70,000 tons of high level nuclear waste already in USA
the country’s political leaders are no closer to a safe, permanent disposal plan for nuclear waste than they were a generation ago,
Nuclear waste piles up with no disposal plan, APP.com | Asbury Park Press, By RAJU CHEBIUM • WASHINGTON BUREAU • September 15, 2010 — Tens of thousands of tons of potentially lethal radioactive waste have been piling up across the nation for more than a generation, but the federal government has yet to decide how to get rid of it permanently. Continue reading
Health effects of uranium mining in India
Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD), an affiliate of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize recipient International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, conducted a health survey in 2007 that looked at 2,118 families within 2.5 km of the mines.It found that 9.5 percent of newborns die each year due to extreme physical deformities…….
Uranium mines afecting health of workers and local communities, India Info Online, 20 Sept 10, AT BANDUHURANG, there are no prohibitory signs, no warnings about radiation, no barbed wire and no demarcation of territory. Continue reading
USA looks like giving up on selling nukes to India
the chances of altering how the legislation works appear to be dimming….it looks increasingly likely that the Obama visit will center instead around job-creating deals for the U.S………..Nowhere did the statement contain a reference to the nuclear deal.
U.S. Chances Dim on India Nuclear Revision – India Real Time – WSJ, by Paul Beckett, September 20, 2010, As we reported recently, the U.S. government and nuclear-equipment industry have been scrambling to alter the impact of nuclear-liability legislation passed by the Indian parliament that the U.S. side views as unfavorable to U.S. nuclear suppliers … Continue reading
Hillary Clinton to Australia – to discuss “clean” ?nuclear energy
Clinton Sets Australia Visit, Thinking Australia, 20 Sept 10, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to visit Australia in November for re-scheduled ministerial talks……There are many matters that are of mutual interest, from developing new technologies for clean energy to addressing climate change, halting nuclear proliferation, countering the threat of terrorism, and so much else”.Clinton Sets Australia Visit
BHP Billiton- Kloppers’ spin to promote uranium mining
But is BHP just playing the uranium card ?….is it an announcement to push the South Australian government to OK the Olympic Dam mine expansion;
BHP Boss Casts Doubt On Coal’s Future, Energy Efficiency, September 18th, 2010 When the world’s largest mining boss Marius Kloppers warns Australia should look beyond coal and towards other energy sources, you have to wonder whether its spin or otherwise. Continue reading
Thousands protest Germany’s nuclear power plants
the anti-nuclear movement has not seen such strong public support since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union, in 1986.
Berlin / Munich – Two Cities / Different Crowds, EU Australia Online , September 19th, 2010 Weekend events in Germany saw a large protest in Berlin over nuclear power stations, ……CONFRONTATION OVER NUCLEAR STATIONS Crowds estimated at between 40-100,000, depending on who was counting, paraded to the office of the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, in Berlin, objecting to government plans for extending the life of ageing nuclear power plants. Continue reading
France’s “Nuclear Socialism” a warning to USA
“This analysis shows the greatest danger is not that the U.S. will import French technology, but that it will replicate the French model of nuclear socialism,”…“ go to France to see more nuclear means less renewables and energy efficiency,”
U.S. Nuclear Industry Will Remain Ward of the State, as in France, Report Warns By Sara Stroud SolveClimate, Sep 16, 2010 Government subsidies of nuclear power plans could hitch U.S taxpayers to a technology that suffers out-of-control costs while pushing aside renewable energy development, according to a study released last week by the Vermont Law School’s Institute for Energy and the Environment. Continue reading
BHP, Rio Tinto, drain Australia’s bore water – for free!
BHP, Rio Tinto, Pilbara Manganese, Fortescue Metals and Hamersley HMS were the thirstiest, collectively taking more than 345 billion litres of water last year….Bore users are not charged for the water…the drawing of water by bore users had dried up lake systems in Yanchep National Park.
- Bore users escape fines | Perth Now, By Narelle Towie, September 18, 2010 “………….the mining sector has been exposed as the biggest water guzzler in the state, according to the department’s annual report, which will be released at the end of the month. Continue reading
How uranium mining poisoned the Navajo
investigative journalist Judy Pasternak comprehensively recounts in her chilling new book, “Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed.”
“Yellow Dirt”: Radioactive reservation, The shocking story of how industry and government poisoned and then abandoned the Navajo Nation, Salon.com, Laura Miller, 19 Sept 10,
In the summer of 1979, an earthen dam over the town of Church Rock, Utah, broke, flooding the arroyo below and then the bed of the Rio Puerco (an intermittent stream) on the southern border of the Navajo Nation. It was a small flood, but a dangerous one. It burned the feet of a boy who stepped into it, and caused sheep and crops along the banks to drop dead. Continue reading
BHP Billiton’s Marius Kloppers’ strategy for uranium
Bear in mind too that BHP has its foot on the world’s biggest uranium deposit, at Olympic Dam in South Australia……..Olympic Dam, currently in the planning stages for a huge expansion, was key to BHP’s strategy to limit the impact of the resources rent tax and clearly it is central to its future energy strategy.
Kloppers plays strategic card by backing a carbon tax, Sydney Morning Herald, Ian Verrender, September 18, 2010 “……Kloppers is no fool. Quite the contrary. Softly spoken with an uncharacteristically lilting Afrikaans accent, the youthful head of BHP Billiton is a master strategist, not just when it comes to commerce and digging holes but in the not-so-gentle art of political persuasion…. Continue reading
Nuclear ‘renaissance’ just hasn’t taken off, says World Nuclear Association
Speaking at a meeting of the World Nuclear Association in London today, Ron Cameron head of the Nuclear Energy Association’s (NEA) nuclear development division said: “The nuclear renaissance hasn’t taken off”
Nuclear resurgence constrained Nuclear may go way of the Asian toaster, tcetoday news, 17 Sept 10, by Adam Duckett“……..PROBLEMS with finance, policy and skills have hamstrung the much-hyped resurgence of the nuclear power sector, experts have said. Continue reading
Uranium injustice – AREVA’s history in Niger
Besides alleged bribes made to Tuareg rebels, Areva was also criticised by several NGOs for polluting underground aquifers, aggravating a chronic water shortage, and exposing its employees to uranium contamination……..
Kidnapping comes as French nuclear giant Areva works on image, France24 , 17 Sept 10, The kidnapping of seven foreign nuclear employees in Niger comes as the French nuclear giant Areva is trying to improve its image in a region threatened by robbery, widespread resentment, and radical Islamism.”In nearly 40 years, Areva didn’t care at all for the locals. But in the last few years, Areva changed its strategy and started implementing development projects”, says Moussa Kaka, RFI’s correspondent in Niger. Continue reading
Failing nuclear industry is on subsidised life support
In no deregulated energy market, anywhere in the world, is the private sector putting up its own money to build nuclear power stations. The industry remains on subsidised life support everywhere and is making headway only in a tiny handful of countries with state ownership of generators and command and control energy networks.
Nowhere is this more true than in the new markets of China, Russia and India – nuclear weapons states – all of which the Australian mining industry is desperate to access. Continue reading
Pro nukes stack Western Australia’s uranium study panel
We still do not know whether or how key issues – such as workers’ health and safety, tailings rehabilitation, transport and groundwater impacts – will be addressed by the panel. We fear that crucial issues, such as impacts on workers’ health and communities and nuclear weapons proliferation, will not be addressed at all.
The panel excludes experts in relevant areas such as occupational health and safety, transport, Aboriginal heritage and native title, non-proliferation and safeguards.
Uranium industry’s record raises doubts, The West Australian, By Mia Pepper, September 16th, 2010, The Barnett Government recently announced that the Australian Centre for Geomechanics had won a tender to form an “independent panel on uranium mining regulations”. Sitting on the panel are pro-nuclear lobbyists and behind the scenes are corporate sponsors including some that are anything but independent.
BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are two of the sponsors – companies with operating uranium mines in Australia and uranium interests in WA. Continue reading
The plot thickens in promotion of Olympic Dam Uranium Mine
Last month the Australian government set up a Mines Tax policy team. It is led by Don Argus, former chairman of uranium miner BHP Billiton. Other members are former uranium company Rio Tinto executive David Klingner, Erica Smyth, chairman of uranium explorer Toro Energy.
So, Australia’s mining tax policy is guided by uranium mining representatives.
And now, in a bold statement in facvour of a carbon tax, BHP Billiton’s Chief Executice officer Marius Kloppers sets the scene for BHP to increase its influence over Australia’s government.
It all sounds so good. But note that, in supporting action on Climate change, Kloppers promotes “alternative” energies to take over from coal.
I’ll bet that “alternative” will turn out to be one of those words like “renewable” and “clean” that are applied to nuclear power. And all in such good timing, as BHP Billiton is desperate to get its Olympic Dam uranium mine expansion happening.
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