. We now prepare for the next one, as weapons industry leaders salivate in anticipation – will it be against Iran, North Korea, China …?
With the delta variant – the pandemic rages on.Climate change news and views continue, with fires and floods, and following the IPCC Report. I’m finding that only Radio Ecoshock and climate scientist Paol Beckwith seem to put this all together, clearly. And someone raised the heretical suggestion that we should give up the system of endless economic growth via consumption.
Some bits of good news – Rainforest agriculture brings a climate-friendly system to Honduras and other South American nations. English moor transformed into ‘giant sponge’ to absorb CO2.
AUSTRALIA. Climate change has already hit Australia. Unless we act now, a hotter, drier and more dangerous future awaits, IPCC warns.
- . Seven vital questions about Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and its nuclear wastes. Resources Minister Keith Pitt to declare Napandee farm, South Australia, as nuclear waste dump site. Resource Minister Pitt’s intention to declare site for the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility. Minister Pitt – an expert in ”weasel words”, obscuring the truth about nuclear waste . Labor Party – State and National opinions on the plan for nuclear waste dump at Kimba, South Australia. Radioactive Dump ~ call for submissions ~ open until October 22nd 2021
- ”Long Half-Life’‘ – Professor Ian Lowe on Australia’s nuclear dilemma.
- The new push for a nuclear Australia. Despite Australia’s laws prohibiting nuclear development, Angus Taylor signs up for development of small nuclear reactors with UK. National Party renews its push for nuclear energy, wants to change the Environment Protection Act. Senator Matt Canavan all for nuclear energy; economists are not so sure. Senator Matt Canavan, and MP Ken O’Dowd ”happy to have a nuclear power station” in their backyard – (Gladstone Queensland)..
- . Uranium mining and high cancer rates in Aboriginals around Ranger mine.
- Defence hides Australia’s weapon sales to Israel amid war crimes investigation into Palestine,
INTERNATIONAL.
The War On Afghanistan Was A $2 Trillion Scam. U.S, costs to date for the war in Afghanistan in $ billions, 2001-2021. How War Profiteers Manufacture Consent.
NO SUPPORT for NUCLEAR in the new report from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Urgency of the IPCC climate report makes it clear that new nuclear is not the answer. If nuclear power is adopted as the way ahead, the climate fight will be lost.
World careering towards irreversible climate impacts, top scientists warn.
A Day in the Death of British Justice – the case of Julian Assange.
The real photos of the Hiroshima bombing tell the story – no need for fictionalised ones.JAPAN. Nagasaki remembers the atomic bomb, Olympic officials refuse to allow a minute’s silence. UN pledges full support to Nagasaki voices fuelling ‘powerful global movement’ against nuclear arms. Japanese teenager calls for nuke-free world at U.N. disarmament confab .
(Sorry not the Olympics) Nuclear and Climate News
I’m thinking of changing my name to ”Cassandra”.(Greek goddess of gloom and doom) The media in my country, and elsewhere, has been ecstatic about Olympic Games medals. I guess that’s a relief from the virus/vaccine focus. But it seems that nobody knows that this week has been the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that Fukushima ”recovery” has not really happened. That the Japanese government, despite the pandemic, in fact did not have the power to cancel the Games – under the contract, only the IOC can do that. That vast sums were spent, and will leave the Japanese people with vast debt, right when they have a crippling health crisis. . That the extravagant arenas and buildings will become white elephants.That 430 athletes and others in the Olympic Village got Covid-19.
Similarly, in the news we heard some whispers about wildfires around the world, and catastrophic floods, too. You really need alternative media to put all this together. A leader in this is Radio Ecoshock – ”I’ve Seen Fire and I’ve Seen Rain”.
BUT – just as I write this – up comes the UN Climate report 2021 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDSySmJChXgSurely this will wake up the mainstream media, even in Australia.Coronavirus – there’s still a surge in cases, worldwide, with a clear trend to the pandemic affecting the un-vaccinated.
Some bits of good news. Hard to find – but here’s a place – Empathy in the English Channel and A bird recovery programme, and Africa’s largest forest reserve in recovery.
AUSTRALIA
On the brink of a new nuclear arms race. On Hiroshima Day, the City of Newcastle reaffirms its commitment as a Nuclear Free Zone, supporting United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
People of the Pacific condemn Talisman Sabre Military Exercises.
Conservation Council of South Australia supports ANSTO’s proposal for a new Intermediate Level Solid Waste Storage Facility at Lucas Heights. Thousands of litres of sulphuric acid leaks from tanker as it travels through South Australia froma uranium mine.
INTERNATIONAL.
Global average temperature rise of 1.5c likely to be reached 10 years early. The world is getting “dangerously close” to running out of time to avert catastrophic climate change.
Towards a clean and sustainable energy system: 26 criteria nuclear power does not meet .
Nuclear weapons cannot be used, but their danger persists. Now, in the times of the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty, nuclear deterrence continues, but becomes increasingly discredited. Renounce the use and further development of nuclear weapons. The hard fought campaign continues – to ban nuclear weapons.
The myth that the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified.
Complicit – The countries, companies and think tanks that support the deadly nuclear arms trade.
JAPAN.Hiroshima City remembers the sudden cruelty of the atomic bombing . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWP3GWFI7nk Tokyo Olympics part of propaganda strategy to downplay Fukushima nuclear disaster, as Olympics have been previously used to downplay Hiroshima bombing. Tokyo Olympics were touted as a showcase for Fukushima nuclear recovery. That didn’t work.
This week’s nuclear news
This week s news – Olympic ecstasy – all those lovely medals. It’s hard to get past that, – for example, to find out how many of the 220 or more coronavirus positive people associated with the Games, are actually athletes. It is not polite to discuss the costs of the Games, – money that could have gone into tackling Tokyo’s heath problems, as Tokyo’s state of emergency hits 4,000 new Covid-19 cases daily.I’m sorry, but I can’t get enthused about an event designed as the ”recovery” from the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. It’s so in line with that other timely myth, that it was OK, in 1945, to obliterate two whole cities of children, women and men, in each case, with just one diabolical new bomb. (Attached is a video, 5 years old, but still valid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-07xiaBl2vk)World coronavirus– case numbers keep growing. Climate change: Critical measures of global heating reaching tipping point. Climate Change Is Driving Deadly Weather Disasters From Arizona To Mumbai
AUSTRALIA.
Australian Labor Party does not trust Angus Taylor’s ”moronic” approach to energy and economics. A reminder to gullible followers of Angus Taylor – small nuclear reactors are just not economically viable.
Submission: Medical Association for the Prevention of War (MAPW) supports a new Intermediate Level Solid Waste Storage Facility at Lucas Heights. Higher cancer and stillbirth rates in Aboriginal people living near the Ranger uranium mine.
Webinar. Brisbane remembers Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thurs 5 August 6.30-7.30 p.m. AEST https://events.humanitix.com/hiroshima-commemoration-webinar
INTERNATIONAL
Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki – no excuses for having nuclear weapons !
Degrowth: the necessary climate solution no-one is talking about. – terrific, thought provoking article
Small nuclear reactors, a dangerous experiment, and distraction from real climate action – David Suzuki.
If man cannot overcome his desire to kill, we are doomed.
To 27 July – the week in nuclear news, Australia and more
It has been a funny week in the news, funny not as in ha ha, but as in weird. The news here prioritised the Olympics. Oh goody, my countrymen and women won lovely medals, for doing sporty things, very fast.- so, extensive coverage of all that.
You wouldn’t know that the host city, Tokyo, is now daily getting close to 2000 new cases of coronavirus. You wouldn’t know that megafires are torching U.S. Western States, and North Eastern Siberia. Briefly mentioned – huge floods inEurope and China. Oh, and by the way, I think that the pandemic is still on, world wide, with the highly infectious delta variant.
The second biggest story, after the glorious Olympics, has been the success of the billionaire space playboys – Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos. The media can’t wait until Elon Musk and Bill Gates do their next thing – missile envy bringing great things for the world,(though we”re not quite sure what things)
AUSTRALIA
Opposition to nuclear waste transport through the port of Whyalla, South Australia. Port at Cape Hardy could be the entrance place for radioactive waste transport to Kimba, South Australia. Barngarla native title owners were excluded from decision-making on Kimba nuclear waste plan. A strong convention on radioactive waste safety means that nuclear’s toxic by-products should be kept as close as possible to the point of production
Western Australian site far more suitable than Kimba, South Australia, for nuclear waste dump. Regional site in Western Australia geologically and geographically suited to nuclear waste repository, unlike the Kimba site in S.A. Resources Minister Keith Pitt and his bald-faced lies about the Leonora nuclear waste proposal.
Submissions to the Federal Public Works Committee:
- The Australian Parliament will have to pay attention to David Noonan’s detailed submission on ANSTO’s ill-advised nuclear waste storage plan.
- Submission: Flinders Local Action Group points out the flaws in ANSTO’s nuclear waste plan.
- Submission: Barry Wakelin – ”interim ” storage of nuclear waste at Kimba is a poor plan, with no commitment to planning for a permanent solution.
- Submission: Leon Ashton opposes ANSTO’s flawed plan to set up a stranded nuclear waste dump at Kimba, South Australia.
- Submission: AZARK PROJECT says that Kimba nuclear waste plan is completely unnecessary, and irrelevant to nuclear medicine.
- Submission Noel Wauchope to Federal Inquiry into nuclear waste storage..
- Showdown over millions in mining royalties to Indigenous trust.
INTERNATIONAL.
Moral Intelligence or Nuclear War.
The world’s climate catastrophe – there is little time left to act. All We Can Save”: As Climate Disasters Wreck Our Planet, Women Leaders Are Key to Solving the Crisis. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) preparing assessments for COP26.
Climate change, extreme weather, is taking its toll on the nuclear industry. The nuclear industry determined to influence climate talks before COP26.
Racism and the misguided efforts to expand nuclear energy around the world,
After the lab-leak theory, US-Chinese relations head downhill.
Progressive lawmakers join across the world in a Global Alliance For A Green New Deal.
Huge carbon emissions of space tourism, Space tourism: environmental vandalism for the super-rich . Climate change report: Jeff Bezos & the new wild west show. Jeff Bezos and the corporate colonisation of the stars. Perils to austronauts’ health – high radiation and low gravity.
Emerging technologies and nuclear stability. Small Nuclear Power Plants No Use in Climate Crisis. Bill Gates’ fast nuclear reactor ”Natrium’‘ – not so safe and a nuclear weapons proliferation risk.
Why Scientists Plant Sunflowers After Nuclear Disasters.
The week in nuclear news
Today, Dr Helen Caldicott speaks out forcefully on the omnicidal threat of nuclear war, on male aggression, and the need for women to take control in national governments.
On matters nuclear – not much is happening – news items this week, from UK, Canada, France and USA show that nuclear development is stalling. Meanwhile renewable energy is charging ahead globally – cheaper and faster. I am not able to keep up with solar, wind, developments etc.
CORONAVIRUS – What’s happening in Canada and around the world.
CLIMATE. Cascading Tipping Points & Permafrost. Germany the latest victim of extreme weather.
A bit of good news. Huge Supply of Water is Saved From Evaporation When Solar Panels Are Built Over Canals
AUSTRALIA
- ANSTO aims to speed up return to Australia of highly hazardous nuclear wastes.
- Military exercises put the Great Barrier Reef in danger. US and Allies’ military machine – out of Afghanistan (where it’s needed)and into the Pacific – against its new enemy – The Great Barrier Reef.
- Australia’s weapons lobby drumming up fear of nuclear attack by China, against all logic.
- Liberal-led committee raises concerns about Morrison government’s charity crackdown.
- Australian cities not prepared for the coming heatwaves- poor urban planning.
Greenland moves toward a stricter ban on uranium mining.
INTERNATIONAL.
With all its wisdom, the human race is killing itself.
As the world starts to panic over climate change, nuclear evangelists offer spurious solutions.
British court ruling heightens danger of Assange extradition to the US.
How Right-Wing Extremists Pose A Nuclear Threat.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is well aware of that danger we don’t discuss – NUCLEAR TERRORISM.
Automation in nuclear weapon systems: lessons from the man who saved the world.
The Catholic Worker Movement, and its anti-nuclear heroes in prison.
3rd-gen Nagasaki A-bomb survivor continuing decades-long work for nuclear free world
The week in nuclear news
No – there’s not really much happening in the nuclear sphere. What is happening is the increasing pro nuke propaganda. It is so noticeable in my country, Australia. Not that it’s widespread (yet), but the pro-nuke spiel from the Murdochracy is so patently, silly, and ill-informed that it deserves mention for its absurdity. I hope to write more about this next time.
CLIMATE Serious as the pandemic is, – I’m thinking that in the total picture, it does not compare with the weather extremes, the suffering, the forced refugees, that the world faces from global heating.
When it happens in America, the media does sit up and take notice. It’s happening in California, with raging temperatures and raging wildfires. I know that this is terrible, and not funny, but still, I wonder if some climate change denialists might be having second thoughts , as they’re finding it hard to get oysters and other luxury shellfish – seeing that these coastal marine organisms are being cooked now, before they can be harvested.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTZD5K6JBGk
CORONAVIRUS. World Health Organisation sounds alarm as global deaths top 4 million, delta variant spreads to 100 countries.
AUSTRALIA.
South Australian law demands an Inquiry into the Federal government’s nuclear waste storage plan. Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation (BDAC) will take legal action against nuclear dump plan if Resources Minister Keith Pitt names Napandee as the site.
Australian Members of Parliament from right and left parties call on US President Biden to drop charges against Julian Assange,
INTERNATIONAL
Reaching net zero without nuclear. Nuclear Energy Will Not Be the Solution to Climate Change – not enough time, even if it were effective.
If They Chose, Biden and Putin Could Make the World Radically Safer, Nuclear arms control hasn’t worked. We need a new approach.
Key witness in Julian Assange case admits to lies in indictment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlLbAVSHeA8 U.S. government offers meaningless assurances on Julian Assange’s well-being, as it gets right to appeal on UK court ruling against his extradition. U.S. proposals about extradition of Julian Assange are designed to keep him in prison for life.
Rapid growth of global renewable energy: it’s the major energy source in Europe.
Mobile phones/cellphones – the health danger from electromagnetic radiation.
The week in nuclear news – to 6 July
Today I found an article which, although it’s about America, expressed a dilemma for the whole world. Tom Engelhardt of Tom Dispatch discussed the 3 global horrors of – the pandemic, climate change, and nuclear weapons. I recommend his article, lucidly explaining how vast sums of money now goes into nuclear weapons, and not into defeating the pandemic, nor saving the world from the slow apocalypse of global heating.
Coronavirus: What’s happening in Canada and around the world.
Climate Change Disaster Isn’t a Future Threat — It’s Already Here.
Good news? I’m sure there is some, but it’s hard to find. News is, by its nature, bad – because most people behave fairly reasonably – and therefore, reasonable behaviour and normal life are not newsworthy.
AUSTRALIA.
Maralinga nuclear bomb tests – British and Australian governments’ callous cruelty to First Nations people.- Premier Marshall should stand up for South Australia and reject the federal Liberal’s unlawful, unfair, unsafe and unnecessary nuclear waste dump plan.
- Keith Pitt MP, Minister for Resources, enthuses about nuclear power. Barnaby Joyce is back as Deputy PM – pushing for nuclear and coal. Bob Hawke – his allegiance to USA was greater than to the union movement.
- Australian government’s unnecessary crackdown on charities and on peaceful protest.
- THE AUSTRALIAN newspaper sinks to a new low in pro nuclear propaganda. (A reminder to Australians – Even nuclear executives must be embarrassed at the pro nuke propaganda aimed at young women. and – Exposed! Extinction Rebellion fact checks pro nuclear front, and Zion Lights.)
Wittenoom – largest contaminated area in the southern hemisphere.
INTERNATIONAL
Even this conservative journal recognises renewables as the only meaningful future energy source – nuclear is irrelevant.
The world is bequeathing to our descendants the costly nightmare of unsolved nuclear waste disposal,
Canada is a warning: more and more of the world will soon be too hot for humans.
Nuclear news – this last week of June
Pandemic. Daily Update: What you need to know about the coronavirus around the world right now. World Coronavirus Dispatch: Three studies hint at where pandemic is headed.
Oh dear – I promised myself that I would not digress off into the pandemic discussion. But – I’m finding it scary – to come across people who think that the pandemic is not real, or that vaccination is some plot to take over the world, or who’ve decided that they don’t need vaccination.. Dammit – vaccination is our best bet.……
Climate. As if anti-vacc isn’t enough to worry about, now we’ve got climate complacency – possibly more dangerous than climate denialism – as global heating moves on inexorably. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide at risk from rising sea levels. Canada sets all-time record-high temperature as North America’s north-west cooks under ‘heat dome‘.
Nuclear. Well it’s the drums of war beating. The one thing that Wester conservatives and progressives agree on – we’d better boost our nuclear weapons ready for a war on China. Meanwhile, the promotion of new small nuclear recators goes on. See below – excellent article by Victor Gilinsky, Henry Sokolski, (highlighted in yellow)
A bit of good news – Park it! Why the world is greener.
AUSTRALIA.
Australia’s collective voice should silence the ‘drums of war‘. Federal nuclear waste dump plan.
- The Senate’s nuclear waste dilemma. Nuclear waste Bill passed. This is what will happen next. Within weeks, Minister Keith Pitt is expected to declare Napandee, (Kimba, South Australia) as the site for the nuclear waste dump.
- Barngarla Aboriginals and Kimba farmers join forces to fight nuclear waste dump plan. Barngarla people hold Native Title land close to planned nuclear waste dump, but were denied a vote on this.
- Need to reveal full details of nomination forms for Kimba and Wallerberdina nuclear waste dump plans. South Australian Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan shuns Supreme Court Justice’s ruling to release Kimba nuclear documents.
- Australian Parliamentarians misled by Minister Pitt’s lies about nuclear medicine.
- Senator Hanson Young gave the clearest explanation of the issues around the government’s nuclear waste Bill. ‘ Senator Hanson-Young outlined the shambles that the nuclear waste siting process has been. Senator Rex Patrick explained why the Woomera prohibited area would be a more suitable site for a nuclear waste dump.
- OTHER
- Construction of ANSTO’s new intermediate waste facility at Lucas Heights –
- Australian government pushes to remove the ban on nuclear power. Morrison government bringing push for nuclear energy as an election issue.
- Lowy Institute polling shows that 91% of Australians want the federal government to support renewable energy development.
- ‘A new chapter’: NT town to be returned to traditional owners today Historic handback of Kakadu town to Mirarr traditional owners.
- Australian Local Government Association support Mount Isa nuclear weapons ban motion.
- Australia’s failed nuclear front group bites the dust.
INTERNATIONAL
Nuclear power is in the front line of climate change – and NOT in a good way. Ten reasons climate activists should not support nuclear. Rising sea levels might mean the end for many nuclear power stations. Increasing carbon emissions from uranium mining.
Increasing numbers of nuclear warheads globally.Nuclear fusion’s unlikely future, – too late for climate action.
Old cracked infrastructure – the Florida building collapse – a warning for old cracked nuclear reactors.
Nuclear news – Australia and beyond
Pandemic. COVID-19 Is Still Raging in Much of the World South America Is Now Covid-19 Hot Spot, With Eight Times the World’s Death Rate.
Climate.Warming stripes show that climate change is here and now. Climate in a Fiery World.NUCLEAR. Not a lot is happening, probably largely due to the pandemic. There is, of course, the continued stream of articles in the mainstream media,extolling the virtues of new nuclear reactors – most look like handouts from the industry, faithfully regurgitated by relatively ignorant journalists.
A leak at China’s showcase Taishan nuclear reactor has raised global concern for the industry. Radioactive leak at Chinese reactor could finish French nuclear exports.
A bit of good news – The pandemic has revived hope that a more sustainable world is possible.
AUSTRALIA.
Resources Minister Pitt changes Nuclear Waste Bill in the effort to gain Labor’s support. Labor consults traditional owners about the Kimba nuclear waste dump Bill, considers supporting the Bill. The Greens will be standing up for a nuclear-free South Australia. The Federal government is pulling a nuclear waste confidence trick on South Australia. Nuclear waste storage facility legislation passes Senate. Some highlights from the Senate nuclear waste dump debate. Racism on show in the Australian Senate. Premier Marshall must enforce South Australia’s legislation prohibiting nuclear waste dump. Resources Minister Keith Pitt forced to back down – now must allow legal scrutiny of the ill-advised Kimba nuclear dump plan..
Nuclear waste intended for Kimba, -used to be classified as ”high level” – now called ”intermediate”. ANSTO’s dodgy classification of nuclear wastes.
NSW Productivity Commission Has “Lost The Plot” On Nuclear Power
Kalbar’s exotic minerals mine a toxic risk to Victoria’s food bowl. https://www.michaelwest.com.au/kalbars-exotic-minerals-mine-a-toxic-risk-to-victorias-food-bowl/
INTERNATIONAL.
INTERVIEW/ Daniel Ellsberg: Smart statesmen can make bad decisions leading to nuclear war. Biden and Putin agree: ‘Nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought’. Why can’t world leaders agree that a nuclear war should never be fought? ICAN chief urges Biden and Putin to push for deep cuts in nuclear arsenals, encourage China to back away from arms race.
‘‘Advanced” nuclear reactor designs – the latest version of nuclear wishful thinking.
Earth is now trapping an ‘unprecedented’ amount of heat, NASA says.
Julian Assange and the Collapse of the Rule of Law.
JAPAN. The Fukushima nuclear disaster and the Tokyo Olympics.
EUROPE. NATO’s hostility to the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty is in conflict with its true goal – to become a non-nuclear alliance . NATO readies for a collective response to attacks in space.
UK. Fire at Hinkley Point C building site. We don’t need costly, slow, nuclear power: solar, wind, tidal and wave power can amply do the job. House-building plans thrown into doubt as doubts grow about Wylfa nuclear project.
USA.
- The real welfare cheats are weapons makers. U.S. Space Force wants to use directed-energy weapons for space superiority,.
- The Pentagon’s Project, Pele Military micro-reactors – creates more problems than it solves.
- 20 Years After Pentagon Papers, Ellsberg Reveals US weighed 1958 nuclear strike on China over Taiwan,
- Why Utah really does not need Bill Gates’ small nuclear reactors.
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission launches special investigation at Southern Georgia Vogtle 3 nuclear unit.
- Tough when even a pro nuclear voice has to deplore the corruption in the nuclear industry. Countering a love letter to the nuclear industry .
- Renewable energy consumption grew in 2020 as fossil fuels and nuclear shrank.
CHINA. Is China covering up a nuclear leak? What actually happened at Taishan? French nuclear company and Chinese government once again have a problem with their much vaunted EPR nuclear reactor design. About the radiation leaks at Taishan nuclear power station. The public is always the last to know. Safety concerns on Taishan reactor, but China wants to be world’s nuclear leader by 2050.
RUSSIA. Collaboration between Russia and Europe finally cleans up the most dangerous nuclear ship in the Arctic..
FRANCE. Is the leak in a nuclear reactor in China due to a Framatome manufacturing defect ? Climate and weather hazards to France’s nuclear reactors in summer 2021.
IRAN. U.S. wants nuclear deal done before Iran’s new president takes power.
LIBYA. For the first time, drones autonomously attacked humans.
PAKISTAN. No need for nuclear arsenal once Kashmir issue is resolved: Pakistan PM.
Australian and other nuclear news this week
Climate ‘tipping points’ could push us past the point-of-no-return after less than 2 degrees of warming.
Some bits of good news – G7: World leaders promise one billion Covid vaccine doses for poorer nations.
Elimination of the Cold War’s Nuclear Heritage: 20 years of international cooperation.The G7 meeting of world leaders made some progress on action about the pandemic and climate change. But they ignored that other global menace,nuclear weapons and the threat of nuclear war. Well, not entirely – as they managed to bring the world closer to war, with the focus on ”standing up to China”.
AUSTRALIA
- Australia’s incompetent leadership – continued subservience to American militarism.
- The unrealistic push for nuclear reactors helps the coal and gas industries to hang on. ANSTO’s desperate and dishonest spin to promote the nuclear industry.
- Dr Jim Green gives an update on the Australian government’s new strategy to get a nuclear waste dump at Kimba, South Australia. Change in Resource Minister Keith Pitt’s strategy: what’s next for his Kimba nuclear dump project? Samantha Chard, General Manager, Australian Radioactive Waste Management Agency – doubletalk about nuclear waste transport. An outline of the recent years in the history of South Australia targeted for an international nuclear waste dump..
- Murdoch’s NewsCorpse trying hard to get the Australian Government to privatise the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
- Remote communities affected by uranium in drinking water.
INTERNATIONAL
“IT’S VERY PROFITABLE to prepare for omnicide,” A People’s Guide to the War Industry -5: Portfolio of Conflicts. Growing support for the nuclear ban treaty in public opinion polls , voters and lawmakers in NATO’s 30 countries. Nuclear energy – Nuclear weapons – the inseparable link. Nuclear weapons numbers building up again. The world’s narrow escape from nuclear war.
We don’t need nuclear power to tackle climate change – Jonoathon Porritt. Nuclear energy – The solution to climate change?
Pacific Ocean was once a garbage dump for nuclear waste, now Japan’s doing it again.
Is Bill Gates ‘a nice man in a jumper’ or a power-hungry egotist?
ANTARCTICA. Fears Antarctic glacier could melt faster as it speeds up and ice shelf ‘rips apart’.
This week in nuclear news – Australia
Coronavirus – India records 100,636 new cases, tally hits 28,909,975
Climate crisis to shrink G7 economies twice as much as Covid-19, says research.
Chernobyl Guards Have Befriended Abandoned Dogs, Feeding Them and Bringing Medical Care, I00-Year-Old Galápagos Giant Tortoise Found on Fernandina Island is Indeed Member of ‘Extinct’ Species, (but this is a ”good news – bad news’‘ story)
On the nuclear scene, while not a lot is actually happening, in nuclear weapons countries, the determined nuclear weapons push continues, most politicians seem to have been well and truly bought by the industry.
With an eye to the November Climate Summit meeting in Glascow, the nuclear lobby revs up its push for small nuclear reactors, or indeed, any, nuclear reactors as the climate cure.
AUSTRALIA.
- Australia’s nuclear waste policy shambles. At Kimba, the National Radioactive Waste Management Faciity (NRWMF) insert themselves into community events.
- Australia’s Climate Change Authority now taken over by the nuclear lobby, and influenced by ”secret society” of nuclear promoters. Australia’s pro nuclear lobby, via News Corpse, is revving up the propaganda, especially the ”climate cure” hoax.
- Small nuclear reactors for New South Wales ? – dirty, dangerous, and uneconomic. New South Wales Deputy Premier Barilaro in the grip of the nuclear lobby. New South Wales Productivity Commission slammed for recommending nuclear power while ignoring offshore wind.
- Mulga Rock Uranium Project – VIMY’S mine – unwanted and uneconomic
- Morrison government’s scandalous silence on the Japanese plan to release Fukushima nuclear waste water into the Pacific Ocean.
- The fake charity AMDA Foundation is exposed by Michael West Media’s Michelle Fahy. Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) calls for a fossil-free future — not war.
- INTERNATIONAL.
The nuclear lobby’s desperate push to be included in COP26. Nuclear lobby spins its frenzied propaganda – with flimsy arguments for new nuclear power. Only renewables — and not nuclear power — can deliver truly low-carbon energy.
‘‘Fallout: The Hitoshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World”Ice sheets melting, ocean currents, and the risk of climate tipping points.
The Rio de Janeiro International Uranium Film Festival 2021 has awarded two film-makers on nuclear disarmament issues. - JAPAN. Fukushima waste water dumped in Pacific Ocean – a critical environmental issue threatening marine pollution.
This week’s nuclear news – Australia and overseas
Covid 19 coronavirus: Around the world – situation update
Climate change behind global heat deaths
Nuclear. The coronavirus, with its global effects on health, human suffering is also, of course, affecting the economy, and most (though not all) businesses. The ”commercial” nuclear industry is affected, but not the nuclear weapons industry. The nuclear-armed nations are revving up their weapons expenditure. The USA is the shiningly obscene example. Clearly the nuclear weapons industry has captured the American government, it hardly matters whether the administration is in Democratic or Republican hands.
Some bits of good news: Chernobyl Guards Have Befriended Abandoned Dogs, Feeding Them and Bringing Medical Care. World’s Largest Wind Turbine Manufacturer Says All Its Blades Will Soon be Fully Recycled.
AUSTRALIA.
Australia, the USA’s only ”best friend” in the Indo Pacific, to deploy more USA military equipment, heightening the threat against China. Australian Robert Floyd to head the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation.
Nuclear trash – a tale of two Sydney suburbs.
Radioactive particles still endanger wildlife in the landscape around Maralinga.
Australian company Greenland Minerals fails community test over controversial rare earths and uranium mine plan.
Environmentalists and Aboriginal traditional owners object to rocket launching on South Australian protected heritage land, at Whaler’s Way.
Tough environmental regulation brings economic benefits. Australia lags behind all OECD countries. Australia/UK Free Trade Agreement will give corporations the right to sue governments.
INTERNATIONAL.
A People’s Guide to the War Industry .
The appalling mistreatment of Australian citizen, Julian Assange, – by USA, UK, and Australia. Targeted surveillance threatens human rights defenders.
“Unqualified” —who is allowed to talk about nuclear power ?
Report on the threat of nuclear terrorism.
New technology comes nowhere close to solving the problem of nuclear waste. Despite the Small Nuclear Reactor push from Bill Gates and the rest of the nuclear lobby, we already have the technologies to decarbonise our global economy.
New research highlights need for international standards to safeguard against plutonium ”hot” particles.
Ionising radiation the big danger to astronauts.
The time to divest from Bitcoin is now.
1st U.N. nuclear ban meeting may be postponed until after Non Proliferation Treaty review.
U.S. Energy Information reports uranium at lowest price since 2007.
As electric vehicles take off, we’ll need to recycle their batteries.
This week in nuclear news Australia
Coronavirus. I can’t keep up with pandemic news – but it’s not going to go away – for a long time.It’s still looking like vaccination as everyone’s best hope.
Climate. G7 environment ministers have agreed that they will deliver climate targets in line with limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5C.
All quiet on nuclear developments this week. One news item from the UK (Hinkley project delays) clearly illustrates that very real, but rarely acknowledged connection between the coronavirus pandemic, and the fizzling out of activity in the ”peaceful” nuclear industry.But nothing stops the weapons makers and the Pentagon from pushing for more $billions for nuclear weapons. No doubt Russia, China then follow suit.
AUSTRALIA
Federal Government’s budget details indicate increased nuclear waste storage at ANSTO, Lucas Heights, rather than a rush for a nuclear waste dump at Kimba South Australia. Time to question the authorities on the nuclear waste dump mess, the incompetence of ANSTO, and the ?inactive role of Kimba nuclear waste staff . South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal rules that information on the Kimba nuclear waste dump can be made public
It’s not acceptable to ignore Aboriginal land owners, in order to impose high level nuclear waste on their land. Safety issues in nuclear waste dump proposal. Indigenous rights issues in Kimba nuclear waste dump proposal.
Australia has another go at cleaning up decades old pollution from old uranium mine Rum Jungle. New research on the complexity of particles from plutonium resulting from British atomic bomb tests at Maralinga. Plutonium ”hot particles” are not as stable as we assumed.
Australia has another go at cleaning up decades old pollution from old uranium mine Rum Jungle.
Research on contaminated landscape, plutonium particles, around Maralinga in outback South Australia.
Morrison’s ‘unconstitutional’ crackdown on charities. Senator Rex Patrick challenges Scott Morrison’s special arrangement to protect his government from public scrutiny.
Australia’s mining lobby exaggerates by $45 billion the taxes and royalties they pay.
INTERNATIONAL
The effects of radioactive waste water released into the ocean.
Scaling back missile defense could prevent a nuclear attack .
A world based on 100% renewable energy by 2035 is technically and economically feasible. Both Germany and Britain are decarbonising while nuclear production is greatly reducing. We already have 95% of the technologies and know how to slash emissions, remove air pollution and provide energy security and jobs.
“Advanced” isn’t the answer — New reactors as an answer to climate change are an illusion.
Scientists turn a blind eye to the fraud that is the ITER nuclear fusion project.
Should Bill Gates be viewed as a man of character and a trusted adviser to world leaders?
Tesla’s Bitcoin about-face is a warning for cryptocurrencies that ignore climate change.
Uranium Film Festival – Online for free from May 20 to May 30.
We already have 95% of the technologies and know how to slash emissions, remove air pollution and provide energy security and jobs.
On this site, for the first time ever, I am recommending donations to a cause
SUPPORT INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
I have been, still am, so fed up with Australia’s cringing mainstream media – dominated by the Murdochracy. But they’re not the only ones. Even some of the ”alternative” media swallow the deceptions of our corrupt Federal Government.
Now, – I know that Michael West Media is in no way dedicated to the anti-nuclear cause. Nor even to environmental isses. Their focus is on turning the spotlight on the Morrison government and their crooked and grasping industry backers.
BUT – everything is connected, and in these crisis time of Covid-19 and climate change, Australia must join the progressive people of the world, and the nuclear free cause needs to be a part of this. It’s covered up, or lied about in the media. Yes the ABC tries, but it lives under the shadow of the Liberal Coalition’s goal to destroy it. We desperatelyu need this kind of investigative journalism
1 This month.
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/235274195556
19 May – Webinar- Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Start: 2026-05-19 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-05-19 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
20 May – Webinar – The dangerous world of AUKUS, US, military occupation and suppression of dissent
National Webinar, 20th May, 2026, 6.30pm AEST. Confronting laws restricting/suppressing protest speech and action
Speakers: Former Sen. Rex Patrick, Lawyer Nick Hanna ,Arthur Rorris ,Jorgen Doyle, Sen David Shoebbridge,
Facilitator Kelley Tranter.
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
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