Robyn Wood, Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA, 19 Sept 17
Greg of FLAG has a letter to the editor in today’s Advertiser for those who can get around the paywall
On the charge
HEAD of Resources Division, Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (DIIS), Bruce Wilson’s statement that “the federal Government is not pushing for a … National Radioactive Waste Management Facility to be hosted in SA” is not supported by the facts (“Nuke healing”, The Advertiser, 6/9/17).
Since the call for potential sites across Australia in March 2015, the process narrowed to focus on three, all in SA, two near Kimba and one near Hawker.
For over a year, DIIS staff have visited Hawker and Quorn almost weekly promoting the facility and answering questions.
A consultative committee meets monthly, a community liaison officer has been appointed and an economic working group has been formed. Newsletters appear regularly.
A delegation from Champagne in France, where there is a similar facility, has been presented praising the benefits of the facility to their region. Individuals and groups, including school students, have been funded to tour Lucas Heights.
In 2016, the federal Government allocated a $2 million community benefit package to Hawker. Another $2 million is promised this financial year with a similar allocation for Kimba, which will also have its own consultative committee and community liaison officer.
Mr Wilson’s letter emphasises the disposal of waste from the production and use of radioactive medical isotopes. He does not mention that the problematic intermediate level component of this waste can only be stored there on a temporary basis with no plan for its disposal.
Current state legislation, the Nuclear Waste Storage Facility (Prohibition) Act 2000, prohibits the storage in SA of the type of material proposed for this site.
GREG BANNON, Chair, Flinders Local Action Group, Quorn. more https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
September 20, 2017
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
Federal nuclear waste dump, South Australia |
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NATIONAL NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP IN SA: TROJAN HORSE FOR AN INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP?http://www.adelaide.foe.org.au/national-nuclear-waste-dump-in-sa-trojan-horse-for-an-international-nuclear-waste-dump/ 13 Nov 2015
The Federal Government has released the shortlist of six sites for the location of a national radioactive waste dump. Three of these sites are in South Australia.
Friends of the Earth Adelaide is cautious about the Federal Governments genuine commitment to a voluntary site nomination and selection process.
“The test will be how the government handles community opposition, how inclusive and transparent the site selection process will be, and how it will handle the issue of existing South Australian legislation banning the establishment of a nuclear waste dump,” said Nectaria Calan of Friends of the Earth Adelaide.
The National Radioactive Waste Management Act 2012, the Act governing the site selection process, over-rides existing state legislation prohibiting the establishment of a nuclear waste dump.
“Will the Federal Government impose a nuclear waste dump on states that have legislated against it, or communities that do not want it?” asked Ms Calan.
“The location of a waste dump cannot simply be decided through individual nominations,” said Ms Calan. “It affects the wider community, particularly those in close proximity to the site. Radioactive contamination knows no property boundaries. The principle of voluntarism extends beyond the individual where an action has wider ramifications,” continued Ms Calan.
“There is yet to be an independent inquiry into all our radioactive waste management options, so the nominations process is premature,” said Ms Calan.
Additionally, here in South Australia the Royal Commission into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle is considering the feasibility of an international nuclear waste dump.
“Will a national nuclear waste repository in SA be the trojan horse for an international high level nuclear waste dump down the track?” asked Ms Calan.
“Rather than considering existing nuclear waste in Australia as an intractable problem, the SA government and some proponents of the nuclear industry seem to consider radioactive waste a business opportunity and want to import it, astounding given that so far globally there has been no success in establishing even one facility for the long term storage of high level waste.”
“ The one deep underground repository for intermediate level waste that does exist, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, saw an incident in February last year where a waste barrel exploded, leading to an aboveground release of airborne radiation, after only 15 years in operation,” said Ms Calan. “According to the US Department of Energy, twenty-two workers tested positive to low-level radiation exposure.”
Friends of the Earth Adelaide has serious concerns regarding the regulatory framework that may be applied to a nuclear waste dump in South Australia, whether national or international.
“BHP Billiton, operator of the Olympic dam mine, is exempt from key regulating legislation in SA, including the Freedom of Information Act, and parts of the Radiation Protection and Control Act and the Environmental Protection Act. With such a precedent here in SA for the regulation of the nuclear industry, where is the guarantee that other nuclear projects such as a nuclear waste dump would not also be exempt from laws regulating radiation, environmental protection, and transparency?” asked Ms. Calan.
September 11, 2017
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump |
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Regina McKenzie I say No to nuclear waste dump in the Flinders Ranges or anywhere , the government says if there is a strong community movement against it , they will walk away . So why are they still hanging around Barndioota, Like blow flies on a shitty arse sheep? Honest they say one thing and do another , just a form of bullying from the Federal government, SA dont want No Nuclear Waste dump! Get over it and move on ….. We Say No!
Paul Waldon, How does your community make a small fortune gambling on nuclear waste? You start with a big fortune! The monkeys in the community happy to accept peanuts to risk contamination and death of their environment, maybe satisfied till things go wrong. But remember the culturally significant, seismically unstable, flood prone, non reducing, aquifer vulnerable, tourism missed, and peoples welfare are all issues that ANSTO, ARPANZA, and the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science have all overlooked or have NO regard for, in their wrongful pursuit to ensure their own job security.
They do it because they are drowning in a sea of nuclear muck of their own creation, and they want to keep creating nuclear muck for profit. They are drowning and they are desperate – and if we are not careful they will drag down everything good about South Australia with them.
September 9, 2017
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
Federal nuclear waste dump, South Australia |
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Paul Waldon Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA Yesterday,Thursday the 7th of September was Threatened Species Day. The promotion of nuclear waste abandonment in the Flinders Ranges by The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (DIIS), and ANSTO can only be seen as a irresponsible act pushing life to extinction with a radioactive assault on a incompatible and fragile environment, while threatening the taxon and the biotas of the Flinders Ranges.
MAMMALS: One species of mammal, the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby (Petrogale Xanthopus), has a national and state conservation rating of “Vulnerable.” Half of all mammal fauna that was once known for the Flinders are now extinct, with surviving species assessed at a regional level, with 15 rated “Vulnerable”, 2 “rare”, 7 “Uncommon” and 6 listed “Immediate Conservation Concern”, while the vulnerable will require focused management to ensure their long term future.
BIRDS: 15 birds species are listed a South Australian Conservation Rating, 7 rated “Vulnerable”, 4 as “Rare”, 4 as “Uncommon”, 1 the Short-tail Grass-wren (Amytornis Merrotsyi) listed as Endemic, significantly near Hawker.
REPTILES: Several species are near “Endemic” to the Flinders Ranges, and 5 species known in the region have “Conservation ratings.”
PLANTS: 18 Plant taxa are “Endemic” to the Flinders Ranges, some of these are locally very common, while others are more sparsley present, and have conservation significance ratings. No less than 221 plant species have conservation rating of the 1361 plant taxa recorded.
This well balanced fragile ecosystem, may collapse with the death of any taxa or biota that suffer the impact of radiation from nuclear waste abandonment. ANSTO at Lucas Heights offers a low environmental impact site for nuclear waste while Hawker and Kimba fail to deliver, and in the interest of safety, radioactive waste should remain at Lucas Heights
https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
September 8, 2017
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Federal nuclear waste dump, South Australia |
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Advertiser, (Dr) MARGARET BEAVIS, 1 Sept 17, THE federal Government is still pushing hard for South Australia to take Australia’s nuclear waste. They make a big song and dance about nuclear medicine, but leave out facts that don’t suit them.
Firstly, most waste is not from nuclear medicine, but from CSIRO and industrial uses.
Secondly, most countries, including the UK and the US, import nuclear medicine. We sometimes do, too, with ANSTO reactor breakdowns or maintenance. Less than 1 per cent of waste comes from actually using nuclear medicine, as it loses radioactivity so quickly almost all goes in the normal rubbish.
Thirdly, the proposed facility for the most toxic waste (which lasts over 10,000 years) is 
substandard – way below world’s best practice.
Finally, they don’t mention that taxpayer-subsidised ANSTO is massively ramping up production of waste. There is no shortage of nuclear medicine – this is about grabbing market share, leaving us with lots more future waste. And no community consultation.
What we need right now is an inquiry into nuclear waste production and storage. Dodgy claims and a shonky dump should not be used to pressure SA communities.
September 1, 2017
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump |
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Misconceptions about radioactive medical isotopes, http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=19251 , By Noel Wauchope -29 August 2017
Australians get their information about medical isotopes straight from The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation(ANSTO) via handouts faithfully retailed via the mainstream media. Some recent examples of media coverage:
The message is straightforward and goes like this:
The purpose of the Opal nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights is to make medical radioisotopes to treat cancer. Australia needs a national radioactive waste dump in rural South Australia, thousands of miles away from Lucas Heights, to dispose of the low-level medical radioactive wastes produced. And this will be a bonanza for the lucky rural community of Kimba.
Is this story true?
No. It is misleading on a number of counts.
First of all, a nuclear reactor is not essential for making medical isotopes. The IAEA lists 39 countries that use cyclotrons to produce them. That includes Australia, which has them not only at Lucas Heights itself, but also at hospitals in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia.
From the invention of the cyclotron (1931) , and discovery of artificial radioactivity (1934), non nuclear particle accelerators were used to produce them. Globally, particle accelerators produced the vast majority of radioisotopes with medical applications until the 1950s. Radioisotopes of medical interest began to be produced as a byproduct of nuclear weapons reactors during World War II. After the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the USA Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)’s main mission was promoting the military use of nuclear material, but “giving atomic energy a peaceful, civilian image” was also part of it. In1948 the AEC took over, and isotopes for biomedical research, cancer diagnostics and therapy were made in nuclear reactors and even became free of charge.
Australia was a bit slow to jump on the medical isotopes bandwagon. The Lucas Heights nuclear reactor began its life in 1958 as the start of a plan for nuclear weapons for Australia.Then it was promoted as research for nuclear power, and later as for making medical radiopharmaceuticals. Lucas Heights and ANSTO itself are very much part of the nuclear lobby’s plan to promote the entire nuclear industry in Australia.
Australia does not need a national radioactive waste dump for medical wastes. Nearly all medical radioactive wastes are very short-lived – a matter of days, or even hours. There is no need to transport them across the continent. Australia does have a problem with higher level wastes: Spent reactor fuel sent to France, USA and UK for processing must be returned. This is the type of waste that needs deep and very secure disposal. That is sure to be the underlying purpose of the South Australian waste dump plan.
The planned national radioactive waste dump will not benefit the local community. Yes, there will be bribes – so far, not much – a $2 million Community Benefit Package to fund local projects, but I’m sure that the Feds will come with better than that. Jobs, no doubt. However, the underlying problem remains. The community is being asked to accept a temporary nuclear waste dump, which is to be set up long before any permanent dump is set up, if it ever is. Kimba, the proposed dump site, is likely to suffer the fate of so many sad sites in America –stuck with “stranded wastes” of radioactive trash. Think what that would do to Kimba’s environment and reputation as an agricultural area.The nuclear lobby has argued persuasively that the Lucas Heights area has held nuclear wastes for decades. However, the Lucas Heights residents did not grasp the implications when the nuclear reactor was set up. They do now – that’s why they want the wastes sent far away.
The global nuclear lobby is fighting a losing battle. The industry has always struggled to win over public opinion. In Australia, the industry’s “foot in the door” is the Opal reactor at Lucas Heights. Following the South Australian Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission’s failed attempt last year, to introduce radioactive waste importing, the next sortie is to use Lucas Heights to get a national nuclear waste dump happening. To justify this, the argument put forward is the medical argument.
In the slick salesmanship from ANSTO and the nuclear lobby in general, they don’t mind a few lies and half truths,. For example, they’ll say ” The most important isotope technetium-99m can be made only with nuclear reactors” – conveniently forgetting that Canadian researchers achieved this with a cyclotron in 2015.
They’ll say that cyclotrons are too expensive to set up, conveniently forgetting that the Lucas Heights 
nuclear reactor was set up at tax-payer expense, and that tax-payer will have to fund its waste management virtually for eternity.
They’ll ignore the facts that cyclotrons produce negligible wastes. As most medical radioisotopes have very short half lives – it makes sense to produce them in a decentralised way – in cyclotrons close to the hospitals where they will be used. The transport of isotopes from cyclotrons is much less of a problem, than from the centralised nuclear reactor.
The nuclear reactor produces radioactive wastes suitable for use as nuclear weapons fuel – and present a safety problem, with the reactor itself also a target for terrorism. Cyclotrons do not have these risks, and this need for huge, and expensive security measures.
Canada, having abandoned nuclear reactor production of medical isotopes, is now leading the way in their production and export without use of a nuclear reactor. ANSTO’s boast of a future thriving export industry in isotopes is sounding hollow.
We should bear in mind that medical radioisotopes are used 80% for diagnosis, and only 20% for actual treatment of cancer. They are an additional means of diagnosis, but not the only means.
We should also be mindful that radioactive isotopes in medicine carry a small increased risk of cancer for the patient, staff, and sometimes the patient’s family.
Therefore our enthusiasm for nuclear medicine should be tempered with an understanding of its limitations and risks, both at the individual patient level, and in the broader context of nuclear fission and its health and environmental dangers.
August 30, 2017
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump, spinbuster, technology |
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Community torn over Kimba nuclear plan, Eureka Street Michele Madigan | 28 August 2017 The Unlucky Australians, the documentary of the Gurindjis’ campaign for their land, aired on the ABC late on Sunday night 20 August 2017. The Gurindjis’ successful struggle against the combined might of the Vestey empire and the Australian federal government is one of the greatest Australian stories……
What struck me most was their complete solidarity. Despite the government’s intense pressure — the withdrawal of the blind man’s pension, the promise of solid brick houses built in sight of their tin and bush humpies, or any other threat and enticement — every Gurindji stood firm.
Half a century after the Gurindji Walkoff and half a continent away, on Saturday 19 August at a gathering in Port Adelaide, two modern beleaguered groups, one Aboriginal, one non-Aboriginal, shared their current experiences in striving to protect their own lands and ways of life. Like the Gurindji, their struggle is with the federal government and this time, indirectly, with another big business — the nuclear industry. In contrast to the Gurindji struggle however, modern day communities and even families are being torn apart by enticements and pressures.
Two months ago, South Australia’s Premier Jay Weatherill conceded that there is ‘no bipartisan government support’ and ‘not sufficient community support’ to continue with the extraordinary scheme that a SA government sponsored nuclear royal commission had recommended. The Premier gave a commitment that a State Labor government, if re-elected, would now not pursue a high-level international nuclear waste dump.
The federal government however continues its pursuit in SA — the disposable state — of a federal dump for the intermediate long-term nuclear waste from the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor and for medical waste. Now, once again, three sites are being offered up: two in Kimba, at the top of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, as well as the ongoing Flinders Ranges site.
At the 19 August meeting, Kimba farmers spoke of the offers of a paltry $10 million and a tiny 15 (or fewer) permanent jobs as the payoff for the deep divisions and the certain risk to their markets a federal dumpsite would bring. Farmer Toni Scott, overcome by describing a formerly close-knit community now torn apart, broke down in tears. The close voting statistics for and against the site belie the former Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Matt Canavan’s assertion that Kimba is clearly in favour.
Farmer Tom Harris’s neighbour is one of two Kimba farmers who have offered possible dumpsites. However the site is closer to Tom’s family homestead than it is to the neighbour’s. It was sobering to hear his facts. Kimba region farmers ‘are recognised as some of the best dry farmers in the world’ but the competition between grain farmers for international markets is so intense that the warning from the professionals is clear: proximity to a nuclear waste dump will have predictably disastrous negative effects. And the irony — ‘It’s the farmers who’ve kept the town going.’
Meanwhile, the Adnymathanha and other Flinders Ranges station and townspeople continue their efforts to protect SA’s iconic Flinders Ranges from the same fate. During the 31 months it has been a preferred site, their trauma has deepened as they have seen other locals acquiesce. Sadly, with the government’s ‘no-strings-attached’ $2 million for community projects, the tearing apart of families has intensified.
The Gurindji had Frank Hardy and Australian unions supporting them during their terrible privations. Many Kimba farmers and townspeople, and the Adnyamathanha, together with some of the townspeople and most of the Flinders Ranges landholders, are grateful for their own southern (or eastern) supporters. They plead for more: ‘Please help us to be heard!’ https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=52964#.WaXSuvMjHGh
August 29, 2017
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump, South Australia |
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Royal Adelaide Hospital waste to be shipped back overseas when it closes http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/royal-adelaide-hospital-waste-to-be-shipped-back-overseas-when-it-closes/news-story/a3cdebd7c500f00e67b7913b48e7d900?nk=ba26857f63080120cbd5fc74c94d3959-1503908527, Daniel Wills, State Political Editor, August 27, 2017
RADIOACTIVE waste currently stored at the old Royal Adelaide Hospital is set to be sent back overseas as the site is cleared when health services shift to the other end of North Tce.
With demolition and redevelopment of the site imminent once medical services are transferred to the new hospital next week, The Advertiser can reveal the State Government is developing plans to return the waste back to it European or British origin.
More than a year ago, Renewal SA chief executive John Hanlon told a State Parliament committee how the Government was working on plans to house the waste in SA when the old RAH closed. While no proposal was settled, officials investigated a new SA site that could also be a repository for other low-level radioactive waste scattered in other sites around the state.
A SA Health spokeswoman said the old RAH waste, mostly used for patient treatment and research, was no longer needed once the shift to the new hospital was complete.
“The radioactive sources are currently stored in lead-lined boxes in a secure store in preparation for the removal process,” she said. “Once the old RAH site is decommissioned, the majority of waste radioactive sources will be safely returned to the country of origin.”
Most of the radioactive sources at the old RAH used for medical purposes came from the UK or Europe. SA Health is also working to identify any other origin countries. Final disposal is expected to be dealt with by the source material’s manufacturers.
The department is working with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation and the state Environment Protection Authority to ensure safe, and legal removal. The old RAH is one of 78 different facilities in SA currently storing low or intermediate level waste, according to the government’s Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission.
Low level waste is generated in hospitals and by industry. It comprises paper, rags, tools, and gloves with short-lived radioactivity that do not require shielding during normal handling.
Intermediate waste is typically metal and other materials from decommissioned reactors. It emits higher levels of radiation and requires shielding during handling, transport and storage.
Parliament was told in 2011 that radioactive waste currently at the old RAH is in a basement.SA Health is responsible for the removal of all known radioactive sources before the site is handed over to Renewal SA, which will oversee a $1 billion redevelopment.
August 28, 2017
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
South Australia, wastes |
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Leonora lobbies for nuclear waste dump in its backyard ABC Goldfields By Jarrod Lucas 18 Aug 17 Leonora in WA’s northern Goldfields is putting together a bid for an outback repository to store radioactive waste.
The Federal Government’s decade-long search for a national radioactive waste management facility appears far from over.
This has provided a window of opportunity for the Shire of Leonora to press its case again to host a national repository for waste arising from medical, industrial and scientific use.
Leonora looked to have missed its chance in November 2015 when it was left off a short-list of six sites, five of which have since been ruled out by the government.
On that occasion, the Shire put together a last-minute bid, nominating about 81 hectares of freehold land owned by Councillor Glenn Baker.
An application for an exploration license for a new site, north-west of Leonora, is currently being assessed by multiple State Government departments.
Shire of Leonora president Peter Craig conceded there were no guarantees the new site would receive state approval.
But he said the Council believed the waste dump was an opportunity worth pursuing.
“It’s a long-term prospect – we’re certainly putting ourselves out there there’s no doubt about that,” Mr Craig said. “We feel going forward there’s a lot of opportunities, money to be made.”
….He said the repository would be built underground and the Goldfields mining industry is perfectly placed to build it.
“We’re probably going to have some opposition from the State Government I would imagine, but at the end of the day, the Federal government would more than likely overrule it if the land is in a location which is suitable.”…… http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-18/remote-wa-town-wants-radioactive-waste-dump-in-its-backyard/8821240
August 25, 2017
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Federal nuclear waste dump, Western Australia |
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Agency formed to push nuclear waste dump to SA spent $7.6 million http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/agency-formed-to-push-nuclear-waste-dump-to-sa-spent-76-million/news-story/34c2ed1ade9a24c8d195ecf32f45709d 20 Aug 17, Miles Kemp,
THE taxpayer has been handed a “catering” bill that is the equivalent of 45,000 cups of coffee, for a talkfest on nuclear energy. The catering bill for the so-called “Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission Consultation and Response Agency” was $182,580.
The extraordinary cost is revealed in Freedom of Information documents released to the Opposition, which show the agency’s budget blew out by $400,000 to $7.6 million. It included $185,477 for media monitoring, $1.04 million for photography/AV and production, $152,373 for accommodation in South Australia, $256,771 for international and domestic travel, and $1.08 million spent on contractors.
The agency’s brief was to sell the findings of the Royal Commission to the South Australian public — that nuclear energy generation was not feasible but a dump should be explored.
Opposition treasury spokesman Rob Lucas said: “Taxpayers should be concerned about how their money was spent chasing the Weatherill Government’s nuclear thought bubble’’.
“It is incredible that the agency managed to rack up an $180,000 catering bill in one year. That could have bought more than 45,000 cups of takeaway coffee or 123 coffees per day. Given the Weatherill Government’s track record of treating taxpayers’ money with contempt, we’ll be pursuing a further breakdown of these costs.”
Former Royal Commissioner Kevin Scarce distanced himself from the budget blowout and said it all happened after his watch. “The commission I led had no connection with CARA. CARA formed as the commission completed its work,’’ he said.
The stated purpose of the agency was to: “Seek to understand the South Australian community’s perspectives on further involvement in the nuclear fuel cycle’’.
Premier Jay Weatherill cut short the nuclear option for SA after the Opposition withdrew support for the idea. The agency comprised four prominent South Australians and included two“citizens’ juries” to discuss the Royal Commission findings.
The second jury comprised 300 people randomly selected from the population, which could explain the large expenditure.
A Government spokesman said the nuclear fuel cycle consultation was “the biggest in the state’s history” and the budget was publicly disclosed and “received bipartisan support”. “The Government makes no apologies for undertaking such an extensive consultation process to ensure all South Australians had the opportunity to have their say on this important matter,” he said.
August 21, 2017
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
NUCLEAR ROYAL COMMISSION 2016, wastes |
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Nuclear medicine production in Australia at risk if dump site can’t be found, industry head says ABC, Landline By Marty McCarthy 19 Aug 17, Australia may have to stop producing nuclear medicine if it cannot find a central site to dump all of the radioactive rubbish made in the process in the next decade.
The Federal Government has been trying to find a site somewhere in Australia to dump nuclear waste for 30 years, including all the waste produced by the government-owned OPAL reactor at Lucas Heights.
There is about 4,250 square metres of radioactive waste in Australia — enough to fill two Olympic-sized swimming pools — and most of it is held at the Australian Nuclear Science Technology Organisation (ANSTO) at Lucas Heights…… the facility also stores a small amount of intermediate-level waste.
This waste comes from the spent fuel rods used in Australia’s first nuclear reactor, HIFAR, which operated for 50 years and was decommissioned in 2007.
The TN81 cask is a 120-tonne rubbish bin that currently contains more than half of the waste from 2,000 spent fuel rods used in HIFAR over its half-a-century-lifespan.
“This does actually represent one of the more radioactive things in Australia,” said James Hardiman, waste operations manager at ANSTO…..
‘It’s for Kimbra we are doing this’
The rural town of Kimba, on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, could be the eventual home of all of Australia’s nuclear waste. Two farmers in the region have put forward their properties, along with a third at Barndioota in the Flinders Rangers, for the Federal Government to build its facility on.
The site would be a permanent dump for all of the low-level waste, which would be buried in cement chambers and left for 300 years, and a temporary storage site for the more dangerous, intermediate-level waste…..To guarantee your town’s future for the next 300 years is pretty good reason for me, because they are talking 100 years of storing the waste and 300 years of monitoring,” Jeff Baldock said.
Bob Maitland, who owns farmland next to Mr Baldock’s property, said he had a moral obligation to support his neighbour’s nuclear dump plan. “It’s for Kimba we are doing this, not for ourselves.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-19/nuclear-medicine-production-in-australia-at-risk:-industry-head/8815902
August 19, 2017
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
Federal nuclear waste dump, South Australia |
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The No Dump Alliance has today launched a petition targeting Premier Jay Weatherill and Opposition leader Steven Marshall to take a stand and use SA’s existing no dump laws to publicly oppose the federal government plan to build a nuclear waste dump in South Australia.
One site in the Flinders Ranges and two sites near Kimba on the Eyre Peninsular are now being assessed by the federal government to become the nation’s nuclear waste facility.
The majority of this waste is currently in storage at secure federal facilities and no compelling case has been made for its transfer. There is clear community opposition to Canberra’s plan in both affected regions and the Alliance supports the growing national call for an open review of all waste management options, rather than targeting regional communities for a dump site.
In a statement the Alliance outlined that this “is the time to stand up. South Australians have fought and won the nuclear waste battle before.” The Alliance petition is calling on the leaders of both major political parties in SA to commit to using the existing Nuclear Waste Storage Facility (Prohibitions) Act, 2000 to send a clear message of active opposition to the federal dump plan.
“We need our state leaders to stand with us against this federal plan, this process had already cause immeasurable damage to our community and it needs to stop. We do not want our agricultural region exposed to the risks this nuclear waste presents and we need our leaders to ensure our that state legislation is upheld.” said Kimba resident and No Radioactive Waste Dump on Agricultural Land in Kimba or SA President, Peter Woolford.
Following the end of plans for SA to host international radioactive waste the No Dump Alliance has refocused its work to support communities targeted by the federal government’s plan to build a nuclear waste dump in SA. This will be a key focus of the Alliance’s work in the lead up to the 2018 state election.
“The Australian Education Union applauded the Premier’s announcement that an international waste dump in SA is no longer in question and will not be progressed by the current or future Labor governments. However, if by his own admission the show of solidarity by the wider community with the Aboriginal community in protest of any nuclear storage on SA land is to have any credence this must be followed with a clear rejection of the Federal government’s proposal to use this state as the nuclear waste bin for the nation” Said Dash Taylor Johnson, Australian Education Union and No Dump Alliance member.
August 18, 2017
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Federal nuclear waste dump, opposition to nuclear, South Australia |
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Last Friday, landowners who volunteered a site for the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility made a trip to Australia’s home of nuclear science, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).
Brett and Michelle Rayner, who volunteered part of their property for consultation on the national facility, toured ANSTO, meeting with ANSTO’s CEO and the local Mayor.
Brett said that the experience showed him that the waste was even safer than he thought.
“I was originally against the proposal, but after attending the community meetings I got the information and could see that there are no safety risks and there is opportunity for our community,” he said
“Based on that I volunteered my land, but coming to ANSTO and seeing this operation in person has really confirmed for me that this waste can and is being safely managed,” he said.
Being able to walk up to the intermediate level waste and touch the container it’s stored in, and to hear and see the different ways that the waste is treated to make it safe, was amazing.
“There is so much more done with this one reactor than I even imagined, so it was great to be able to come, see the way things are done here, and ask all your questions.”
Michelle said that she really enjoyed the opportunity to come and see the reality of what waste storage looks like.
“What’s done at ANSTO is just mind-blowing, and what stood out is the wide variety of research that goes on here, that people maybe don’t realise the huge contribution nuclear science makes.”
Michelle said that she really enjoyed the opportunity to come and see the reality of what waste storage looks like.
“It has been extremely informative, it’s really opened our eyes to how safe the waste is – in many ways it is no scarier than a garbage bin,” she said.
“What’s done at ANSTO is just mind-blowing, and what stood out is the wide variety of research that goes on here, that people maybe don’t realise the huge contribution nuclear science makes.”
August 2, 2017
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump |
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