Australian nuclear energy company closes down
Rudd’s hostility forces nuclear group to bale out
Sydney Morning Herald Phillip Coorey August 25, 2009SSOME of Australia’s biggest nuclear power advocates have given up the cause, believing Australia has ”missed the boat” on embracing the energy source. Continue reading
Key environmental concerns over BHP Billiton’s Roxby Downs uranium mine
CHRISTOPHER RUSSELL, BUSINESS EDITOR, and GREG KELTON, WASHINGTONAugust 24, 2009
KEY environmental concerns about the multibillion-dollar expansion of the Olympic Dam mine must be fixed by BHP Billiton before the mine proceeds. Continue reading
Cameco’s Central Australian uranium mine likely to be a dud
A uranium hole in the heart
Green Left Daniel Clarke, Alice Springs 23 August 2009“…………………….Monash University civil engineering lecturer Dr Gavin Mudd said US President Barack Obama’s push for a cut in the world’s nuclear weapons stockpiles would lead to a collapse in uranium prices. Continue reading
Beverly Four Mile uranium mine- “world’s worst practice”
Uranium mine called ‘World’s worst practice’
The Flinders News 21/08/2009
Uranium mining in the far north of South Australia at the Beverley location near Arkaroola Wilderness Resort is being openly challenged by Aboriginal Traditional Owner Mrs Enice Marsh. Continue reading
Ferguson: we choose nuclear waste dump site first, and consult afterwards
Govt won’t consult on nuclear waste site
WA Today Tara Ravens * August 21, 2009 –
Environmentalists are outraged federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson will not consult before deciding on the location of a nuclear waste dump site and have accused him of seeking a “short-term political fix” to the issue. Continue reading
South Australian govt fails to regulate nuclear lobbysits, fails to address corruption issues
Schacht lobbied Rann for miner
*Michael Owen, SA political reporter | August 20, 2009 The Australian“………………..The Rann government is under pressure because of its lack of action to regulate the activities of lobbyists and establish a lobbyists’ register, as the Rudd government and other states have done. Continue reading
Nuclear power for Australia? an expensive superstition
Rundle: Who ate all the yellowcake?
Crikey.com by Guy Rundle 19 August 2009
If you think it’s tough to get an incinerator built these days, trying putting a nuclear waste dump anywhere. Voters wouldn’t allow it, not in their backyards. Nuclear power is the defining struggle, around which a new politics is organised. Continue reading
Nuclear salesman Paul Howes got his facts very wrong
Paul Howes’ u-propaganda is radioactive
Crikey.com by Jim Green 18 August 09
Howes falsely claimed that nuclear power is undergoing a “renaissance”. In fact, nuclear power has been stagnant for the past 15 years. Continue reading
Labor’s nuclear hypocrisy and ignorance
Christina Macpherson 19 August 09 Paul Howes, Bob Hawke, Marting Ferguson – Labor’s right wing is showing itself to be more ignorant than the Liberals . Don’t they know that no country in the world is willing to take in nuclear waste from overseas? Continue reading
Labor’s right wing making a nuclear flap
Union boss calls for nuclear energy
The Age MICHELLE GRATTANAugust 19, 2009
AUSTRALIA should develop a domestic nuclear industry and cast off ”ancient, hypochondriac policies” to get maximum benefit from its uranium, one of the country’s leading union figures has said.National secretary of the Australian Workers Union Paul Howes said the Federal Government should lift its ban on a nuclear power industry. Prohibitions on uranium mining in Queensland and exploration in NSW and Victoria – ”superstitions of another age” – should also go.
Australians would be ”dills” not to seize the prize presented by use of nuclear energy and it should consider establishing nuclear processing facilities to add value to our export ore, Mr Howes told the Sydney Institute last night.
Union boss calls for nuclear energyBob Hawke in new plug for nuclear waste industry
THE AUSTRALIAN Paul Kelly, August 19, 2009
“Australia can make a significant difference to the safety of nuclear generation by agreeing to take waste from nuclear power stations. This would be an important contribution to safety and energy security. It would also become a strong source of national income for Australia that could be dedicated to our own environmental and water requirements.”…………… He says the financial benefits from any decision would be immense.
Darwin Council worried about uranium transport risk
Yellowcake cyclone impact concerns council
ABC News 18 August 09 By Gina MarichThe Darwin City Council says a new uranium storage and handling facility proposed for Darwin’s main port could pose a risk to the environment.
BHP Billiton is considering a facility at the East Arm Port to export up to 1.6 million tonnes of uranium oxide a year, once it expands its Olympic Dam mine in South Australia.
The Darwin Lord Mayor, Graeme Sawyer, says this poses a range of issues, including possible leakage during cyclones and tidal storm surges.
BHP have made some assurances that the stuff that they’re dealing with is not on the high end of the dangerous scale,” Mr Sawyer said.
“But we’d like some independent analysis of that and a range of assurances on some of it.
“There’s going to be some material on that site which needs to be very safely handled so there’s a whole range of issues.”
Yellowcake cyclone impact concerns council – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Some ‘ethical’ funds invest in uranium
……….After a decade-long share-market boom – only marginally clouded by the reversals of early June – ethical investing has moved from the margins to the mainstream………………..
the pioneering idealists that started the industry suddenly face stiff competition. What’s more, the working definition of “ethical” becomes malleable…………..……………The stakes have risen so high because of compulsory superannuation. On 1 July 2005, “superannuation choice” became law, allowing employees to choose where they invest their superannuation money.
……………..some ethical funds have invested in the asbestos company James Hardie and the uranium miner BHP…………….
………………..One of the oldest and largest ethical funds on the ASX is Australian Ethical Investment, which has led the pack in banning Woolworths after its move into gambling. But AEI is suffering because of its hardline approach. Many of its rivals are growing faster than it is. While AEI and other traditional funds still espouse such high-minded ideals as “the preservation of endangered eco-systems”, newer fund managers such as Ausbil Dexia talk about “ethical opportunities”.
Exposing nuclear hype about global warming
Nuclear instability
ON LINE opinion By Helen Caldicott, 14 August 2009
Australia seems determined to lead the way to an unstable world which could result in two very different outcomes – global warming or nuclear winter. We burn and export coal in massive amounts producing more CO2 per capita than any other country and we are about to become one of the world’s major uranium exporters. Continue reading
Rudd to sign up for uranium to India, in November?
comment by Christina Macpherson
Australia’s Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, will have to pull off some sort of conjuring trick in November. Posing as the international hero of the disarmament movement, Rudd has, until now, firmly rejected India’s call for uranium, as India has not, and will not, sign the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty.
To change this stance in November will require all those skills of spin that politicians inevitably develop, if they wish to stay in office.
Sadly, this will mean yet another conning of the Australian public, and the world – in the service of corporate and military /industrial interests.
Australia to supply uranium to India
Thursday, 13 Aug 2009
India has expressed its interest in having civil nuclear cooperation with Australia, amid indications that the two countries are likely to sign an energy agreement in November under which Australia may supply uranium for joint venture power plants.
Australia’s policy of not supplying uranium to countries that have not signed the Nuclear Non proliferation Treaty was noted by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, who had discussions on a wide variety of bilateral subjects with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his counterpart Stephen Smith.
……….Mr Rudd is expected to visit India in November when the two countries are likely to sign an Energy Declaration for generation of nuclear power for which his country may supply uranium.
http://steelguru.com/news/index/2009/08/13/MTA2ODM2/Australia_to_supply_uranium_to_India.html
BHP Billiton caught in U.S. climate change scandal
BHP Billiton caught in US climate change scandal
Sydney Morning Herald August 13 2009
Marian Wilkinson Environment Editor
BHP BILLITON and two other leading US energy companies operating in Australia have been caught up in a lobbying scandal that was aimed at defeating the landmark US climate change bill but is now under investigation by a congressional committee.
The scandal involves 12 forged letters sent to members of Congress urging them to vote against the US climate change bill. The bill, which was passed by the US House of Representatives in June, is designed to cut America’s greenhouse gas pollution and promote clean energy.
The forged letters were purportedly sent by grassroots groups in coalmining districts to three Democratic members. But a Washington lobby firm working on behalf of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity admitted that an employee forged the letters and faxed them.
BHP Billiton is a prominent member of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity along with Peabody Energy, America’s biggest coal company which owns mines in NSW and Queensland, and Chevron Mining which has two major gas projects in north west Australia.
The Democratic congressman Ed Markey, who co-sponsored the US climate change bill, announced an investigation into the forged letters calling them ”an appalling abuse” and saying his committee would be examining the scope and extent of fraud in the lobbying campaign against the bill.
1 This month
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