High Level Nuclear Waste: Believe Canavan’s Queensland mate or official sources?
DEFINITION OF HIGH LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE :
Source : US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) :
High-level radioactive wastes are the highly radioactive materials produced as a byproduct of the reactions that occur inside nuclear reactors. High-level wastes take one of two forms:
1) Spent (used) reactor fuel when it is accepted for disposal.
2) Waste materials remaining after spent fuel is reprocessed.
Source : International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) :
High-Level Radioactive Waste (HLW) is produced from the burning of uranium fuel in nuclear power reactors. It is of two kinds:
1) Spent nuclear fuel.
2) Waste resulting from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.
Due to its high radioactivity and very long half-life, HLW has to be well contained and isolated from the human environment.
RADIOACTIVE WASTE 10,000 X MORE RADIOACTIVE THAN URANIUM ORE
Source: Nuclear
#ScottyFromMarketing has no climate target, because he is controlled by climate denialists
|
Scott Morrison’s missing target: climate https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/scott-morrison-s-missing-climate-target-20200203-p53x5g
If he is going to appease noisy climate change denialists, it would be better if the Prime Minister left emissions reduction policy to the states. Richard Denniss Columnist Scott Morrison loves long-run targets for everything except climate policy.The federal government has long-run targets for inflation (2 to 3 per cent), the budget surplus (1 per cent of gross domestic product) and net debt (zero). It’s got a long-run target for defence spending (2 per cent of GDP) and countless long-run targets when it comes to Indigenous disadvantage, education performance, aged care quality and foreign aid. But when it comes to reducing the amount of coal, oil and gas Australia burns, apparently long-run targets are an unnecessary distraction for an “action man” like Scotty from Marketing. Targets give business, consumers and other levels of government something clear to work towards. Energy sources, especially the coal and nuclear power stations that the Prime Minister likes the sound of, take years to plan, years to build and decades to pay for themselves. Targets give business more certainty but they also make governments accountable for performance, which is presumably why the Prime Minister is so determined to avoid them when it comes to carbon emissions. In his sermon to the National Press Club last week, he avoided committing to net zero emissions by 2050 on the basis that his “climate action agenda is a practical one, it goes beyond targets and summits”. But you can’t go “beyond” long-run targets without having first set them.
Morrison knows targets matter. That’s why his government targeted so many sports grants to marginal electorates, and it’s why he spends so much time talking about meeting and beating Tony Abbott’s 26 to 28 per cent Paris target. Scott knows that if you set the bar low enough you can easily clear it, and if you don’t set the bar at all you can do nothing at all. After six years in office, continuing to avoid long-run emissions targets makes the government’s job easier and the energy industry’s harder. The Prime Minister’s real problem with long-run climate targets is the long-run climate change deniers in the party he’s trying to lead. For 10 years the only way for a Liberal leader to survive has been to publicly promise to do something about climate change while privately promising not to. Morrison waved a lump of coal in Parliament when he wanted to destabilise Malcolm Turnbull, but today he waves his “climate action now” slogan to stabilise his slide in the polls. Ultimately, like the last five Liberal leaders, he will be impaled on the fence his party insists he sit on. Morrison’s new-found interest in hazard reduction is no substitute for spending his prime ministerial capital in international forums, trying to steer the world away from the 3 degrees of warning we are currently on track to experience. The state premiers are perfectly capable of raking the leaves, but only the federal government can negotiate on the nation’s behalf for more ambitious action. Which brings me back to targets. Back in 2016, the ACT set a target to source 100 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, and it’s already “meeting and beating” that goal and providing some of the cheapest electricity in Australia. The City of Sydney will be 100 per cent renewable by the end of this year and the state Coalition government of Gladys Berejiklian has committed NSW to net-zero emissions by 2050. In fact, every state in Australia is committed to carbon neutrality by 2050 – which, whether Scott Morrison likes it or not, means that Australia has committed to being carbon neutral by 2050. But rather than using those targets as leverage on the international stage, Morrison is undermining them on the domestic stage. If the Prime Minister was as interested in appeasing the quiet Australians as he was in appeasing the noisy climate denialists, he would welcome the bear hug the state premiers have wrapped him in and take credit for their ambition on the world stage while holding the premiers to account for their commitments back home. While a national approach to emissions reduction would be nice, the federal Coalition has shredded every initiative that has been put forward. Rather than take over more responsibilities from the states, Morrison would do better to leave climate and energy policy to them. The only thing stopping him from showing up at the next global climate talks and putting the states’ target of net zero by 2050 on the table is his backbench. |
|
|
Pro nuclear stooge Minister Matt Canavan faces conflict-of-interest inquiry
Matt Canavan faces conflict-of-interest inquiry over $20m club loan, SMH By David Crowe, February 3, 2020 The Morrison government is caught up in another inquiry into one of its own senior figures after Resources Minister Matt Canavan revealed a potential conflict of interest over a $20 million loan.Senator Canavan announced on Monday night he had not declared his link to the North Queensland Cowboys football club at the time it gained the loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility……..
Senator Canavan disclosed the inquiry at the same time he announced he had offered his resignation from the ministry because he would back former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce in a challenge against party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack. The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, or NAIF, is a key agency within Senator Canavan’s portfolio and was used last year to fund a multi-use training centre at the club……. The inquiry into the loan raises the prospect that Senator Canavan may remain outside the ministry whatever the outcome of the Nationals leadership ballot. The potential conflict has similarities with the resignation of former Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie, who stood down because she had not disclosed her membership of a gun club when the club received money from the sports funding program she oversaw as minister……… https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/matt-canavan-faces-conflict-of-interest-inquiry-over-20m-club-loan-20200203-p53xez.html?fbclid=IwAR2SINUWJoXs791GHHySuwgvYFHG9YJRtCT-qtRYJGdmcVvUeXIBb2_P0yQ |
|
Strong rally in Kimba, South Australia, against nuclear dump plan
SA community calls on government to scrap planned nuclear waste dump, SBS, 2 Feb 2020 Protesters are venting their anger at a nuclear waste dump proposed on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. Protesters are calling on the federal government to scrap a proposed nuclear waste dump on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula at a rally on Sunday.
The farming property Napandee near the town of Kimba was announced as the site of the radioactive facility on Saturday.
But the No Radioactive Waste on Agricultural Land in Kimba or SA committee says the community consultation process was flawed.
“Those opposed to the facility have had no choice but to fight, at every opportunity, for our legitimate concerns to be heard,” president Peter Woolford said…..
Federal Resources Minister Matthew Canavan said a decision on the site would be announced soon. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/sa-community-calls-on-government-to-scrap-planned-nuclear-waste-dump
A clear path to climate action for Australia
The Princes Highway to climate action, SMH, Jono La Nauze 2 Feb 2020 In the past few weeks a clear path to real action on climate change has emerged. State and territory governments are aligning on the need for stronger climate policy.If the states act decisively and act together on setting emissions targets they can reduce pollution through an alternative route. Let’s call it the Princes Highway to climate action, because, like the famous road, it passes through the eastern capitals and deliberately avoids Canberra.
The biggest barrier to action has been a lack of political will and outright climate denialism in Federal Parliament, mainly from the Liberal and National parties. Even after the bushfires, the Prime Minister has tried to deflect attention from his party’s failure by focusing the debate on how we can “adapt” to a hotter, more chaotic climate, rather than cutting the pollution that causes it. But at the state level, things have been different. In recent weeks, senior Liberals have been speaking out about the need to cut pollution and have called for stronger climate policy – including the South Australian Premier, the outgoing and incoming Tasmanian premiers, the Victorian Opposition Leader and the NSW Climate and Energy Minister. In South Australia, the Liberal Party shifted a long time ago. When a freak storm toppled transmission lines and blacked out the state, the federal Coalition rolled out an aggressive misinformation campaign blaming the then Labor government’s renewable energy leadership. But when the Liberals came to power they didn’t follow their federal counterparts in trashing wind and solar – instead, they embraced it. “A lot of people thought when I got elected that we would be scaling back the state’s focus on renewable energy, when in fact we are putting the foot to the floor,” said Liberal Premier Steven Marshall on Friday. South Australia is now on track for 75 per cent renewable energy by 2025, and the Premier has linked the recent bushfires to climate change. Every single state and territory in the country has now set a goal of net zero emissions by 2050 – a long-term target the Prime Minister has so far rejected. Of course, the reality is that emissions cuts in the next five and 10 years will count the most. That’s why it’s critical that premiers such as Gladys Berejiklian and Daniel Andrews seize this moment to work with their fellow premiers on a national climate change strategy…….. This is a critical moment that could shift the national debate. If Victoria adopts emissions targets in line with the Paris Agreement, it is possible for other states to follow suit, passing similar legislation and creating a de-facto national climate change strategy – whether Scott Morrison decided to help out or not. In a few years, rather than being stuck in a stalemate at the federal level while temperatures rise and the country burns, we could have agreement between states and territories to get on with the job of lowering emissions and creating a safer future. https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-princes-highway-to-climate-action-20200131-p53wg6.html |
|
|
Australian govt’s dodgy process, with “jobs promises” for getting support for Kimba nuclear waste dump.
Megan Jo I Fight To Stop A Nuclear Waste Dump In South Australia 3 Feb 2020 I feel empathy for the people that voted yes. I think they truly believe that the promises of jobs, safety and prosperity are going to materialise. Sure, the government has promised 45 jobs….. but the current definition of ‘employed’ is 1 hour per week. Australia’s extreme bushfires – forests might not recover
Wildfires have spread dramatically—and some forests may not recover. An explosion in the frequency and extent of wildfires worldwide is hindering recovery even in ecosystems that rely on natural blazes to survive. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/01/extreme-wildfires-reshaping-forests-worldwide-recovery-australia-climate/
|
BY JOHN PICKRELL, JANUARY 30, 2020, Pungent and damp, the so-called tall, wet forests of southeastern Australia are home to the tallest flowering plants on Earth. Eucalyptus regnans, the Latin name of the mountain ash, means “ruler of the gum trees”—which is fitting, given these giants can reach more than 300 feet high.
Many of Australia’s gum trees, particularly those in drier forest types, are famously able to tolerate fire, throwing out new buds and shoots within weeks of being engulfed in flames. But even these tenacious species have their limits. Old-growth forests of the mountain ash and a related species, the alpine ash, are among the gum trees that are less tolerant of intense blazes. In the state of Victoria, these trees had already been severely depleted by logging and land clearing. Now, the bushfires that have burned more than 26 million acres of eastern Australia in recent months are putting the forests at even greater risk. Some of the forests razed this year have experienced four bushfires in the past 25 years, meaning they’ve had no chance to recover, says David Lindenmayer, an ecologist at the Australian National University in Canberra. “They should be burning no more than every 75 to 125 years, so that’s just an extraordinary change to fire regimes,” he says. “Mountain ash need to be about 15 to 30 years old before they can produce viable amounts of seed to replace themselves following fire.” The loss of these dominant trees is a significant problem, since they provide vital habitat for threatened animal species such as the sooty owl, the giant burrowing frog, and a fluffy arboreal marsupial called the greater glider. (Also find out how Australia’s fires can create big problems for freshwater supplies.) |
|
Federal Government chooses Kimba farm Napandee on the Eyre Peninsula for nuclear dump
|
Federal Government chooses Kimba farm Napandee on the Eyre Peninsula for nuclear dump, ABC, 1 Feb 2020
The Federal Government has selected a farm on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula as the site of a controversial nuclear waste dump. Key points:
Jeff Baldock’s Napandee property 20 kilometres west of Kimba will be used to permanently store low-level waste and temporarily store intermediate-level waste. The decision to use the 160-hectare area for what the Government calls a “disposal and storage facility” was made after four years of consultation. Nearly 62 per cent of people voted in favour of the site being used in November, while a site near Hawker in the Flinders Ranges was opposed by Aboriginal traditional owners and residents……. Dump to consolidate nuclear wasteLocal federal Liberal MP Rowan Ramsey said waste would come in from more than 100 sites around Australia, such as hospitals and universities, and the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney. Processed medium-level nuclear fuel rods from Lucas Heights will be temporarily stored at Kimba while a permanent site is found for them, he said. Mr Ramsey, who tried to nominate his own property near Kimba for the dump but was barred as a federal MP, said there would be no fly-in, fly-out workers at the facility……. Aboriginal group opposed the voteThe Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation launched legal action in 2018 against the District Council of Kimba, arguing it contravened the Racial Discrimination Act by excluding native title holders from a ballot due to be held that year. The Federal Court dismissed the claim last year because it said no contraventions of the Racial Discrimination Act had been established…….. The Howard government proposed a similar dump in South Australia in 1998 but withdrew its plans after losing a fight with the South Australian Labor government in the Federal Court. In 2007, a property called Mukaty Station in the Northern Territory was put forward to host the nuclear waste facility. The plan was abandoned in 2014, again because of legal action, this time by the area’s traditional owners. A group called No Radioactive Waste Facility for Kimba District held a rally against the decision in the town on Sunday.Friends of the Earth national nuclear campaigner Jim Green said the Federal Government promised the facility would not be approved unless it received at least 65 per cent of community support. “They’ve ignored the traditional owners, ignored South Australians. South Australia’s got legislation banning the imposition of nuclear waste dumps and that’s been ignored and it’s just disrespectful from start to finish,” he said. “South Australians have got greater ambitions for our state than to be someone else’s nuclear waste dump.”https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-01/kimba-farm-eyre-peninsula-chosen-for-nuclear-dump/11920514 |
|
Bushfire state of emergency in Australian Capital Territory (ACT)
Times 2nd Feb 2020, An inferno was raging near the Australian capital, Canberra, yesterday as a heatwave combined with high winds to prolong the country’s devastating bushfire season. The tiny Australian Capital Territory (ACT), between Sydney and Melbourne, declared a state of emergency as the fire, covering 140 square miles, threatened Canberra’s southern suburbs.
Drinking water threatened by forest fires
As forests burn around the world, drinking water is
at risk https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2020/01/31/features/as-forests-burn-around-the-world-drinking-water-is-at-risk/
In Australia’s national capital of Canberra, where a state of emergency was declared on Friday because of an out-of-control forest fire to its south, authorities are hoping a new water treatment plant and other measures will prevent a repeat of water quality problems and disruption that followed deadly wildfires 17 years ago.
|
“The forest area burned in Australia within a single fire season is just staggering,” said Stefan Doerr, a professor at Swansea University in England who studies the effects of forest fires on sediment and ash runoff. “We haven’t seen anything like it in recorded history.” The situation in Australia illustrates a growing global concern: Forests, grasslands and other areas that supply drinking water to hundreds of millions of people are increasingly vulnerable to fire due in large part to hotter, drier weather that has extended fire seasons, and more people moving into those areas, where they can accidentally set fires. More than 60% of the water supply for the world’s 100 largest cities originates in fire-prone watersheds — and countless smaller communities also rely on surface water in vulnerable areas, researchers say. Continue reading |
Scott Morrison, in the grip of fossil fuel lobby, is wrong about more gas for Australia
So, Scott Morrison, let’s come clean and let the public know that there’s no domestic case for increasing gas extraction. Given that gas extraction threatens landscapes and has a major problem with emissions, it’s better we leave it in the ground
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, surrounded by advisers out of the fossil fuel industry, is stuck in a time warp.
His claim that “there is no credible energy transition plan, for an economy like Australia in particular, that does not involve the greater use of gas as an important transition fuel” is demonstrably wrong. There are many. Continue reading
225 $billion for Australia’s submarine plan – a fleet of B-21 bombers would be better
|
Scrap submarines project before it’s too late says former public service boss, Michael West media, by Jon Stanford | Feb 3, 2020 Australia’s $225 billion SEA 1000 submarine project is so high risk, it would be better for Department of Defence to scrap it and start again, writes former public service chief, Jon Stanford, in the final instalment of his Second Rate Leadership series. In addition to some very serious problems with progress with the SEA 1000 program, there are some more fundamental questions to be addressed in the longer term. The first of these is whether the Attack class will embody the technologies required to be successful in its operations in the mid-2030s and beyond. In other words, will it be fit for purpose? An associated question is around the submarine’s cost effectiveness. The escalating cost of this acquisition means that the opportunity cost is also going up. With the submarines being designed mainly for joint operations with the US Navy, there are also significant risks in the future around whether a continuing US presence can be assumed.
In regard to the first question, it is very difficult to be able to judge whether the submarines will be fit for purpose if we do not know what that purpose is. Based on comments and submissions to Parliamentary inquiries from former Australian submariners we can be fairly confident that our submarines’ main area of operations (AO) is in the South China Sea, 3,500 nautical miles from base. But once there, we are not told what they do. In Australia at least, the missions the submarines undertake are classified….. ……..In addition, at a whole of life cost of $225 billion, this deterrent, such as it is, has a very high opportunity cost. Two former RAAF Chiefs have recently proposed that the ADF needs to acquire a long-range bomber force. Even if the new American B-21 bomber delivers only half the capability currently being spruiked, the early acquisition of two squadrons – 48 aircraft off the shelf – at a cost of around $50 billion looks an attractive power projection proposition. By comparison, the ability to put one conventional submarine on station “up threat” at any time at an acquisition cost of $80 billion, with associated doubts around its effectiveness and survivability, must be of questionable value………. |
|
Australia’s options for climate change action
What is ‘real’ action on climate change? SMH , What form would greater climate change action take – and what would it cost? By Staff reportersWhat does climate action actually mean?
Climate change action takes two forms: mitigation, which means reducing greenhouse gas emissions at a rate fast enough to prevent massive damage to our environment in the future; and adaptation, which means bracing and preparing for the changes that are happening and which will intensify.
Adapting to climate change is essential and there are many ways to do so, such as beefing up emergency services and strengthening farms and infrastructure against fires, storms and rising sea levels.
But the source of the problem is the rising emissions that are trapping heat in the atmosphere and oceans. In Australia, emissions come from electricity, industry, transport and agriculture as well as other sectors.
If we are serious about tackling climate change, we must reduce emissions faster than we are doing now. That’s the view of the world’s leading scientific bodies as well as the key expert bodies in Australia, including the CSIRO and the Australian Academy of Science. Their advice is clear: Australia needs to be close to carbon neutral by the middle of the century.
It would be nice to be able to flick a switch and change to zero emissions next week. In practice, decarbonising the nation will be a long, complex process.
The Garnaut Review, led by senior economist Ross Garnaut almost a decade ago, is still the most comprehensive assessment of Australia’s options for climate change action. It drew on leading Australian research on bushfire impacts to forecast an increase in bushfire danger by 2020. On our current trajectory, we are on track to see catastrophic fire days increase by 300 per cent by the second half of this century.
The review outlines various types of policy that can help cut emissions, both “carrots” and “sticks”. There are public subsidies, such as government funding for wind and solar farms; or special tariffs to pay householders with solar panels. Then there are systems for making polluters pay, such as a carbon price implemented through a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme. There are also policies that rely on regulating an industry, such as the now-abandoned National Energy Guarantee policy, under which companies would be required by law to use a mix of different technologies.
Several types of policy can operate at the same time. Australia had a carbon price from 2012 to 2014 before it was repealed after a change of government. Currently, it has some direct subsidies for emissions reduction projects but no mechanism for cutting greenhouse gases at the speed required.
The Garnaut Review found – and other studies, including by the OECD and by the Australian National University, have since agreed – that a carbon price coupled with an emissions trading scheme and a cap on greenhouse gas emissions would be the most effective and efficient way of cutting emissions.
The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has ruled out a “carbon tax” or other action that would raise electricity prices or affect polluting industries. In the wake of the fires, Mr Morrison has flagged “resilience” and “adaptation” as the areas he wants to focus on……..
Australia currently has no mechanism for controlling its greenhouse gas emissions and may not meet its Paris commitments……. https://www.smh.com.au/national/what-is-real-action-on-climate-change-20200115-p53rok.html
Matt Canavan. Minister for Nuclear Promotion, announces nuclear waste dump for Kimba, South Australia
This farce must be stopped. One white farmer offers his land for substantial gain. Aboriginal traditional group were denied a voice in this decision. Bribes given to the local white community looked attractive, but would nowhere near compensate for the loss of the area’s clean green image for agriculture. |
SA nuclear waste dump rally site chosen, Canberra Times, Kathryn Bermingham, 1 Feb 2020,
A farming property on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula will become a nuclear waste dump, the federal government has announced, as opponents of the facility make a last-bid ditch to stop it. Federal Resources Minister Matt Canavan on Saturday said 160 hectares of the Napandee property in Kimba would host Australia’s radioactive waste, the vast majority of which comes from the production of nuclear medicine and is held across more than 100 sites. “Napandee was volunteered by the landowner, is suitable from a technical perspective, and has broad community support from those who live and work nearby,” he said in a statement.
The site near the town of Kimba will store low-level waste permanently and intermediate-level waste temporarily. It will employ about 45 people and the government will gift the community a $31 million package.
A property at Lyndhurst, also near Kimba, had been in the running but Mr Canavan said the Napandee proposal had more support. “The facility has broad community support in Kimba but I acknowledge there remains opposition, particularly amongst the Barngarla People and their representative group,” he said. “We will work with traditional owners to protect culture and heritage, and to maximise economic opportunities and outcomes for local Aboriginal communities near the future facility.” Before the announcement, Peter Woolford, president of the No Radioactive Waste on Agricultural Land in Kimba or SA committee, said locals and visitors will rally against the project on Sunday. Mr Woolford says five years of consultation has taken its toll on the town and his group is calling on the federal government to abandon both sites. “The process the federal government has undertaken to find a location for this facility has been a long and arduous one for the Kimba community,” he said. “Matthew Canavan’s process has been arbitrary, completely lacking in clarity and an extremely divisive process. “It is time for him to acknowledge that the prerequisite of ‘broad community support’ does not exist in Kimba, and allow the community to move forward.” The dump is opposed by environmental and indigenous groups – but a recent poll conducted around Kimba returned a 62 per cent vote in favour of the facility. “We’re always looking for ways to attract new industry and try and boost our local community. “This is one of those projects that is not only supplying us with jobs but with an opportunity to attract new industry.” The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science said it had provided a significant amount of material to inform the site decision. “The department has put the community at the centre of this process, which involved more than four years of deep consultation and technical assessments,” it said. Guest speakers at Sunday’s rally will include local Labor MP Eddie Hughes, Conservation Council of SA chief Craig Wilkins and Kimba farmers James Shepherdson and Tom Harris. https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6609008/sa-nuclear-waste-dump-rally-site-chosen/?cs=14231 |
|
Nuclear waste dump on farming land? NOT A DONE DEAL!
Barb Walker Fight To Stop A Nuclear Waste Dump In South Australia, 1 Feb 2020
THIS IS NOT A DONE DEAL!!! A site has been selected but the process is FAR FROM OVER!!!
The whole state of South Australia needs to get behind our KIMBA FARMERS and say, SOUTH AUSTRALIA IS TOO GOOD TO WASTE!!!
KIMBA IS PART OF A HUGE GRAIN GROWING FOOD BOWL – NOT A PLACE FOR A NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP!!!
Please come and join the bus-loads of people coming from all over the Eyre Peninsula and SA regions tomorrow: KIMBA RALLY tomorrow Sunday 2nd Feb, at 11am.
SAY NO TO A NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP IN KIMBA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Please contact South Australia’s Premier, Steven Marshall, and remind him that under our South Australian state legislation we have a PROHIBITION ACT AGAINST THE STORAGE OF NUCLEAR WASTE !!!
https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/…/NUCLEAR%20WASTE…
LEGISLATION.SA.GOV.AU
South Australian Legislation https://www.facebook.com/groups/941313402573199












