Morrison government bringing push for nuclear energy as an election issue
Morrison ministers lay the groundwork for nuclear energy election plan. The Australian 23 June 21, The option of taking a proposal for nuclear power in Australia to the next election has been considered in cabinet-level discussions as pressure grows within the Morrison government to prepare for a nuclear energy industry.
The top-level political and policy discussions including Liberal and Nationals ministers involved the argument that the moratorium on nuclear energy could be lifted in the decades ahead ….
Politically, the option of the Coalition adopting a policy of future nuclear energy was considered too dangerous without bipartisan support from the ALP.Before attending the G7 summit in Cornwall, Scott Morrison publicly said nuclear power was not an option in Australia unless there was bipartisan support for lifting the moratorium. The cabinet-level discussions were not part of a formal cabinet submission but traversed the politics and strategy of taking advantage of a shift in public opinion about the role of nuclear energy in reducing carbon emissions.
……… the Morrison government has included considering the latest modular nuclear reactor technology as part of its “energy road map” to create affordable, reliable energy…
Politically, the option of the Coalition adopting a policy of future nuclear energy was considered too dangerous without bipartisan support from the ALP.Before attending the G7 summit in Cornwall, Scott Morrison publicly said nuclear power was not an option in Australia unless there was bipartisan support for lifting the moratorium. The cabinet-level discussions were not part of a formal cabinet submission but traversed the politics and strategy of taking advantage of a shift in public opinion about the role of nuclear energy in reducing carbon emissions.
……… the Morrison government has included considering the latest modular nuclear reactor technology as part of its “energy road map” to create affordable, reliable energy…
Resources Minister Keith Pitt forced to back down – now must allow legal scrutiny of the ill-advised Kimba nuclear dump plan.
Resources Minister Keith Pitt has been forced to abandon moves to quash legal scrutiny of a federal plan for a national radioactive waste facility near Kimba in regional South Australia.
“More than a year after he began his push to make the choice of location immune from legal challenge, Minister Pitt has had to restore this fundamental democratic right in a move that passed the Senate last night,” said ACF nuclear free campaigner, Dave Sweeney.
The Minister’s backflip to break this year-long stalemate further highlights the federal government’s piecemeal and politicised approach to radioactive waste management.
“The government has failed to demonstrate there would be any public health or radiological benefits in moving Australia’s most problematic radioactive waste from its current secure storage at Lucas Heights to a location with fewer assets and much less protection at Kimba.
“The Kimba plan shirks the hard and long-term questions. Minister Pitt is not advancing a comprehensive solution, he is merely kicking a radioactive can down a dirt road.
“There are many reasons why the Lucas Heights facility, run by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), is the best place for our worst waste until a lasting and credible waste management solution is identified.
“Lucas Heights has secure tenure, a 24/7 federal police presence, the best radiation monitoring and response capacity in Australia and around 95% of the waste is already there.
“Importantly, ARPANSA, the federal nuclear regulator, has confirmed storage at ANSTO is secure, consistent with global best practice and can safely remain ‘for decades to come.’
“The revised approach reintroduces Wallerberdina in the Flinders Ranges as a potential waste facility site, showing the government is making policy on the run and has little understanding about how damaging this plan is to community cohesion.
“In December 2019 former Minister Canavan said the Flinders Ranges was no longer being considered as a site. It is a profound failure that 18 months later it is back on the list.
“This is not a Telstra tower. Australia’s first purpose built national radioactive waste facility deserves the highest level of scrutiny – not a highly politicised approach.”
Premier Marshall must enforce South Australia’s legislation prohibiting nuclear waste dump.
21 June 2021 ‒ Friends of the Earth Australia
By accepting amendments to the National Radioactive Waste Management Amendment Bill, the federal government has today abandoned its year-long attempt to shield its plan for a national nuclear waste dump in SA from judicial review. A vote on the Bill is expected this afternoon or tomorrow and the Bill is expected to pass.
Dr. Jim Green, national nuclear campaigner with Friends of the Earth, said: “The Morrison government’s disgraceful efforts to override the unanimous opposition of Barngarla Traditional Owners to the proposed nuclear dump will be challenged in the courts and politically. Barngarla Traditional Owners are expected to launch a judicial challenge.
“Friends of the Earth welcomes SA Labor’s policy that Traditional Owners should have a right of veto over nuclear projects given the sad and sorry history of nuclear projects in this state.
“Premier Steven Marshall’s support for a nuclear waste dump that is unanimously opposed by Barngarla Traditional Owners is unconscionable, crude racism and Friends of the Earth calls on the Premier to support Traditional Owners ‒ and all South Australians ‒ instead of shamefully falling into line behind his federal colleagues.
“The SA Nuclear Waste Storage Facility (Prohibition) Act was an initiative of the SA Olsen Liberal government to prevent the imposition of an intermediate-level nuclear fuel waste dump in SA. The state legislation was strengthened by the Rann government in 2002. Premier Marshall should fight Canberra’s push to dump nuclear waste on SA and to override state legislation, as did Premier Olsen and Premier Rann.
“The SA Nuclear Waste Facility (Prohibition) Act mandates a state Parliamentary inquiry in response to any attempt to impose a nuclear waste dump on SA and the Premier should initiate that inquiry immediately.
“Repeated claims that most of the nuclear waste is medical in original are dishonest. Claims that 45 jobs will be generated are deeply implausible. The dump will likely be the thin edge of the wedge; indeed several Coalition Senators today linked the looming passage of the Amendment Bill to the development of a nuclear power industry in Australia.
“Measured by radioactivity, well over 90% of the waste is long-lived intermediate-level waste that the federal government wants to store above ground at Kimba until such time as a deep underground disposal facility is established. No effort is being made to find a location for such a facility so this long-lived waste would remain stored above ground in SA ad infinitum.
“Intermediate-level waste should be stored at ANSTO’s Lucas Heights site until a suitable disposal facility is available. The Morrison government’s plan to move intermediate-level waste from secure above-ground storage at Lucas Heights to far less secure storage at Kimba is absurd and indefensible.
“The Howard government had to common sense to abandon plans to co-locate intermediate-level waste with a repository for low-level waste, and Premier Marshall should insist that the Morrison government do the same.
“South Australians fought long and hard to prevent the Howard government turning SA into the nation’s nuclear waste dump. We fought and won the campaign to stop the Flinders Ranges being used for a national dump. We fought and won the campaign to stop SA being turned into the world’s high-level nuclear waste dump. And now, we will fight until the Morrison government backs off.
“South Australians have greater ambitions for our state than to be someone else’s nuclear waste dump,” Dr. Green concluded.
Contact: Dr. Jim Green 0417 318 368
Nuclear waste storage facility legislation passes Senate.
– The Advertiser 21st June 2021, The Federal Government is now expected to name Kimba as the site of the facility after a key vote in Canberra. A nuclear waste dump set to be built in South Australia has cleared a major hurdle, with a shortlist of sites passing the Senate on Monday night.
Federal Resources Minister Keith Pitt is now required to name a site, which is expected to be Napandee farm, near Kimba on the Eyre Peninsula.Mr Pitt said: “This is an historic moment for our country that will pave the way for a critically important piece of national infrastructure.”He said while the bill has been amended, the Government would not be placing the facility in a community that does not provide broad support for it.
Wallerberdina voted against the facility in 2019, and is not expected to be the site.After months of deadlock, Labor agreed to back the Bill after the government last week proposed changes that would name three possible sites for the facility instead of specifying Kimba.The opposition had refused to back the original Bill over concerns that naming the site in legislation, rather than by a ministerial decision, would prevent the possibility of a future legal challenge.
Labor senator Murray Watt said the amendments were a “good compromise” that allowed for a potential judicial review but also acknowledged the work that had been done to shortlist three sites.Lyndhurst, in northeast SA, Kimba, and Wallerberdina, in the Flinders Ranges, are listed as the three possible sites.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young accused the major political parties of joining to “dump on South Australia”.She said community consultation for the sites had been a “debacle” which treated the traditional owners “terribly”. Labor consulted with the Kimba region’s traditional owners, the Barngarla people, before backing the Bill.The Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation was opposed to the Kimba site, but Mayor Dean Johnson last week said the community just wanted a decision.
Racism on show in the Australian Senate.
Senator Lidia Thorpe addressed the Senate today on the subject of the newly amended National Radioactive Waste Bill.
”…We need a new approach – unequivocal rejection of this fundamentally flawed and deeply disrespectful Bill.
How can Labor acknowledge the traditional owners when you can support a Bill that will destroy women’s sacred sites? Labor you should stand up and vote this Bill down along with us”
Senator Thorpe spoke passionately and eloquently, explaining First Nation people’s stromg opposition to the planned nuclear waste dump.
And whaddya know – from the Gallery yelled an old white man, a Member of the House ofrReps, but not a member of this Chamber. Yes, Rowan Ramsey MP, yelled ”Bullshit”.
Just as well the Hon Ramsey is a white man, confronting a black woman. Otherwise, if it were the other way round, you can bet your boots that the interjector would have been expelled from the Gallery……
And here’s some of what Senator Thorpe said (inexact transcript):” Greens speak up for the Barngarla people, oppose this Bill. The clearly expressed opposition of Aboriginal people. They strongly oppose the Wallerberdina site, and need to protect that sacred women’s site. Today’s proposed amendment again paves way for radioactive dump on this sacred site. The amendment puts all 3 sites back on the table. None of these sites have the consent of the traditional owners. None of these traditional owners want their sacred sites degraded.The ”community” consent was conducted on the basis that only rate-payers could vote. The Barngarla Aboriginal Corporation commissioned an independent company to conduct a ballot, with the result – unanimous opposition.
Labor – you’re agreeing with the amendment so that the traditional owners can fight this plan in court. Is Labor going to pay for their lagal action? Stop pretending that you’re here for the first people in this country. We say NO and we will continue to fight against the destruction of our country. Radioactive waste is something that will outlast you and this Parliament………We need a new pproach – unequivocal rejection of this fundamentally flawed and deeply disrespectful Bill. How can Labor acknowledge the traditional owners when you can support a Bill that will destroy womeb’s sacred sites. Labor you should stand up and vote this Bill down along with us.
Australian Senate now deliberating on the controversial Nuclear Waste Dump Bill
The Australian Senate is about to finally debate and decide on a new amendment to the National Radioactive Waste Management Amendment (Site Specification, Community Fund and Other Measures) Bill 2020, which has been languishing in the Senate for months.
The crux of the matter is that whereas the Bill previously designated Napandee, a farm near Kimba, South Australia, as the site for a nuclear waste dump, it now slightly, (but significantly) changes that , mentioning the possibility of other sites. Minister Keith Pitt is now almost certain to formally declare Napandee as the site.
The whole process has been obscure, while being highly promoted to the local community as both a ”Australian medical necessity” and a ”local economic boon”. Information provided to the local area has been promotional material and speakers from ANSTO and the Industry Department, but with no independent voices explaining the negative aspects. Local residents, farmers, and business people are calling on the government for a portion of the grant funding to Kimba to be allocated to an independent review and assessment of the project.
The Barngarla Traditional Owners were excluded from a community vote that approved the project, as were other landholders close to the Napandee site. They will now have the right to legally challenge the nuclear dump plan.Residents of the wider Eyre Peninsula, have had no say in the Kimba decision. Nor have the various communities whose residents are likely to object to having radioactive waste carried through their area, in this unnecessarily long transport from one temporary storage to another. South Australia has clear laws prohibiting the establishment of a nuclear waste dump in that State, the Nuclear Waste Storage Facility (Prohibition) Act 2000.
The most significant contributor to this planned waste dumping will be intermediate level nuclear waste produced by ANSTO’s nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights, Sydney. These toxic wastes are in interim storage in large canisters at Lucas Heights, where they are safely managed and guarded.. There is ample room for more storage at Lucas Heights, and no reason for this double handling, sending the same temporary storage canisters to Kimba.
If this Bill is now passed by the Senate, it will bring on a more chaotic situation of uncertainty for the people of Kimba, but with not one step towards what is really needed.
The Senate should reject this poorly devised Bill. Australians deserve a thorough, properly researched independent inquiry into finding a permanent and safe solution to ANSTO’s nuclear waste problem.
THIS WEEK’S SPECIAL THEME. Australian government headed to impose a nuclear waste dump on Kimba, South Australia
Never mind that South Australia has clear laws prohibiting a nuclear waste dump, the Australian Senate has passed a law enabling the Resources Minister, Keith Pitt, to impose a nuclear waste dump on any site apptroved by the government – but they mean Kimba. Far far away from the source of the nuclear waste (ANSTO’s OPAL nuclear in Sydney) the Napandee farm will be the dump for ANSTO’s toxic wastes. The plan is simply to shove the responsibility for these stranded wastes over to South Australia. The government cons the locals that this will be an economic boon for them
It’s just the latest in the long saga of the nuclear lobby’s attempt to get a nuclear waste dump. It has never been a goal that would make sense – ethically and environmentally . – (an ethical goal would be a complete clean-up drive, permanently getting rid of Australia’s nuclear reactor and its radioactive trash).
But no, this latest push is just part of ANSTO’s grandiose goal of expanding its operations, to produce more toxic trash.
And that may not be all. The Australian saga follows decadesof efforts by the nuclear lobby to make South Australia the nuclear waste dump for the world. That goal, spelt out clearly in 1999 by the company Pangea (now reborn as Arius), was pushed again in the 2016 South Australian Nuclear Fuel Chain Commission
The Napandee dump is1700 km from Lucas Heights. The dump will house the same ”interim” waste conatainers as at ANSTO. They could stay at ANSTO, more safely, for many years. As for a permanent repositary, there are many geolocally more suitable sites much closer to the reactor.
I have no doubt that some who push for the Napandee dump see it as a foot in the door for the old dream of importing the world’s muclear trash.
The Federal government is pulling a nuclear waste confidence trick on South Australia.
Well, that’s a relief to South Australians.
But aw shucks, that was 2017. Is Premier Marshall now going to do a backflip, and let the Federal government send ANSTO’s radioactive trash to a small rural community in South Australia?
On Monday 21 June at 12.20 pm, the Australian Senate will debate, and may vote on, the revised National Radioactive Waste Management Amendment (Site Specification, Community Fund and Other Measures) Bill 2020 .
South Australia has clear laws prohibiting the establishment of a nuclear waste dump in that State. Nuclear Waste Storage Facility (Prohibition) Act 2000
There is a strange and hypocritical silence from the State’s Liberal leaders, and Labor Opposition. Only the Greens have spoken out against this Federal plan to establish a nuclear waste dump in a rural area.
Why the silence from the rest? It could be because they sort of support the plan, even though it contravenes the State’s law. Or, just as likely, they know that even if this Bill is passed, it’s not really going anywhere, anyway.
The idea of toting ANSTO’s ”intermediate level” nuclear waste from temporary storage at Lucas Heights, to way across the continent to another temporary storage in some little rural agricultural area in South Australia, is fraught with problems, and unanswered questions.
If this Bill becomes law, three previously short-listed locations Lyndhurst in New South Wales, Napandee near Kimba, and Wallerberdina in the Flinders Ranges are nominated as suitable sites, and Minister Keith Pitt will be required to formally declare a site. Correction. I am informed that the New South Wales site is not included, and that Federal Labor have put up an amendment to remove that Wallerberdina site in theFlinders Ranges.
From then on, the rot will really set in, and I don’t like Minister Pitt’s chances of imposing a facility on any of these communities. For a start, the Wallerberdina site has already been rejected. via a community ballot, and that location was scrapped by the previous Minister Matt Canavan.
The obvious target is the Kimba site, where in a fairly restricted vote, a community vote did favour this ”interim” waste dump, accompanied as it was by financial incentives for the town.. But there is strong opposition from the Barngarla people, traditional owners who were excluded from the vote. There are also farmers most unhappy with the choice of this agricultural area: they have formed a group – No Radioactive Waste on Agricultural Land in Kimba or SA.
The newly amended Bill opens the matter up for legal challenge, which is sure to come about. There are serious objections to the plan, not least of which is the problem of transport, involving numerous communities whose residents are likely to object to having radioactive waste transported through their area. There certainly is the question of placing nuclear waste in an agricultural area. Nuclear enthusiasts claim that this is acceptable overseas. They cite France ignoring the protest continuing in the village of Bure where the French government has tried to set up a waste facility.
There are serious doubts on the soundness of the proposal, especially as it relates to the Napandee site . Is it geologically suitable, seismically safe?Meanwhile the interim storage at Lucas Heights has room for years more storage, and has the staff, the security, and the expertise to safely manage the wastes on site.
Above all – the Napandee site has been promoted to the local community, with enthusiastic information from ANSTO and Industry Department experts, and promises of economic benefits. What has not been provided, but in fact, actively discouraged, is the other side of the story. Kimba residents have not had access to the misgivings of other experts about this proposal – economic disadvantages, environmental considerations, water problems, and the long-term probability for the community to be stuck with stranded wastes
Kalbar’s exotic minerals mine a toxic risk to Victoria’s food bowl
Kalbar’s exotic minerals mine a toxic risk to Victoria’s food bowl, Michael West Media by Elizabeth Minter | Jun 18, 2021 | A hearing into the Environment Effects Statement for Kalbar’s mineral sands project on rich Victorian farmland has been told about competition for billions of litres of water, high levels of uranium, untested technologies and a strange backflip by the project’s “independent experts”. Elizabeth Minter investigates.
For exactly 100 years, Kane Busch’s family have farmed the fertile soils of the Lindenow Valley in East Gippsland, Victoria. After leaving Denmark in 1913, Kane’s great-grandfather Eiler Busch settled in the Valley, buying in 1921 the land that is now the home of Busch Organics.
Kane’s grandfather, also called Eiler, was behind the push for more environmentally friendly farming while experiencing the devastating droughts of the 1990s. The farm gained official organic certification in 2000. Grandson Kane is following in those footsteps, and was recently a finalist for a national award for “Young Grower of the Year”.
The Lindenow Valley produces the salad greens and vegetables – broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, celery, beetroot, cabbage and carrots – that help feed the nation. The Valley produces nearly one-third of the state’s vegetables; employs up to 2000 people at peak times; and is worth more than $150 million to the local economy.
The area also has huge environmental significance, with the heritage-listed Mitchell River, the Ramsar-protected Gippsland Lakes wetlands, and the Perry River’s unique Chain of Ponds, which is home to many threatened plant and animal species. Once ubiquitous across south-eastern Australia, “chain of ponds” systems are now rare.
But this is all now in jeopardy thanks to a mineral sands mining proposal from Kalbar Operations Pty Ltd (Kalbar), a company that was established as an investment vehicle and that has never operated a mine. It would be almost comical were it not for the potentially deadly consequences.
There’s monazite, which contains rare earth metals plus radioactive uranium and thorium and is thus potentially dangerous to residents, the waterways and the vegetables growing by the mine’s boundary; the competition for billions of litres of water; and the untried technology being proposed to tackle the mining waste. Nowhere in Australia is a mineral sands mine located so closely to, and upwind of, a major vegetable growing industry.
Kalbar is proposing a 1,675-hectare open-cut mine just 350 metres from the Mitchell River, which flows into the Gippsland Lakes wetlands. The mine will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for 15 years. A public hearing is under way as part of the inquiry into the Environment Effects Statement (EES). The following information has been revealed during the hearing.
Big miners walk away, lack of water the key risk
The multinational miner Rio Tinto originally owned the mining exploration licences. In 2011 Oresome, a subsidiary of Metallica Minerals, entered into a right to explore and option to purchase agreement with Rio for the licences.
A scoping study it commissioned showed a mine could be viable only if there was a dependable water supply. The risk of not finding a reliable source of up to 6.2 billion litres annually for an acceptable price received a Category F rating, defined as a problem with possibly “no viable solution” and a “fatal flaw”.
Water supplies
Kalbar’s proposed mine will sit on the plateau high above the Mitchell River with the vegetables growing just metresfrom the river.
The mine is 3.5 kilometres from the main source of the region’s drinking water (other than tank water). The mine and the horticultural industry will be in direct competition for water, with both relying on the Mitchell River and the same groundwater………….
Treatment of mine waste
Also controversial is access to how mine waste will be managed. The mine’s original design included a 90-hectare tailings dam.
But when government agencies and others highlighted the extreme danger such a dam posed to the Perry River and the Chain of Ponds, Kalbar changed its proposal.
The mine now plans to use giant centrifuge machines to remove water from the tailings waste, and then reuse that water.
The East Gippsland Shire Council, which unanimously opposes the mine, was not convinced of the viability of centrifuges, which are untested in mineral sands mining. The council commissioned a report from an independent mining industry consultancy, Ausenco.
Ausenco’s report raised concerns and advised that many more centrifuges would be required than Kalbar proposed. Then just weeks later, of its own volition, Ausenco issued a new report …………..
Radioactive dust a hazard
Kalbar plans to mine for and partially refine zircon, titanium-bearing rutile, ilmenite and rare earths minerals.
Airborne dust generated from mineral sands mines not only contains toxic heavy metals and radioactive monazite, thorium and uranium but also respirable crystalline silica, which leads to the deadly lung disease silicosis……………
Reputational damage to growers…… https://www.michaelwest.com.au/kalbars-exotic-minerals-mine-a-toxic-risk-to-victorias-food-bowl/
The Greens will be standing up for a nuclear-free South Australia.
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Senator Sarah Hanson-Young The Morrison Government is pushing laws through parliament this week to dump nuclear waste on South Australia, flipping the bird to our great state.South Aussies don’t want it, Traditional Owners don’t want it, the local communities don’t want it. The Greens will be standing up for SA – our state deserve so much better 
www.sarahhansonyoung.com/no_dump
The Federal Government has no mandate to situate a radioactive waste management facility in South Australia. The community of Kimba have been significantly impacted by the ongoing mismanagement of the site selection process.
It is imperative that all stakeholders within transport corridors in South Australia, every community impacted by the potential thoroughfare of nuclear waste should be fully informed of the relevant costs and benefits, throughout the transport chain, and offered the opportunity to have their say on the proposal.
The proposed double-handling of intermediate-level radioactive waste is not consistent with international best practice. Alternatives should be canvassed, including the suspension of the site selection process until a permanent disposal site can be identified.
NSW Productivity Commission Has “Lost The Plot” On Nuclear Power,
NSW Productivity Commission Has “Lost The Plot” On Nuclear Power, Solar Quotes, June 3, 2021 by Michael Bloch The Electrical Trades Union has weighed in on the New South Wales Productivity Commission’s recommendation to lift the ban on nuclear electricity generation for small modular reactors.
The recommendation was one of many contained in the Commission’s 371-page “Rebooting the economy” whitepaper released last week.
……….. Small modular reactors operating as terrestrial power stations are vaporware at this point; they do not exist. The Commission notes a U.S. company expects to have its first small modular reactor operating by 2026. “Expecting” gives wiggle room for that to not happen and it’s not unreasonable to assume it won’t given the challenges the SMR technology faces, including the renewables juggernaut.
ETU: Nuclear Power “Not The Answer”
With renewables and storage rapidly evolving and their cost continuing to plummet, it sounds a bit nutty to be even considering SMRs – and the Electrical Trades Union agrees.
“The Productivity Commission has lost the plot if it thinks small modular reactors, a technology that has been ‘just around the corner’ since the 1970’s but still doesn’t exist, is the answer to NSW’s productivity growth,” said ETU National and NSW Secretary, Allen Hicks. “Even if someone finally manages to build one that works, the electricity price forecast for their output is six times more expensive than renewables.”
The Commission notes low-cost renewables pose an additional risk to the economics of large reactors, but doesn’t seem to tweak to the fact they pose the same threat to SMRs…..
Mr. Hicks’ advice:
“Boosting the economy, providing more jobs, and dealing with climate change are big problems, but nuclear power is not the answer.”
But something that wins the trifecta are renewables such as wind and solar power along with supporting technologies.
The 70,000-member strong Electrical Trades Union says it has a long history of opposing uranium mining and the nuclear power industry, and has had a ban on members working in both sectors since 1945. You can learn more about the ETU’s stance on its “No Future For Nuclear” website. Mr. Hicks’ advice:
“Boosting the economy, providing more jobs, and dealing with climate change are big problems, but nuclear power is not the answer.”
But something that wins the trifecta are renewables such as wind and solar power along with supporting technologies. https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/productivity-commission-nuclear-mb2021/
Labor consults traditional owners about the Kimba nuclear waste dump Bill, considers supporting the Bill.
Nuclear waste facility in SA may be a step closer, after Labor consults traditional owners
ABC, By political reporter Matthew Doran, 15 June 21, ”………………with the federal opposition preparing to negotiate with the government on legislation that would allow construction to begin.
Key points:
- Labor says the government has agreed to amendments allowing legal challenges against the location
- The federal government has proposed to build the dump at Kimba in South Australia…..
Nuclear waste facility in SA may be a step closer, after Labor consults traditional owners
ABC, By political reporter Matthew Doran, 15 June 21, ”………………with the federal opposition preparing to negotiate with the government on legislation that would allow construction to begin.
Key points:
- Labor says the government has agreed to amendments allowing legal challenges against the location
- The federal government has proposed to build the dump at Kimba in South Australia…..
The federal government has proposed the dump be built near Kimba, on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, after a shortlist of locations was whittled down and a community vote was held.
But legislation to give the project the tick of approval stalled in the Senate, with Labor concerned the bill did not allow legal challenges against the choice of location……..
On Tuesday, Labor’s Caucus agreed to let Shadow Resources Minister Madeleine King negotiate on the bill after the Coalition suggested it would present amendments to Parliament allowing for judicial review.
“We said we would not support passage of this legislation unless the traditional owners were comfortable with it,” Ms King said………
Ms King said the opposition would wait to see the details of the amendments before making its final decision.
She was praised by Shadow Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney for her consultation with the community.
Representatives of the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation (BDAC) travelled to Canberra to seek extra assurances from the federal government about the amendments.
“We welcome the engagement Labor to date and the engagement from the crossbench,” a spokesperson said.
We also acknowledge the commitment from Labor to ensure that nothing occurs without our support.
“We are unable to comment further at this stage as we are too busy dealing with this.”……..
The amendments are yet to be introduced to Parliament, and the timeframe for construction is not clear.
Legal challenges have scuttled previous attempts to construct a nuclear waste dump, including at Mukaty Station in the Northern Territory.
Nuclear waste facility in SA may be a step closer, after Labor consults traditional owners
Nuclear waste intended for Kimba, -used to be classified as ”high level” – now called ”intermediate”.
Zac Eagle No nuclear waste dump in South Australia , 16 June 21
teSponst9oreduh · “High Level waste from the existing HIFAR reactor is due to return in 2015 from reprocessing in France”Federal Parliament – 24 January 2005.
This is the stuff they want to dump in SA.When was it reclassified as Intermediate Waste? The link https://www.aph.gov.au/…/BN/2011-2012/RadioActiveWaste
ANSTO’s dodgy classification of nuclear wastes.
When the re-processed material is returned to Australia invariably the processing country refers to that material as high-level waste but ANSTO reclassifies it as intermediate level on the very weak argument of the classifications in Europe being different to Australia…… it seems ludicrous that it should assume its own manner of classification and against the treaty adopted classifications of IAEA and adhered to by other countries.
(b) the intermediate level waste should even when stored on a temporary basis be geologically buried at appropriate depths.
The prescriptive codes of IAEA have been fully adopted by ARPANSA12 as its standards for the classification and treatment and management of nuclear waste in Australia.
It is interesting that a new subsection 3(2) of the Bill gives effect to Australia’s obligations as a party to the Joint Convention for the safe and secure management of what is defined as decontrolled material and in particular Australia’s obligations under Chapters 3 and 4 of the Joint Convention.
The government has always stated that the facility at Kimba would only be used for the permanent disposal of low-level waste and indefinite storage of intermediate level waste with that storage period being up to 100 years.
The government has described the facility at Kimba as being a central one for Australia with the implication that it would dispose of or store as required all the present legend or stockpiled waste in Australia and all waste generated locally in the future.
After accepting Napandee as a nominated site the government engaged AECOM to carry out what is described as a characterisation study of the site at Napandee which concluded with a technical report dated 23 July 2018.
That summary added little to the technical nature of both Kimba sites and dealt principally with community consultations and the results of a recent ballotWhile all three reports were colourful presentations with elaborate artwork and photographs in reality by technical standards they contained little proper information to support and satisfy the selection of Napandee as the site for the waste management facility.
environmental hazards such as seismic and flooding events, can be mitigated via design solutions.
This conclusion again shows that the Napandee selection was both premature as to its choice by the government due to the lack of a full assessment and investigation of the site and completely unsuitable for the facility.
Resources Minister Pitt changes nuclear waste Bill in the effort to gain Labor’s support.
Nuclear waste storage facility legislation changed in bid to gain Labor support, secure Kimba site” – The Advertiser 14th June 2021.
“A nuclear waste storage facility in regional South Australia is one step closer, [really?] with the Federal Government making changes in a fresh bid to get the controversial plan through parliament.
Napandee Farm near Kimba on the Eyre Peninsula was named as the preferred site in February 2020 but draft laws to establish the facility have been stalled in parliament for months .
The federal Opposition won’t back the bill in its current form because naming the site in legislation, rather than declaring it by a ministerial decision, prevents a possible future legal challenge to the location.The federal government is now proposing changes that would reinsert the possibility for a judicial review, in a bid to win Labor’s support and get the laws through the Senate.
Under the changes, a site would no longer be specified but three previously short-listed locations – Lyndhurst in New South Wales, Napandee near Kimba, and Wallerberdina in the Flinders Ranges – would be included in the bill and the minister would then be required to declare the site…….
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese’s frontbench is due to consider the amendments on Monday night and the bill may go before the Senate in the next two weeks.
Indigenous associations, including the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation, have been opposed to the site because traditional land owners who did not live in the area were excluded from a 2019 ballot to gauge community support for the site.
Kimba Mayor Dean Johnson said the community just wanted a decision.“We just look forward to a resolution so our community can move forward,” Mr Johnson said. He welcomed changes to the draft laws if it would secure Labor’s support, and said the minister should declare the site “as soon as possible”…
Australian Conservation Foundation Nuclear Free Campaigner David Sweeney said Mr Pitt had “finally accepted the reality” the proposal did not have support and needed to be revised.
“The return of legal review is important but it is extraordinary that the Minister ever thought its removal was reasonable,” Mr Sweeney said.“A day in court is a fundamental right and to seek to remove this was deeply flawed – as is the government’s wider plan.”…….
Mr Sweeney said there was no compelling case to move intermediate level waste from ANSTO’s site to Kimba, and it had been opposed by the traditional owners.He added the reintroduction of Wallerberdina, which was ruled out in 2019, showed the government was “making policy on the run”.
Most South Australians “don’t want the country’s nuclear waste dump in our backyard,” Senator Hanson Young said.She also raised concerns the amendments opened the door to the minister selecting the Flinders Ranges site.Greens senator Sarah Hanson Young said it appeared the Federal Government and Labor had done a deal to pass the bill.
“We will use all mechanisms available in the Senate over the next two weeks to stop this bill passing, and I suspect our fellow crossbenchers will do the same,” she said.”
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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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)
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Antinuclear 