Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items

Minister Matt Canavan lies on ABC radio, about having “broad community support” for nuclear waste dump sites

Katrina Bohr No Nuclear Waste Dump Anywhere in South Australia https://www.facebook.com/groups/1314655315214929/, June 20 at 12:20 PM  An interview with Matt Canavan, near the end. His flexible term of broad community support for a nuclear waste facility is quoted in the Australian-‘There is already broad community support for three South Australian properties.’

This is news to those communities. Another example of the flawed process.http://www.abc.net.au/radio/adelaide/programs/breakfast/breakfast/9862826

June 22, 2018 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump, secrets and lies | Leave a comment

Resources Minister Matt Canavan lying to South Australians on nuclear waste. Does he think that we are all fools?

Barb Walker  Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA, 19 June 18 

I’ve just listened to another snow job on ABC 891 and then repeated on ABC 639. Senator Canavan is not telling the truth. He also contradicted statements he made in ‘The Australian’ newspaper this week.

Mr Canavan, your nuclear waste dump does NOT have 65% community support. He has used a figure from a dodgy phone poll that was conducted well over 2 years ago in the Flinders Ranges. Incidentally, that poll only consulted a small percentage of people on fixed phone lines – asking if they would like more information about the process of hosting a nuclear waste facility and so on. Hardly grounds to spruik 65% support, Mr Canavan!

This has been a flawed process every step of the way.

Senator Rex Patrick states, and rightly so;
“RADIOACTIVE WASTE SITE SELECTION = A SHAM”

Here in the Flinders, we have been fighting this proposed dump for over 2 years. Stress levels are through the roof for a lot of people within our communities. People are getting sick, and some are just sick and tired of hearing about it and many wanting the dump to just, go away!

The Australian Radiation Protection And Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), has stated they will not give a licence to build a nuclear waste facility where there is no community support. Why then are the facts being twisted to suit Mr Canavan? He is still spruiking “hospital waste”. Does he think he is talking to fools? Our communities have done extensive research and we are well informed. Perhaps we know more than he does? 

Doesn’t he realise the implications of the ILW sitting in the Flinders for hundreds of years with no forward plans of future repacking and deep underground disposal. Lay your plans on the table, Senator Canavan. Let’s hear it.

If we were to hide valuable information by twisting the truth to suit an outcome that will effect communities for hundreds, if not thousands, of years we would all lose our jobs and probably finish up in jail.

Senator Canavan, if the August vote swings to a ‘NO’ vote will that be seen by you as just, “community sentiment” or does NO actually mean NO ? https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/

June 19, 2018 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump, secrets and lies | Leave a comment

Australian uranium company Paladin leaves a mess behind it, in Africa

Who cleans up the mess when an Australian uranium mining company leaves Africa?Jim Green, 18 June 2018, The Ecologist   www.theecologist.org/2018/jun/18/who-cleans-mess-when-australian-uranium-mining-company-leaves-africa

Australian mining companies have a poor track record operating in Africa. Australian uranium company Paladin Energy has now put two of its mines into ‘care-and-maintenance’ and bankruptcy looms. But who cleans up the company’s mess in Namibia and Malawi, asks JIM GREEN

Many Australian mining projects in Africa are outposts of good governance – this is what Julie Bishop, the country’s Foreign Minister, told the Africa Down Under mining conference in Western Australia in September 2017. The Australian government “encourages the people of Africa to see us as an open-cut mine for lessons-learned, for skills, for innovation and, I would like to think, inspiration,” the minister said.

But such claims sit uneasily with the highly critical findings arising from a detailed investigation by the International Consortium of Independent Journalists (ICIJ). The ICIJ noted in a 2015 report that since 2004, more than 380 people have died in mining accidents or in off-site skirmishes connected to Australian mining companies in Africa.

The ICIJ report further stated: “Multiple Australian mining companies are accused of negligence, unfair dismissal, violence and environmental law-breaking across Africa, according to legal filings and community petitions gathered from South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal and Ghana.”

Paladin Energy’s Kayelekera uranium mine in Malawi provides a case study of the problems with Australian mining companies in Africa. Western Australia-based Paladin exploited Malawi’s poverty to secure numerous reductions and exemptions from payments normally required by foreign investors.

United Nations’ Special Rapporteur Olivier De Schutter noted in a 2013 report that “revenue losses from special incentives given to Australian mining company Paladin Energy, which manages the Kayelekera uranium mine, are estimated to amount to at least US$205 million (MWK 67 billion) and could be up to US$281 million (MWK 92 billion) over the 13-year lifespan of the mine.”

Paladin’s environmental and social record has also been the source of ongoing controversy and the subject of numerous critical reports.  Continue reading →

June 19, 2018 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics international, secrets and lies | Leave a comment

USA nuclear authorities rename nuclear waste to make it sound safer: so do Australia’s

Paul Waldon  Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA, 18 June 18
The American Department Of Energy’s (DOE), June 4th 2018 proposal to re-label (reclassify or rename) Hanford’s highly radioactive tank waste so it will not have to comply with the time consuming requirements of treating or disposing of such waste.
And if the DOE gets their way, high level radioactive waste “residue” will become “Waste Incidental to Reprocessing,” or WIR. This also means, radioactive waste in Hanford’s leaky tanks will only be cemented or grouted over, and will continue to purge its dangerous contents into the neighbouring Columbia river.
America’s irresponsible attempt to reclassify high grade radioactive waste is reminiscing of Australia labeling high grade waste as intermediate, and for those people that can’t remember it was only on the eve of WIPP’s inauguration that the residents of Carlsbad were adroit to the fact that radioactive waste to be accepted was of a greater classification at their unseen backdoor than indicated coming through the documented front-door. 

So is Australia building a backdoor for waste abandonment? https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/

June 18, 2018 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump, secrets and lies | Leave a comment

ANSTO’s secret transport of spent nuclear fuel assemblies through Sydney’s streets

The Australian 1st June 2018 ,If you look out the window and glimpse a convoy winding through Sydney’s streets guarded by swarms of federal agents and state police, don’t be alarmed.

Any day now a decade’s worth of spent nuclear fuel assemblies weighing 24 tonnes will be moved out of Sydney’s Lucas Heights facility in a highly sensitive transport mission months in the making.

The radioactive cargo is set to be shipped to La Hague, in France, but details about the port, routes and specific timing of the operation remain classified with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) only disclosing it will happen mid-year.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/guarded-nuclear-shipment-to-depart-sydney/news-story/a878a37d7528fa62b7b9e70d7284475a?nk=3adfd2e6af8da25abc149e98fc9467b0-1527847195

June 3, 2018 Posted by | New South Wales, safety, secrets and lies | Leave a comment

USA rejected Julian Assange’s offer to talk about Wikileaks and ‘Russiagate’

US has no interest in hearing what Julian Assange can freely say about Russiagate – Max Blumenthal https://www.rt.com/news/428010-assange-russiagate-testimony-blumenthal/ 

The rejection by ‘Russiagate’ investigators in the US to interview WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange shows that they are not interested in hearing him out, journalist Max Blumenthal told RT.

Assange, who is currently incommunicado in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, reportedly offered – through an intermediary – to talk to US investigators about the release of DNC documents by WikiLeaks during the 2016 US election campaign. Continue reading →

May 30, 2018 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, secrets and lies | Leave a comment

Adani coal mining company to pay for Isaac council staff working on Carmichael mine activities

Adani to pay for Isaac council staff working on Carmichael mine activities, ABC News 28 May 18 , By Josh Robertson and Emilia Terzon 

Adani will bankroll the jobs of local government staff tasked with assessing activities around its Queensland mine proposal — a deal anti-corruption campaigners say raises “serious questions” about independent oversight.

The Indian mining giant has struck an unusual deal to pay up to $1.15 million in wages, housing and vehicle costs for four Isaac Regional Council employees to deal with the “extraordinary workload” created by the Carmichael coal project.

Anti-corruption think tank Transparency International Australia called the scenario unprecedented, saying it would raise questions about the independence of council decisions and perceptions of conflict of interest.

But the council said the staff were under its direction and not controlled by Adani.

It said it was protecting ratepayers from bearing costs for a transnational corporation.

A council resolution last October stated that negotiations with Adani led to the company committing to “fund certain positions within council … to address the extraordinary workloads generated for council by the Adani projects”.

According to council minutes, jobs for an executive and legal support officer, a senior engineering manager and two field officers would be “fully funded (including labour and other on-costs, housing and vehicle costs) by Adani”.

‘Potential for conflict of interest’

Transparency International chief executive Serena Lillywhite said the arrangement raised “real questions around the perception or the potential for a conflict of interest, and for undue industry influence, and certainly questions around the independence of decisions being made by the council”.

She said it took the risk of regulatory capture to “a whole new level”.

“When you have a situation whereby people who are employed by the council but are in fact being paid for by Adani to undertake responsibilities and tasks — such as legal support and compliance with contractual arrangements, engineering support to check whether or not there is compliance with standards regarding engineering or environmental aspects — it does create some real concerns.

“You can understand how at best there would be a perception that there is not an arm’s-length arrangement between the council and the company.”

……… No other council has similar arrangement

However, a spokeswoman for the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) said it was not aware of any other such arrangement between a council and a company where funding was tied to jobs involving oversight of the company’s activities.

The ABC has confirmed this is the case with Rockhampton and Townsville councils, which struck their own deals with Adani that they would pay about $30 million for its airport in return for local hiring guarantees……….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-28/adani-to-pay-for-isaac-council-staff-working-on-carmichael-mine/9801988?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%3a8935&user_id=b5c7b9f32422565bb60e137da05ce4996754bac02a16a453ac7a4213430ce2e8&WT.tsrc=email&WT.mc_id=Email%7c%7c8935&utm_content=ABCNewsmail_topstories_articlelink

May 27, 2018 Posted by | climate change - global warming, politics, Queensland, secrets and lies | Leave a comment

“Nuclear Medicine” – the fig leaf on the toxic nuclear industry – theme for May 2018

Small rural communities in South Australia are being told that it’s their patriotic duty to save Australia’s nuclear medicine –  by allowing a nuclear waste dump in their area.

This is the patently lying propaganda of the Australian Government ‘s Department of Industry, Innovation and Science  now busily involve spending tax-payers’ money on pro nuclear spin.

The real purpose of the radioactive trash dump is to host nuclear waste – euphemistically called “intermediate level” waste – currently stored in of 9,8000 leaking rusty barrels  at Woomera, and also the wastes produced by the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor. These also so-called “intermediate ” wastes are the reprocessed wastes returned from France, with more to come in the future.

The Australian nation is being conned by the government and its well-funded nuclear promotion organisation Australian National Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), with the furphy that the whole purpose of the reactor is medical.

(a) the “medical isotope” function was tacked on  – the original purpose was to lead to nuclear weapons. The current purpose is just a foot in the door for the whole nuclear fuel chain.

(b) Nuclear reactors are now going out of fashion, as the cheaper, more flexible, local, cyclotrons can produce medical isotopes safely – with no radioactive waste created.

April 27, 2018 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Christina themes, secrets and lies | Leave a comment

Costly and top secret transport of nuclear waste from Lucas Heights to port, then to France

Tight security for shipment of nuclear waste from Lucas Heights to France, THE AUSTRALIAN, SIAN POWELL, 12 APR 18 

A top-secret security operation to send spent radioactive fuel rods from Australia’s nuclear reactor to France for reprocessing is planned for the coming months.

Potentially involving hundreds of state and federal police, the details of the transport operation will remain confidential until after the shipment arrives at La Hague, in northwest France.

Unused uranium and plutonium will then be removed from the fuel rods, and the residual waste eventually returned to Australia for storage. About 500kg of unused low-enriched uranium and 4.5kg of unused plutonium will be recovered from the rods…

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation at Lucas Heights in Sydney’s south has confirmed the shipment will be trucked to a port for transport to La Hague midway through this year.

The route, the port, the time and the ship, as well as the numbers of ­security personnel, will remain confidential until after the mission is completed.

The last shipment of spent rods was sent to the US in 2009, and both Port Kembla and Port Botany have been used as shipment ports in the past.

When reprocessed nuclear waste was returned to Australia in 2015 for storage at Lucas Heights, more than 500 police were ­deployed to guard the shipment, and it is expected at least that number will guard the radioactive cargo destined for France.

The radioactive spent fuel rods will be packed into an undisclosed number of ­immensely tough lead and stainless steel transport casks for the journey to France.

“These casks are purpose-­engineered to safely transport this type of material without risk to people or the environment,” said the manager of the multipurpose OPAL Reactor at Lucas Heights, Dave Vittorio. “Even a jet plane strike could not penetrate them.”

The total cost of the project is $45 million, including the contract with France, equipment, staff costs, and incidentals.

…… Australia, like other nations, pays to use the La Hague facility’s infrastructure and expertise. The shipment will be the 10th export of spent nuclear fuel ­assemblies used in the OPAL ­reactor’s first 10 years of operation. ….https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/tight-security-for-shipment-of-nuclear-waste-from-lucas-heights-to-france/news-story/5549c370206c15aa1bc1a4b2367d6552

April 14, 2018 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, safety, secrets and lies | Leave a comment

Anniversary of radiation accident at Lucas Heights – a warning to South Australia

 Paul Waldon No Nuclear Waste Dump Anywhere in South Australia, 18 Mar 18 
Today the 18th of March is another red letter day in the nuclear arena with the 31st anniversary of a accident at Lucas Heights.
But first lets jump forward 29 years to the Hawker nuclear community meeting on the 6th of May 2016, where a man named Bruce Wilson from the DIIS who  chaired such meeting, a man who could be a totally inept clairvoyant, a nuclear decision psychopath, a misinformed government payed nuclear spruiker, or just a sad ignorant man, this is a man whom said “We will NOT have accidents” . 
The opposing dichotomy believes in the old dictum “Pray for the best, prepare for the worst” and the such dichotomy keeps giving a resounding NO to a deadly radioactive dump, which keeps falling on deaf ears of the liars who said they would walk away from a community that doesn’t want to accept it.
Now lets return to the anniversary of the 1987 accident where a fire at Lucas Heights nuclear research laboratory resulted in the contamination of two workers and the discharge of radioactive gas into the atmosphere over populated areas.  Yes, Bruce this was a accident, however there was an event two years prior to such accident that may be called a purpose when alleged vandals dodged security patrols and smashed a underground pipe, releasing radioactive effluent into river ways. (What was this pipe made of, maybe brittle 2mm plastic?).
Are we to believe, Bruce, that there wont be anymore accidents, maybe because accidents will be suppressed, or called a planed event, or re-classed as “Technically produced anomalies” just like the erroneous, magniloquent re-classing of high grade waste to intermediate waste in an attempt to try and push through a egregious program while attempting to insult the intelligence of the majority of informed South Australians who don’t want a risky radioactive dump here?  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1314655315214929/

March 23, 2018 Posted by | Federal nuclear waste dump, secrets and lies, South Australia | Leave a comment

Global weapons corporations lavish gifts on Australia’s top Defence personnel

Spoils of war? Weapons industry heavyweights wine and dine Defence top brass, Canberra Times  Michael Inman, Steven Trask, Markus Mannheim , 9 Mar 18 

Weapons industry heavyweights were among companies that lavished almost half a million dollars’ worth of hospitality and gifts on Australian Defence executives and top military personnel.

Government records show sovereign nations, arms manufacturers and private businesses furnished Defence staff with about $490,000 worth of gifts, sponsorships and hospitality in the past four years.

Defence staff are required to register the acceptance or soliciting of gifts, hospitality and sponsorship. The information is kept in a central ledger, which is not published publicly but was made available under freedom of information law.

Six of the world’s largest weapons manufacturers are listed on the register: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Airbus, Thales and BAE Systems.

Among the declarations on the register were $117,821 worth of gifts, received from 2014 to 2017. ……. The Defence Department also logged more than $34,000 worth of hospitality. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/spoils-of-war-weapons-industry-heavyweights-wine-and-dine-defence-top-brass-20180307-h0x5h7.html

March 9, 2018 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, secrets and lies | Leave a comment

Australian Government Department of Industry and Science hides the truth on radiation risks

Paul Waldon Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA  29 Jan 18 “People lie when they want something, because they think the truth wont get it for them.” (Cary Grant, Charade).

DIIS failure to catalogue the known risks of a radioactive waste dump in Hawker or Kimba may be testimony of burying the truth, in a attempt to jump-start the progress of waste abandonment, while knowing they can’t tick all the boxes.
We must remain resolute in our fight to preserve a clean, safe environment for future generations.

January 28, 2018 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump, secrets and lies | Leave a comment

Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Protection Agency (ARPANSA) all about protecting the nuclear industry?

Paul Waldon, Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA    https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/6 Jan 18 Dr Carl Magnus Larsson is the CEO of ARPANSA, and the man that signs off on a nuclear waste dump, but has he a vested interest in the proposal to abandon such waste?

Is ARPANSA wrongfully regulating and promoting the project? Why did ARPANSA fail to address the safety issues at Lucas Heights that Comcare bought to their attention?
Why does ARPANSA have trouble dealing with people in group discussions?

Is ARPANSA being strong-armed by DIIS, and ANSTO to push a radioactive dump on a community of unwilling people?
Is ARPANSA listening to the majority that are saying “NO”?
Is ARPANSA insensitive to native heritage.?  Is ARPANSA ignoring the science of nuclear waste being abandonment in a environment that fails on all the criteria put forward by DIIS?
Is ARPANSA honest and forthcoming with all the issues pertaining to the toxic proposal?

January 6, 2018 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, secrets and lies | Leave a comment

Lest we forget – ANSTO’s very secretive nuclear activities

Poison gas leak from Sydney nuclear reactor spark cover up claims http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/poison-gas-leak-from-sydney-nuclear-reactor-spark-cover-up-claims/news-story/7a2bea7f047cf87f997ad7aff5646213PUBLIC not told about potentially dangerous gases spread over hundreds of kilometres for fear of causing alarm. By Linda Silmalis The Sunday Telegraph AUGUST 29, 2010

POTENTIALLY dangerous radioactive gases have been secretly pumped into the atmosphere from Lucas Heights and have spread hundreds of kilometres from the nuclear reactor – but the public have never been told.

The release of the highly volatile radioxenon over several months last year was so concentrated that the plumes were detected in Melbourne up to two days later. Other plumes were dragged out to sea by winds before drifting back over Sydney.

The Sunday Telegraph understands the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology  Organisation (ANSTO) decided against releasing a public statement at the time to avoid causing alarm.

Scientists at a nuclear testing station in Melbourne traced the source of the radioactive gases to Sydney after the The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation International Monitoring System site in Melbourne contacted Lucas Heights after detecting the radioxenon isotope Xe-133.

They were told that 36 hours earlier the first “hot commissioning trials” at ANSTO’s Lucas Heights radioisotope facility for Molybdenum-99 had taken place.

Molybdenum-99 is produced by the fission technique – the intense neutron-bombardment of a highly purified uranium-235 – and is used in nuclear medicine.

While the nuclear reactor – and the government body that oversees it – insists the release of the radioxenon by-product were no threat to public safety, no one, including neighbours of the suburban Sydney plant, were informed.

“Xenon gases are highly volatile and, being inert, they are not susceptible to wet or dry atmospheric removal mechanisms,” a scientific report obtained by The Sunday Telegraph says.

“Consequently, once released to the atmosphere they are simply transported down-wind while radioactively decaying away.”

December 27, 2017 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, secrets and lies | Leave a comment

Wangan and Jagalingou Aboriginal claim that Adani paid people to stack meeting

Adani accused of paying people to stack its meeting on crucial mine deal http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-02/adani-accused-of-paying-people-to-stack-meeting-on-deal/9218246  By Josh Robertson Adani is accused of discreetly paying thousands of dollars to recruit people to vote on a crucial mining deal with traditional owners, including Aboriginal people with no link to its Queensland mine site.

A Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) representative said he was paid $2,000 by Adani to boost numbers at the meeting, where he said many who were “not part of my mob” voted on the compensation deal.

Another W&J woman said her family of eight voted against the deal but the official vote recorded just one person against and 294 people in favour.

What’s the deal with the Adani deal?

  • Traditional owners need to sign off on a deal for compensation
  • Adani can’t get finance until the deal is done
  • The deal’s divided the W&J group
  • Last year’s meeting was to sign off on the deal
  • A trial next year will decide whether the meeting was legitimate

The claims are made in sworn statements filed in the Federal Court, ahead of a trial in March to decide whether the meeting legitimately endorsed the Adani deal, which has bitterly divided the W&J Continue reading →

December 4, 2017 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, secrets and lies | Leave a comment

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