Escalating and long term costs of nuclear wastes
The equipment and reactors cannot easily or cheaply be dismantled and will remain radioactive for hundreds of years
Nuclear and radioactive waste disposal – by Patrick Boniface -Helium, 30 May 2010, Nuclear waste is dangerously toxic, its environmental impact if released would be devastating, as was witnessed during both the Chernobyl explosion, the American Three Mile Island scare and the Windscale fire of 1957.In these cases radioactive material was released into the atmosphere. With the Windscale fire some 15,000 terabequerels (TBq) of radioactive material (notably Iodine-131) were released (3). Continue reading
Garrett’s chance to support environment rather than AREVA
“The Federal Government needs to chose which is more important – the long-term national interest of Australia or the corporate interest of a French nuclear company.”
Garrett keen to see Kakadu expansion ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) 30 May 2010 Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett says he would like to seize the opportunity to expand Kakadu National Park, following a request from traditional owners. Continue reading
Koongarra land to be saved from uranium mining
Mr Lee, the sole member of the Djok clan and senior custodian of the land known as Koongarra, could have become one of Australia’s richest men if he had allowed the French energy giant Areva to extract 14,000 tonnes of uranium from its mineral lease in the area……….
Land of riches given over to Kakadu, The Age, LINDSAY MURDOCH, KAKADUMay 29, 2010 T HE World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park will be expanded to include thousands of hectares of ecologically sensitive land that has uranium worth billions of dollars.
Aboriginal traditional owner Jeffrey Lee has offered the land to the federal government so it can become part of Kakadu, where he works as a ranger. Continue reading
Navajo oppose new uranium mining
Navajo Activists Protest Uranium Mining Plans May 28, 2010 , warresisters . By Bruce FinleyThe Denver Post Uranium-mining leaders and fed
eral regulators poised to fuel a resurgent nuclear power industry gathered in Denver on Wednesday, ….outside the conference Wednesday, American Indian demonstrators with drums and signs demanded a halt to all new uranium mining on Navajo land, where federal regulators have permitted several projects.“Our Navajo communities rely on the groundwater for everything. These new projects could contaminate the source of drinking water for 15,000 Navajo community members,” said Nadine Padilla of the Multicultural Alliance for Safe Environments. “Our communities are still living with the legacy of contamination from past uranium mining.” Navajo Activists Protest Uranium Mining Plans « The War Resisters League Blog
Mirrar Aboriginal people oppose expansion of Ranger uranium mine
Senior Mirarr traditional owner Yvonne Margarula, who led the push against the Jabiluka mine, accuses ERA of telling the community “half truths” about the environmental impact on an area where children fish and swim.
Indigenous owners to block mine plans, Lex Hall , The Australian May 29, 2010 “…….TRADITIONAL owners at Kakadu will oppose Energy Resources Australia’s plans to expand the Ranger uranium mine unless the company can make what they say are necessary improvements in its environmental performance, following revelations of radioactive waste leaking into wetlands in the World Heritage-listed national park. Continue reading
AREVA’s Northern Territory uranium plans blocked by one Aboriginal man
Owner wants uranium-rich land to be added to Kakadu, Sydney Morning Herald, LINDSAY MURDOCH IN KAKADU, May 29, 2010 “……….Areva executives in Australia did not return calls from the Herald. The blocking of the mine comes five years after a federal takeover of uranium mining from the Northern Territory Labor government that was supposed to boost uranium mining. But the move is in tatters, Continue reading
Earthquake danger ignored in BHP’s planned Olympic Dam uranium mine expansion
Edward Cranswick, a geophysicist and expert on earthquakes, has warned the South Australian and federal governments of the earthquake danger for the Olympic Dam uranium mine area.
This risk has been ignored in BHP Billiton’s Environmental Impact Statement for its proposed gigantic expansion which would form the world’s biggest mining hole.
The Kalgoorlie Earthquake and the Proposed Olympic Dam Mine Expansion. by Edward Cranswick, 25 May 2010, BHP Billiton has proposed to dig the largest open pit mine on the Earth at Olympic Dam, 4.1 km long, 3.5 km wide, 1 km deep. As a geophysicist who investigated earthquakes for the US Geological Survey for 22 years [1], I strongly criticised BHP’s Olympic Dam Expansion Draft Environmental Impact Statement 2009 (ODXdEIS) [2] because it omitted consideration of seismicity, i.e., rockbursts or earthquakes, caused by open pit mining, despite the fact that seismic hazard is well-known in the Australian mining industry (Hudyma et al. 2003 [3], Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) [4]).
The recent Kalgoorlie Earthquake emphasises the probability and consequences of these seismic events as mines grow larger and deeper – the ODXdEIS needs to be re-evaluated because it does not address this issue at all. I discuss the connection between mining and seismicity and how it is obscured in Australia, particularly the seismic hazard of the Olympic Dam mine, and I make recommendations about these matters. Read on for the complete submission. Continue reading
Cameco’s planned uranium mine a risk to Alice Springs’ water supply
“Now if the tailing’s dam were to burst here at Angela-Pamela, radioactive water would run downhill from the mine towards our future water bore at a place called rocky hill.
“The radioactive water would contaminate our water through surface recharge,”
Ranger problems cause a stir in Alice Springs ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) 28 May 2010, An overflow of contaminated water at the Ranger Uranium mine has prompted an environment group in Alice Springs to again speak out against a possible mine in Central Australia. Energy Resources of Australia operates the Ranger mine, which is surrounded by Kakadu National Park. The Greens say there have been 150 reported leaks from the mine since it opened and ERA should be forced to conduct continuous monitoring.
Cameco is leading a joint venture project exploring for uranium at its Angela Pamela project, 25 km south of Alice Springs.
Jess Abrahams from the Arid Lands Environment Centre says the project would be too close to the towns future drinking water supply.
“Now if the tailing’s dam were to burst here at Angela-Pamela, radioactive water would run downhill from the mine towards our future water bore at a place called rocky hill.
“The radioactive water would contaminate our water through surface recharge,” said Ms Abrahams.
Cameco says if it cannot protect the town’s drinking water, it will not mine the uranium.
It says any Environmental Impact Statement would consider all environmental, social and economic impacts. Ranger problems cause a stir in Alice Springs – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Northern Territory to become China’s uranium colony?
Uranium powers Chinese interest in NT Northern Territory News |NADJA HAINKE May 28th, 2010
CHINA is turning to the Northern Territory to source uranium in its ever-increasing need for power. Territory Uranium Company has received immense attention from several Chinese businesses wanting to invest in its exploration projects in the NT.
//But it is believed no solid agreements have yet been reached…..Managing director Ian Bamborough said …… Territory Uranium Company was keen to sell off about 50 per cent of its shares as more funding would mean more drilling…………
……One of the prospects getting particular interest from Chinese businesses is the Daly River project, about 350km south of Darwin…….
Environmental surveys and negotiations with traditional owners have yet to be completed. Uranium powers Chinese interest in NT | Northern Territory News | Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia | ntnews.com.au
The quack background of Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy
France has, rather unwisely, put a huge amount of its export eggs into the nuclear energy market. Its President Sarkozy spends much time and energy pushing nuclear sales around the world.
Helping in this French sales effort is Bruno Comby, who purports to be a health expert and 
environmental scientist. Among his many-faceted health promotion businesses is the Comby Stressometer. Rather like the Scientologist’s E-Meter, the Comby Stressometer can be sent to you from overseas, (for a price). and it purports to measure your stress levels and physical well-being.
Mr Comby is a quack.
He is also the founder and leading light of Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy, supposedly a worldwide organisation, but very secretive about its membership and its funding.
Also secretive is the background of Bruno Comby – who is in fact qualified only as a nuclear physicist.
Yet another attempt to start an Australian pro-nuclear party
Pro-nuclear pollies join the party, Reportage; 27 May 2010 “… Anna Watanabe investigates the Environmentalists for Nuclear party, a new minor party waiting to join Australia’s political system.
Goronwy Price is a former adventurer, turned software designer, and is the candidate-to-be for Environmentalists for Nuclear Power Australia (EFN), an umbrella group of the original organization founded in France.
Price and the EFN plan to register as a federal political party when their membership exceeds 500 people…………….But the vast majority of Australia’s Green movement remains decidedly anti-nuclear………..
Dr. Mark Diesendorf, author and deputy director of the Institute of Environmental Studies, UNSW says that he has a more conspiratorial objection to pro-nuclear environmentalism.“Just like there is big money behind climate change deniers, from the coal industry…there has to be big money behind these so called environmentalists for nuclear power.”
Do your savings go to promote the nuclear industry?
Banktrack is a coalition of citizen organisations whose research campaign is tracking down those financial institutions bankrolling the nuclear industry.
This is the secret the www.nuclearbanks.org website will tell you.
Nuclear banks? No thanks! | Greenpeace International, by jmckeati – May 26, 2010 , Today sees the launch of the http://www.nuclearbanks.org website, a joint venture between BankTrack, Greenpeace International, Urgewald (Germany), Les Amis de la Terre (France), Antiatom Szene (Austria), WISE (the Netherlands) and CRBM (Italy).Banks around the world love to boast about their investments in green technologies and renewable energy. What they don’t like to boast about is their involvement with the dirty and dangerous business of nuclear power. Continue reading
3rd degree examines Western Australia’s uranium problems
The 3rd degree is a community radio show on 2ser 107.3 FM bringing meaningful climate change dialogue to the Sydney airwaves. We’re a crew of people involved in environmental movementsTune In!Listen to the 3rd degree Thursdays 9-9.30am est on 2SER 107.3FM or online here
Click here to download our nuclear special!
Ep.105: Western Australia – the nuclear state?There are several proposed mines being processed at the moment, many on Indigenous homelands. Western Australia also doesn’t have a regulatory framework to deal with the risks of nuclear mining and many community members are concerned about this….. who is exploring where, what is being planned and what does the community say?
the 3rd degree: Ep. 105: Western Australia – the nuclear state?
Campaign to remove BHP’s special legal exemptions for Olympic Dam uranium mine
Friends of the Earth is currently working on a campaign to have the SA Roxby Downs Indenture Act repealed. This legislation allows the mine to operate with wide-ranging exemptions from the Aboriginal Heritage Protection Act, the Environment Protection Act, the Natural Resources Act and the Freedom of Information Act………….
Radioactive Exposure tour at Olympic Dam, The Monitor Newspaper : by Celeste Lustosa, 27 May 2010, The Friends of the Earth conducted their annual Radioactive Exposure Tour from May 14 to 23. As part of this event, they were in the Roxby Downs / Olympic Dam area from Sunday, May 16. Continue reading
Nuclear energy push is the central aim of U.S. Climate Bill
Nuclear Energy Has a Friend in Heads of Obama’s BP Oil Disaster Commission, by kgosztola May 25, 2010“……..Public Citizen reports the current climate legislation is a “nuclear energy-promoting, oil drilling-championing, coal mining-boosting” piece of legislation “with a weak carbon pricing mechanism thrown in.” The public interest groups warns against the nuclear power incentives currently in the climate change bill:
At its core, this legislation is all about promoting nuclear power and handing taxpayers the bill. Consider: Continue reading
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