Queensland’s poor uranium market future
Australian Uranium Association’ Michael Angwin fights the science on radioactive waste, even as Queensland’s bid for uranium mining has poor economic prospects.
LNP on fission trip with uranium industry dream
John McCarthy
The Courier-Mail
January 05, 2013 THE promised $18 billion industry from uranium mining
in Queensland is a pipe dream and would never eventuate, according to
environmental group Australian Conservation Foundation.
In its submission to the State Government’s Uranium Implementation
Committee, ACF said Queensland would be gambling on an industry that
would have environmental impacts across generations for a relatively
low economic benefit.
ACF said exports of uranium from Australia totalled only $700 million
last year and that was for about a third of the global market…… Continue reading
University of Adelaide pushing the false idea that nuclear power is “zero carbon”
The University of Adelaide has set up The Environment Institute – claiming to tackle some of the most serious environmental challenges facing Australia and the world. What a pity that this wonderful sounding think tank or whatever it is is looking very much like nothing more than a front group for the nuclear lobby.
Led by Barry Brook and Ben Heard, this pro nuke spruikfest is now claiming that nuclear power is “a zero-carbon generation source”
Well – it’s just not true. )and the diagram below doesn’t even include the carbon emissions from digging the burial places for nuclear wastes and dead reactors)
They make the statement on their Facebook page. Brett Stokes challenges them with this comment:
Warning to The University of Adelaide.
“nuclear power, a zero-carbon generation source”
This is a false statement.
The making of this statement amounts to fraud with malfeasance.
Please qualify or retract this statement immediately.
=============================
So it has now been 29 days that this false statement has been published here.
So it has now been 29 days that I have been requesting immediate retraction or qualification of this false statement.
This is unacceptable behaviour by The University of Adelaide.
The persons responsible need to be identified and dismissed.
The false statement needs to be retracted and repudiated by The University of Adelaide.
This fraud must stop. Corrective action is needed now.
I now warn The University of Adelaide.
Jim Green exposes the pro nuclear bias of Australia’s “independent think tank” Lowy Insitute
Despite its claim to champion “open debate” and to “encourage the widest range of opinions”, the Lowy Institute refused to publish a critique of Medcalf’s propaganda. Friends of the Earth will soon be writing to the Institute’s sponsors suggesting they redirect funding to organisations upholding reasonable intellectual standards and promoting peace instead of militarism and WMD proliferation. We don’t expect a positive response from at least two of those sponsors − uranium miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.
The Lowy Institute’s dangerous nuclear propaganda, Online Opinion, Jim Green, 28 December 12m “….. The Lowy Institute, a well-resourced think-tank with considerable foreign policy experience, ought to have played a constructive, educational role. Executive Director Michael Fullilove claims the Institute is “independent, non-partisan and evidence-driven; that we encourage the widest range of opinions but are the advocate of none.” Bollocks. The Institute − led by staff member Rory Medcalf − has run a disgraceful propaganda campaign in support of uranium sales to India. Continue reading
New South Wales’ toxic radioactive waste by another name is still toxic radioactive waste
But the new plan involves reclassifying most of the contaminated earth as ”restricted solid waste”, allowing it to be trucked to Kemps Creek.
The Labor MP for Auburn, Barbara Perry, told Parliament in June that the move to reclassify the contaminated earth as restricted but non-hazardous was ”clever spin”.
Based on a series of tests by ANSTO, government and independent scientists, the detection of some hazardous radioactive material seems likely.
Uranium smelter’s legacy moves on, SMH December 16, 2012 Ben Cubby THE controversial clean-up of a radioactive site in Hunters Hill is set to begin early next year, with any hazardous waste to be moved from the harbourside suburb to Lidcombe, the NSW government says.
The contaminated properties in Nelson Parade – once the site of a uranium smelter – have been a thorn in the side of residents and governments for nearly a century.
After years of denials from successive governments about the extent of the contamination, the clean-up will now be extended to include suspected radioactive hot spots in neighbouring backyards and at the harbour foreshore.
The Premier, Barry O’Farrell, all but ruled out dumping the contaminated dirt at a Kemps Creek waste facility in western Sydney last year, in the face of protests from Penrith residents and councillors. Continue reading
Do not be taken in by the lies in the pro nuclear Zero Carbon Option report
This report emanates from Australia’s top nuclear lobby group. Their web titles are Decarbonise South Australia, and Brave New Climate.
Based in South Australia, and with Barry Brook as their prime spokesman, they pose as Climate Change activist sites. But , after you’ve got through all that worthy climate and renewable energy stuff – comes the real message – nuclear power for Australia (and the world)
Below some points from the Zero Carbon Options report. Do not be taken in by these lies
“Capacity Factor: Renewables – 30%. Nuclear – 85%
>
>Job Creation: Renewables – 360 permanent jobs, 1300 jobs in construction.
>Nuclear – 520 permanent jobs, 1600 jobs in construction.
>
>Lifespan: Renewables – 25 years. Nuclear – 60 years.
>
>Cost: Renewables – $8.1 billion. Nuclear – $4.8 billion
>The Zero Carbon Options report, amongst other things, seriously questions why BZE ignores the option of nuclear power if their aim is to decarbonise Australia.
Some on the left also include the demand of “100% renewable energy” in their day to day campaigns. The Zero Carbon Options team, amongst others, have warned that relying on only one form of technology to produce zero carbon power is unwise, and could even be irresponsible. “ – Christina Macpherson 12 Dec 12,
Doctors raise concerns about sloppy radiation science
5 Dec 12, The Medical Association for Prevention of War (MAPW) – the Australian branch of a Nobel Peace Prize winning public health organisation – has called for increased transparency and robust science in medical presentations on radiation health issues.
The call follows concerns raised earlier this year when junior uranium company Toro Energy promoted the fringe scientific view that exposure to low-level radiation is harmless. Toro Energy has sponsored speaking visits to Australia by Canadian scientist Dr Doug Boreham, who argues that low-level radiation is actually beneficial to human health. Attached is a letter signed by 45 doctors deploring the use of junk science to lower occupational health and safety standards. Continue reading
Limiting the News – THE AUSTRALIAN twists a story to climate denialism
The Australian skews climate science… again, Independent Australia, 20 November, 2012 The Australian newspaper continues its relentless misrepresentation of climate change science. Graham Readfearn reports. “COOL spell to chill hearts of climate activists,” says the clickbait headline in yesterday’s The Australian (19/11/12).
The story, a reprint from the Sunday Times’ Jonathan Leake, is just the kind of editorialised-opinion-disguised-as-news which The Australian has become known for whenever it reports about climate change.
Let’s have a look through this piece; it begins:
THE world’s climate has cooled during last year and this year, temperature data from Britain’s Met Office reveals — just before this year’s talks on cutting global greenhouse gas emissions.
The figures show that, although global temperatures are still well above the long-term average, they have fallen since the record seen in 2010. The findings could prove politically sensitive, coming ahead of the UN’s climate summit in Doha, Qatar, where the global system for regulating greenhouse gas emissions faces collapse.
The threat comes because the Kyoto Treaty, under which developed nations pledged to cut their carbon emissions, expires at the end of this year. Doha is seen as the last hope of securing an extension.
In such a febrile situation, any data casting doubt on climate scientists’ predictions is potentially explosive.
Come again?
…. The findings could prove politically sensitive …. any data casting doubt on climate scientists’ predictions ….
I would challenge Jonathan Leake to find any climate scientist who in the peer reviewed literature – or anywhere else for that matter – has “predicted” that global temperatures will rise uniformly year upon year. This only becomes “politically sensitive” if the politicians in question accept this sort of spoon-fed misrepresentation of the science.
Given that 2012 will probably end up as another year in the top ten warmest years ever recorded (something the Met Office predicted back in January), actually reinforces what the climate scientists have been “predicting” rather than casting doubt on them.
Not only that, but the expert from the UK’s Met Office which Leake quotes, Peter Stott, even spells out for Leake why the strawman argument Leake went on use in his story was wrong.
However, it is such a short period that it is scientifically meaningless. Climate change can only be measured over decades — and the records show that the world has warmed by 0.75C over the past century….
Dear old Ziggy Spinowski is back – spinning again
“it’s definitely a clean technology,” Ziggy Switkowski said.
“We could by the middle of the century have a substantial amount of our electricity generated by nuclear power.”
Fukushima has turned Australians off nukes, SMH, November 11, 2012 The Fukushima disaster has set back Australia’s willingness to embrace nuclear power, physicist Ziggy Switkowski says.
Dr Switkowski, who in 2006 chaired a commonwealth government inquiry that recommended Australia start using nuclear energy, said on Sunday that Australians were now less likely than they were then to accept nuclear energy due to problems at reactors. Referring to Japan’s March 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster, Dr Switkowski said the momentum in favour of nuclear power had been steadily building but had been set back several years…… Continue reading
Exposing lies about Queensland’s uranium “bonanza” – ?jobs, ?revenue, amid nuclear stagnation
Talk of a nuclear ‘bonanza’ is just an elaborate con job http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/talk-of-a-nuclear-bonanza-is-just-an-elaborate-con-job/story-e6frerc6-1226510118799?sv=d2b3eec93f11454538c10b543b37282b by:Gavin Mudd, Jim Green The Courier-Mail November 05, 2012
THE push to mine Queensland’s uranium is a con job and the con goes further than the LNP’s decision to take a no-uranium position to the election, only to reverse it months later on the flimsiest of pretenses.
Another part of the con concerns jobs. The Australian Uranium Association says 2620 new jobs will be created by uranium mining in Queensland, a figure repeated by state MP Rob Katter among others.
But IBISWorld’s market report says there are just 650 jobs across Australia in uranium mining. The World Nuclear Association puts the figure at 1760 jobs, including exploration and regulation and even that generous figure amounts to less than 0.02 per cent of all jobs in Australia. Continue reading
Martin Ferguson’s great big lie about nuclear power getting cheaper!
It’s not just new investment that’s a problem: earlier this month, post-Fukushima stress tests on European reactors identified E25 billion in upgrades and fixes needed to bring existing plants up to acceptable safety levels. Japan isn’t the only country shutting down reactors
About the only cost for nuclear power that’s falling is the price of uranium,
Nuclear power costs are going up and up, Minister, not down http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/10/24/nuclear-power-costs-are-going-up-and-up-minister-not-down/ BERNARD KEANE | OCT 24, Contrary to what radioactive Minister Martin Ferguson might claim, the already high costs of nuclear power are growing higher amid delays and safety concerns.
While Martin Ferguson’s role as chief Labor spruiker of all things radioactive is well known, occasionally his enthusiasm for things that glow in the dark carries him away.
In particular, he appears to have yesterday made an outrageously misleading claim about nuclear power. “The only part of the energy mix not included in Australia at the moment is nuclear, and I must say that is going to reduce in costs over time as we go forward,” The Australian reported him telling a Perth conference. Continue reading
Australia: electricity demand is falling, and power companies are lying about this
Farmer finds facts lost in transmission. The Age October 22, 2012, Michael West Four months ago – on hearing of a proposal to run giant transmission lines through his property – a farmer from the NSW north coast, Bruce Robertson, delved into the claims the power companies had been making about electricity prices. He found they were untrue.
Four days ago, the Productivity Commission corroborated what Robertson had been saying all along. That is, escalating power bills were principally the upshot of over-investment in electricity networks; not the carbon tax, not rising consumption.
”Demand is falling, not rising,” Robertson says. ”This basic premise is factually incorrect.”…… ”It is often said that if you lie long enough and loud enough, then the lies become the accepted truth,” Robertson says.
”And so it is with Grid Australia, in their submission to the Senate inquiry into electricity prices. Many of the statements made to the Senate inquiry are purely and simply fabrications.”…..
Demand for electricity had been falling since 2008 in Victoria, NSW and Queensland at roughly 1 per cent a year, despite forecast rises of 2.2 per cent a year.
Demand is now 10 per cent below where the industry forecast it would be four years ago. Mild weather, changing consumer behaviour and rising costs have all been factors in this, Robertson says.
In July, as ”gold-plating” started to become a buzzword in Canberra, Robertson launched into numerical detail of how the industry figures had been inflated and distorted…..
Peak demand was falling. Recent figures from the Australian Energy Regulator show the clear change in trend since 2008-09. Peak demand for both summer and winter demands in the national electricity market are on the wane.
In NSW, the largest market in the NEM, peak demand has veritably collapsed. ”The fall in peak in winter since 2008 has been 15 per cent and the fall in the summer peak since 2010-11 has been 18 per cent. This collapse has seen peak demands fall to levels not seen for a decade,” Robertson says.
Despite the hard numbers, we still have a ”he said, she said” debate. ”The only place that peak demand is rising is in the minds of electricity industry executives,” Robertson says……
The essence of the problem of rising power prices is the structure of the industry and its regulation. Continue reading
CEO dismisses Japanese nuclear disaster to promote Alice Springs uranium mine
CEO dismisses Japanese nuclear disaster to promote Alice Springs uranium mine The Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) says comments attributed to Paladin CEO John Borshoff on the Angela Pamela uranium deposit are disingenuous and insulting to people still suffering from the effects of the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
“Claims that Fukushima is behind us are a gross insult to the intelligence of the public here in Australia and completely misrepresent the situation in Japan. In Japan the ongoing problems from the reactor disasters are far from in a state of ‘clear air’ – the real and political fallout is ongoing,” was the response today from PHAA Spokesperson Clive Rosewarne on reports that the exploration company Paladin was keeping the uranium deposit at Angela Pamela (around 25kms south of Alice Springs) on its proposed projects list.
“Comments attributed to Paladin CEO John Borshoff in the NT News and on ABC News look like a desperate attempt to talk up an industry to investors who are rightly looking to place their money on better investment options. The price of uranium continues to fall amid growing international rejection of nuclear power by the public and their governments.”
In July this year the Japanese Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission reported most of the 150,000 evacuees ‘continue to face grave concerns, including the health effects of radiation exposure, displacement, the dissolution of families, disruption of their lives and lifestyles and the contamination of vast areas of the environment.’ And that ‘There is no foreseeable end to the decontamination and restoration activities that are essential for rebuilding communities.’ http://naiic.go.jp/en
“The Angela Pamela deposit has been soundly rejected as an option on the doorstep of Alice Springs,” said Mr Rosewarne. In recent NT elections anti-uranium candidates polled strongly – often against the general NT voting trend. He continued, “People in Alice Springs don’t want this project both for its impact locally and because of the events at Fukushima.”
Preliminary modelling undertaken by PHAA shows that prevailing winds would pose a risk of contamination to residents in the local vicinity, particularly those in the jail, the Joint Defence Facility (Pine Gap) and rural areas.
“Given the right wind and weather conditions, failure of dust suppression and tailings management at any Angela Pamela mine means people around Alice Springs are at a low but still significant risk of dust exposure. Workers at the Brewer Industrial Estate, prisoners and officers at the Correctional Facility, staff at the Joint Defence Facility at Pine Gap and residents of the Iwupataka Homelands face this risk. In Alice Springs itself, workers and tourists at the airport and residents at Amoonguna are at lower risk. The Ilparlpa subdivision carries an intermediate risk. Grazing cattle and station workers in the surrounding country would always be at some risk,” concludes Dr Peter Tait author of the study.
With their joint venture partner having taken a step back, Paladin CEO Borshoff’s description of the Angela Pamela deposit as a ‘key project’ may reflect more upon his personal attachment to the deposit (he was involved in the early exploration of the site in the 1970-80’s) rather than on the economic or social reality facing the project,” concluded Mr Rosewarne.
For further information/comment Clive Rosewarne, Spokesperson for PHAA Ecology and Environment Special Interest Group: 0487 282 303
ANSTO chief ducks and weaves in Senate questioning on incidents at Lucas Heights nuclear reactor
Noel Wauchope 18 Oct 12, I guess that we can rely on the mainstream media to give a sympathetic coverage to Dr Adi Paterson chief of Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) – who was very distressed after being put on the spot in the Senate yesterday. http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/estimates/ansto-6 At one point in the polite, but persistent, questioning by Senator Scott Ludlam, (left) the discussion was interrupted by an interjection from David Reid. Reid was the whistleblower who alerted us all to a radiation incident at Lucas Heights, and was sacked for this
Anyway, the most recent KPMG report on the 2007 incident criticised – the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency ARPANSA for its poor response to the incident.
This report was one of several reports on the matter. In February 2011, Australia’s workplace health and safety regulator, Comcare, found the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, or ANSTO, has under-reported accidents and breached safety standards. Investigating radiation incidents, Comcare found that ANSTO breached health and safety laws. It also reported that Mr Reid’s suspension was somewhat extreme and Mr Reid was substantially denied procedural fairness.
In the Senate yesterday Senator Scott Ludlam got devious answers from Dr Paterson, who seemed bent on asserting that the radioactive spill incidents never happened, anyway. No wonder that David Reid angrily interjected!
SENATOR LUDLAM: ” The KPMG report finds that ANSTO technical and supervisory staff and the executive management covered up the fact that three staff were contaminated by the beta emitter yttrium on the relevant day and that Mr Reid witnessed an incident between two men at the contamination barrier on the day in question n. He reported that one man had yttrium contamination, which is a beta radiation emitter, all down his clothes and in his mouth and that the other man’s supervisor was trying to clean him up and was telling him not to report the contamination….Mr Paterson, are you still contesting that these events even occurred at all? “
DR PATERSON: We were not involved in this investigation in a way that would have allowed us to put all of the issues on the table this was a report that was, indeed, intended for ARPANSA. It was not intended to make any findings in relation to ANSTO, and I do not believe it has done.
SENATOR LUDLAM: It is your facility; it is your plant. It is a report about an accident involving your staff at your facility. I am not quite sure why we are creating this distance. It was created for the regulator because they were extremely unhappy—I will contest these contentions later on this morning with ANSTO—with ANSTO’S response to these incidents, which did indeed occur. These are not alleged incidents. These are a matter of public record.
DR PATERSON: I believe that we have been very clear on this matter. If indeed this incident did take place— (interjection here from David Reid)..
SENATOR LUDLAM: So you contest the existence?
DR PATERSON: I can contest whether there was an incident of this nature at the time that has been outlined in the report.
Uranium mining for Queensland – NOT a job provider, and NOT needed
As for respecting the wishes of Aboriginal Queenslanders, neither our State nor Federal legal frameworks give traditional owners the right to refuse mining on their lands, so it is difficult to see how their wishes will be respected should they not wish to host a uranium mine. And given the findings of a 2006 study that found a 90% higher incidence of cancer amongst indigenous peoples living in close proximity to uranium mines in Kakadu, one can well understand how that might be their preference.
Queenslanders have thus far decided we don’t want to be part of an industry that generates toxic waste with no functioning long-term storage solution, fuels weapons of mass destruction, and has no future in electricity generation because it grows ever more expensive while clean energy alternatives grow ever cheaper.
The jobs aren’t in uranium: Stone Opinion: Adam Stone | 6th October 2012 “……..The LNP obviously decided to insulate their campaign from public concern about uranium mining by committing that they would not change Queensland’s anti uranium mining policy, but their underlying conviction on the subject is completely at odds with this position. After all, they openly campaigned in favour of repealing the policy in the 2009 State election …..
The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) and Australian Uranium Association (AUA) have opened by arguing that uranium mining in Queensland will: provide jobs, respect the wishes of indigenous Queenslanders, cut greenhouse gas emissions, only supply uranium for peaceful purposes, and is necessary for baseload power generation as only nuclear, hydro and fossil fuels can meet this need. Continue reading
The murky story of how anti-wind energy bullies hijacked a town’s name
The New South Wales and South Australian governments are currently reviewing guidelines for wind farms. Neither government is likely to ignore a recent poll that 77 per cent of Australians support wind farms.
Waubra Fights The Anti-Wind Bullies. New Matilda , 26 Sept 12, By Sandi Keane The town of Waubra has had its name hijacked by anti-wind astroturfers. Locals say they’re happy with wind-farming – and it’s not making them sick. So who are the scare campaigners? Sandi Keane reports
It’s spring in the quiet sheep-farming hamlet of Waubra, an hour’s drive northwest of Ballarat in Victoria. With the shearing done and the crops in, local farmers have turned to a bit of springtime mending. Not fences, but the town’s image. After three years saddled with the negative legacy of the “foundation” that stole their name, local farmer, Karen Molloy, says the community is fighting back with a bumper festival.
Back in 2009, Waubra hit the news when powerful forces linked to mining interests, and Australia’s climate sceptic factory, the Institute of Public Affairs, used what was then the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere as an easy target for their anti-wind scare campaign. The establishment of the Waubra Foundation followed.
“For three years, we’ve lived here quite happily. We love the wind towers and love Waubra. But it is so much more than wind so we’ve dropped the word “Wind” from the Waubra Community Festival”, Molloy said.
The festival, which takes place on Saturday 6 October, will showcase the positives of renewable energy as well as the fresh produce grown in its red volcanic soil. There’ll be a “Waubra Gift” running race, free rides, entertainment for the whole family, a free bus from Ballarat and a tour of the wind farm. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 