New short films show the shocking impact of nuclear waste plan on the Kimba community
The stories of Kimba farming families and local townspeople opposed to the proposed National Radioactive Waste Management Facility in the district have had their story documented in a message to wider Australia.
Port Pirie filmmaker Kim Mavromatis has released a series of mini-documentaries over the past three months telling the stories of communities impacted by the four-year process to determine whether the facility had broad community support at Kimba or Hawker.
Mr Mavromatis said he had been following the debate around both the waste facility and the SA nuclear fuel cycle process, and he believed the communities involved were only given one side of the story throughout consultation.
“At the end of the day… the government weren’t doing the right thing by the people,” he said.
He said as a member of the Port Pirie community he had also been concerned that his community, which could potentially see the waste transported through their town or port, had not had the same opportunity for consultation as the Kimba and Hawker communities who late last year participated in community ballots to measure support for the proposal.
In one of Mr Mavromatis’s videos, Kimba locals and members of the No Radioactive Waste Facility for Kimba District group spoke about why they remained opposed to the proposal, and the impact the years of uncertainty and community debate has had on them personally.
Among those featured were neighbours of the proposed sites.
Secretary of the group Toni Scott said through the years they had discussed ways of getting their message out to a wider audience, and while it was difficult for many to tell their story there were still many people across the wider Eyre Peninsula and the state who needed to know what was going on as a final decision looms.
“We’re at the stage now where we really want to create as much awareness as we can,” she said.
“We’re hoping people can relate to it.”
Many of the interviewees featured are visibly emotional in the film, which Mrs Scott said was an unintentional outcome of individuals being encouraged to share their stories openly.
“Those raw emotions just came out… I think it’s important for people to see that and realise how affected members of our community actually are,” she said.
Mr Mavromatis said it was “shocking” to see first-hand the impact on the community.
“It’s their livelihood, it’s their future, it’s their kids’ future and it’s permanent,” he said.
The filmmaker has also created a documentary about the impact of the process on the Barngarla people, who in an independent ballot last year voted 0% in favour of the facility.
Mr Mavromatis said the lack of genuine engagement with the traditional owners, who are native title holders of areas neighbouring both proposed sites, was a “total disgrace.”
A rally is planned for Kimba on February 2, with Kimba community members encouraging the wider state to join them.
“We are asking people from Eyre Peninsula and SA to join us in a peaceful protest so the minister (Resources minister Matthew Canavan) can get the message that Kimba is not the right place and farming land is not the right place,” Mrs Scott said.
The video series can be found at vimeo.com/mav17557967.
Scandalous that the Australian government plans a nuclear waste dump on our precious, scarce, agricultural land
earth would you think Agricultural farmland is a good place to dump radioactive nuclear waste ?????? ARPANSA (the regulator) don’t think so – they state in their own guidelines and Site Selection Criteria, that the proposed Radioactive Nuclear Waste Dumps should not be placed on Agricultural land, in the immediate vicinity of land with significant Natural Resources, or Outdoor Recreational use???When traditional Aboriginal owners are included in the vote, support for Kimba nuclear waste dump drops to 43%
“Barngarla Speak Out” : vimeo.com/382855709
“SAVE SA Farmland – Kimba, Eyre Peninsula” : vimeo.com/381938156
Bushfires – a serious danger to transporting nuclear wastes from Lucas Heights to Kimba
Transporting nuclear wastes across Australia in the age of bushfires, Independent Australia, By Noel Wauchope | IN 2020, the final decision on a site for Australia’s interim National Radioactive Waste Facility will be announced, said Resources Minister Matt Canavan on 13 December.
He added: I will make a formal announcement early next year on the site-selection process.”
With bushfires raging, it might seem insensitive and non-topical to be worrying now about this coming announcement on a temporary nuclear waste site and the transport of nuclear wastes to it. But this is relevant and all too serious in the light of Australia’s climate crisis.
The U.S. National Academies Press compiled a lengthy and comprehensive report on risks of transporting nuclear wastes — they concluded that among various risks, the most serious and significant is fire:…..
Current bushfire danger areas include much of New South Wales, including the Lucas Heights area, North and coastal East Victoria and in South Australia the lower Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas. If nuclear wastes were to be transported across the continent, whether by land or by sea, from the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney to Kimba in South Australia, they’d be travelling through much of these areas. Today, they’d be confronting very long duration, fully engulfing fires.
Do we know what route the nuclear wastes would be taking to Kimba, which is now presumed to be the Government’s choice for the waste dump? Does the Department of Industry Innovation and Science know? Does the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) know? Well, they might, but they’re not going to tell us.
We can depend on ANSTO’s consistent line on this :
‘In line with standard operational and security requirements, ANSTO will not comment on the port, routes or timing until after the transport is complete.’
That line is understandable of course, due to security considerations, including the danger of terrorism.
Spent nuclear fuel rods have been transported several times, from Lucas Heights to ports – mainly Port Kembla – in great secrecy and security. The reprocessed wastes are later returned from France or the UK with similar caution. Those secret late-night operations are worrying enough, but their risks seem almost insignificant when compared with the marathon journey envisaged in what is increasingly looking like a crackpot ANSTO scheme for the proposed distant Kimba interim nuclear dump. It is accepted that these temporary dumps are best located as near as practical to the point of production, as in the case of USA’s sites.
Australians, beset by the horror of extreme bushfires, can still perhaps count themselves as lucky in that, compared with wildfire regions in some countries, they do not yet have the compounding horror of radioactive contamination spread along with the ashes and smoke.
Fires in Russia have threatened its secret nuclear areas……
Many in America have long been aware of the transport danger:
The state of Nevada released a report in 2003 concluding that a steel-lead-steel cask would have failed after about six hours in the fire and a solid steel cask would have failed after about 11 to 12.5 hours. There would have been contamination over 32 square miles of the city and the contamination would have killed up to 28,000 people over 50 years.
The State of Wyoming is resisting hosting a nuclear waste dump, largely because of transportation risks as well as economic risks. In the UK, Somerset County Council rejects plans for transport of wastes through Somerset.
In the years 2016–2019, proposals for nuclear waste dumping in South Australia have been discussed by government and media as solely a South Australian concern. The present discussion about Kimba is being portrayed as just a Kimba community concern.
Yet, when the same kind of proposal was put forward in previous years, it was recognised as an issue for other states, too.
Most reporting on Australia’s bushfires has been excellent, with the exception of Murdoch media trying to downplay their seriousness. However, there has been no mention of the proximity of bushfires to Lucas Heights. As happened with the fires in 2018, this seems to be a taboo subject in the Australian media.
While it has never been a good idea to trek the Lucas Heights nuclear waste for thousands of kilometres across the continent – or halfway around it by sea – Australia’s new climate crisis has made it that much more dangerous. Is the bushfire apocalypse just a one-off? Or, more likely, is this nationwide danger the new normal? https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/transporting-nuclear-wastes-across-australia-in-the-age-of-bushfires,13465
The hazards of nuclear wastes, radioactive particles travel in smoke
Paul Waldon Fight To Stop A Nuclear Waste Dump In South Australia, 4 Jan 2020A morning smoke filled wake up call. Where smoke can go, so can radiation. Smoke is an efficient and effective host for the spread of radioactive particles, just think 2, yes two grams of cesium 137 made into micro particles (the size of a 5 cent piece) and spread as a smoke or gas over an area the size of Adelaide’s CBD would make that such area a radiation exclusion zone for a long time. Australia has a high grade nuclear waste dump at Lucas Heights and it will remain there 10 years or more after the closure of the ANSTO installation, we do not need another radioactive dump. Like a fire, one atomic dump is better than two, two dumps multiply the risks, costs and resources dealing with the hazards of nuclear translocation over 1700 kilometers. https://www.facebook.com/groups/941313402573199/ |
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Kimba nuclear waste ballot – a one-sided exercise by the Australian government
Peter Remta No Nuclear Waste Dump Anywhere in South Australia, 4 Jan 2020 I have just watched the video presentation by Kim Mavromatis and am horrified and saddened to see very sincere and hardworking people in tears over what is being imposed on their region by the federal government
In all my seventy years in Australia (I as eight years old when I arrived from Europe with my parents) I have never seen or imagined anything like this before and am extremely moved by what can be so easily cured
Having been a lawyer for most of my life and an unabashed admirer of our constitutional and administrative form of government providing stability and freedom with hardly any corruption which makes us the envy of the rest of the world I never imagined what has been done to the Kimba community under the guise of proper public administration was even remotely possible
Perhaps the foremost concern I have is that the ballots to determine the community’s acceptance of the nuclear waste facility at Kimba were carried out as a completely one-sided exercise by the government with no opportunity for any proper explanation or opposing views as would at the very least be required by natural justice which is always referred to by politicians in a most revered manner
Let me quickly say that my comments are not based on my involvement with the Azark Project at Leonora for the disposal of nuclear waste by underground burial but are motivated solely by the injustice of the situation as shown by the video and which may be accepted fare in other countries
After all it was that type of government that my parents were escaping for the freedom and security of Australia which regrettably is not exemplified in the video https://www.facebook.com/groups/1314655315214929/
Why does the Australian govt want to put nuclear waste ont Australia’s precious agricultural land?
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SAVE SA FARMLAND – KIMBA, EYRE PENINSULA :
KIMBA FARMERS AND RESIDENTS SPEAK OUT to Protect Kimba, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, their communities and future generations from Radioactive Nuclear Waste Dumps.
Scomo’s Federal Govnt Ignores it’s own Guidelines, Ignores SA law and Ignores Barngarla Aboriginal Native title holders.
Federal Govnt Bribes Contaminate Kimba Vote.
Only 4.5% of South Australia’s land is Agricultural cropping land, so why on earth does Scomo’s Federal Govnt want to dump / introduce toxic radioactive nuclear waste on Agricultural Farmland near Kimba and Lake Gilles Conservation Park ???
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Nuclear wastes- South Australia as their National Toilet? – theme for January 2020
Australia, especially South Australia, is known for its clean energy, and clean agricultural produce.
We must not let that reputation become ruined, by letting Kimba, or any other rural region, become blighted with a nuclear toilet.
The Opal nuclear reactor in Lucas Heights/ Barden Ridge, Sydney, stores its wastes relatively safely in above ground containers. There they should stay, until eventually disposed of deep underground, as close as possible to the point of production.
Australia should stop producing nuclear wastes. ANSTO’s nuclear reactor keeps producing high level toxic wastes, while they pretend it’s a medical necessity. ( only a very small percentage of isotopes produced are used in Australia’s hospitals, and of these, only a tiny few are used to treat illness). Australia already has some cyclotrons, which produce medical radioisotopes, with no need for nuclear fission.
Australia especially South Australia, can lead the world in clean energy. South Australia can lead in clean green produce.
ANSTO is lying to South Australians: nuclear medicine does NOT need a nuclear waste dump in Flinders Ranges – theme for January 2020
As health organisations, we are appalled that access to nuclear medical procedures is being used to justify the proposed nuclear waste dump. Most waste from these procedures break down quickly and can be safely disposed of either on site or locally.” − Dr Bill Williams, Medical Association for the Prevention of War
“Linking the need for a centralized radioactive waste storage facility with the production of isotopes for nuclear medicine is misleading. The production of radioactive isotopes for nuclear medicine comprises a small percentage of the output of research reactors. The majority of the waste that is produced in these facilities occurs regardless of the nuclear medicine isotope production.” − Nuclear Radiologist Dr Peter Karamoskos.
“If the plan for a [South Australian] dump is defeated, medical waste will continue to be stored at the Lucas Heights reactor site operated by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and, in much smaller volumes, at hospitals. That is no problem since ANSTO and hospitals continue to produce radioactive waste and thus they have an ongoing need for on-site waste stores and waste management expertise regardless of the options for periodic off-site disposal.” – Dr Jim Green
Pastoralists relieved that Hawker is safe from threat of nuclear waste dump. Kimba is now the nuclear lobby’s target
Attention back on Kimba as Hawker nuclear site dumped, Stock Journal
QUINTON MCCALLUM, 19 Dec 2019, A LACK of community support has prompted the federal government to scrap Hawker as a potential site for the proposed National Radioactive Waste Management Facility, with speculation turning to what the decision means for Kimba.With 52.7 per cent of ballot papers from the recent Flinders Ranges community vote not supporting a proposed nuclear waste facility at Wallerberdina Station, Resources Minister Matthew Canavan conceded there was not enough community support and he would no longer consider the site……
The decision to remove Hawker from the site shortlist has been met with relief from the region’s pastoralists.
Kate and Paul Greenfield, South Gap Station, were one of 14 stations in the region who signed and sent a united statement to Mr Canavan stating their strong opposition to any nuclear facility in the lead-up to the ballot.
They held concerns about the proposed site’s proximity to the Lake Torrens catchment and the impact of such a facility on the region’s reputation.
“I think that decision (to not consider Hawker) is incredibly wise,” Mrs Greenfield said.
“It had me perplexed that Hawker was considered as a site in the first place.
“There is a bid for world heritage status for the Flinders Ranges so I didn’t think it sat comfortably to have a nuclear waste dump right beside a world heritage site.” …..
Mr Canavan said he would make an announcement on site selection early next year, with the Napandee and Lyndhurst sites near Kimba still being considered.
While 61.6pc of Kimba residents voted in favour of a radioactive waste facility being built in their region in November, Kimba farmer and facility opponent Peter Woolford said the result was not a clear cut indication of broad community support.
“There’s a long way to go in all of this yet and I still believe they’re imposing it on the community here with nearly 40pc opposed,” he said.
“By Hawker being removed – and so it should have been – it is going to open up this debate to the thought of ‘this is bigger than Kimba’.”
Mr Woolford said the people of SA should be involved in the discussion concerning the construction of a radioactive waste facility and it would be unfair to have a small community make the final decision on a national facility of that nature.
He noted there were only 734 votes in the Kimba ballot, a “tiny proportion” of the state’s population.
“People outside of Kimba should have a say on this because it’s a national issue,” Mr Woolford said…… https://www.stockjournal.com.au/story/6550428/attention-back-on-kimba-as-hawker-nuclear-site-dumped/?cs=4894&fbclid=IwAR3Hinltp3CJXK3v2CtOw_TJPtU5fYlIxY2bTGCAVlwfct1WL6vC_CasJBU
Questions on the research and legal help given to men who offered their land for nuclear waste dump
Are the land owners who nominated their properties at Kimba for the radioactive waste management facility fully aware of and sought independent technical advice on all aspects of the selection and development of the facility I understand that their surnames are Rayner and Baldock and are they prepared to disclose the nature and result of any independent advice that they may have obtained Can they explain why they are getting legal advice and whether any outside source is meeting Or contributing towards the cost of that advice Will they agree to the Kimba community having access to their respective nominations Were they given any assistance by any government persons in completing their nominations Finally has the Kimba District Council itself sought any proper technical advice independent of the federal government in its various capacities as to the government’s proposals for safeguarding the rights of the Kimba community If not why was this not done because of the importance of this issue and the legal obligations of the Council and its councillors to ensure that the population of Kimba is fully and properly protected This surely should have been done as part of the Council as respondent to the Barngarla application to the federal court I am rather intrigued by this personally and should add that I have been asked for the same information by the various politicians with whom I have been discussing then South Australian situation in the context of the Azark Project at Leonora https://www.facebook.com/groups/941313402573199/ |
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In fealty to the global nuclear industry, the Liberals line up the nuclear dump site, amendments to law, deepwater port
1. Kimba = ‘Napandee’ to be announced by Canavan as the National radioactive Suppository in January;
2. Very shortly, ANSTO & ARPANSA will say that they 
cannot implement the recommendations from the nuclear energy select committee unless the Environment Conservation & Biodiversity Act is amended ~ so the Libs will attempt to cripple that legislation. Once they achieve that, then
3. This deep water port connected by rail to Kimba will allow not only the shipment of Australian, but also the importation of international waste……
Through connection to the national rail and road network, Cape Hardy will become an internationally significant intermodal hub for agriculture, mining, and energy investment that can drive the region’s economy into the next century.
https://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/mccormack/media-release/25-million-support-cape-hardy-port-precinct?utm_source=miragenews&utm_medium=miragenews&utm_campaign=news
In the rush to get a nuclear waste dump site, the Dept of Industry, Innovation and Science has ignored the transport dangers
Paul Waldon No Nuclear Waste Dump Anywhere in South Australia, 16 Dec 19
The lack of consultation regarding determination of transport routes and availability of resources, training, and infrastructure for emergency preparedness, response, and risk management for potential incidents during shipment only shows the DIIS has yet put the nuclear cart before the horse in their rush to secure a radioactive dump within a non compatible environment. more https://www.facebook.com/groups/1314655315214929/
Relief for Flinders Ranges as Minister Matt Canavan scraps nuclear waste plans for Wallerberdina
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Nuclear waste plans for Wallerberdina Station in Flinders Ranges scrapped after community ballot, ABC North and West SA
By Gary-Jon Lysaght , Angela Smallacombe and Shannon Corvo 13 Dec 19, The Flinders Ranges will no longer be considered a potential site for a nuclear waste facility.
Key points:
The Federal Government was considering Wallerberdina Station, near Hawker, for a facility that would permanently store low-level nuclear waste and temporarily store intermediate-level waste. Hawker, along with other Flinders Ranges communities were given the opportunity to vote on whether they supported the facility. That ballot showed 454 votes opposing the facility and 408 supporting it. That represented a 52-48 split. “While the community ballot was just one of many measures I am considering, I have said that achieving at least a majority level of support was a necessary condition to achieving broad community support,” Resources Minister Matt Canavan said.
“I especially want to thank the communities of Hawker and Quorn for their patience and resilience through this process. They are a fantastic community that I have had the privilege to know better through this process.” ‘The result we were hoping for’ Greg Bannon lives at Quorn and has been a vocal opponent of the facility for the past four years. He said it was a “huge relief” the facility would not go ahead near Hawker. “It puts an end to four years of argument and debate and trying to make the case to preserve the Flinders Ranges,” he said. “It’s been a long process but in the end, we got the result we were hoping to.
“We’ve always said that the process was wrong, that it’s not fair to do this, to make one small community make the decision for the whole of Australia’s nuclear waste.”……. Kimba votes in favour The Flinders Ranges was only one of two sites being considered for the facility.The other one was Kimba, on the Eyre Peninsula. That town had a similar ballot, which found more than 60 per cent of voters were in favour of the facility going ahead. Mr Canavan said a final decision on where the facility would go would be made in 2020.
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Residents vote against nuclear waste dump near Hawker in South Australia
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Residents vote against nuclear waste dump near Hawker in South Australia
Green groups say 52% vote against federal government facility should rule out region as potential site, Guardian, Australian Associated Press, Thu 12 Dec 2019 Residents in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges have voted narrowly against having a nuclear waste dump in their region.About 52% of the people who took part in the ballot voted against the federal government’s facility being established on land near Hawker. The result came after a similar poll of residents on SA’s Eyre Peninsula voted almost 62% in favour of the dump being built on one of two sites near Kimba. The federal government is yet to respond to the poll, but environmental groups said it should rule out the Flinders Ranges as a potential dump site. Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner Dave Sweeney said the result came amid clear opposition from regional pastoralists and the area’s native title holders. “There is no broad community support for a national radioactive waste facility in the Flinders Ranges,” Sweeney said. The Friends of the Earth said it was time for the federal government to abandon the dump plan altogether. “The government has previously stated that 65% would be a figure that would indicate the broad community support they need to select a site,” spokeswoman Mara Bonacci said. “These ballot results show that the minister does not have that support.”…… The community ballots are not binding on the government, which has promised to provide financial incentives to the community around the selected site. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/12/residents-vote-against-nuclear-waste-dump-near-hawker-in-south-australia |
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1.This month
For international nuclear news go to https://nuclear-news.net/
EVENTS
more at Action Australia
Nuclear Waste in Australia – theme for January 2020
They haven’t given up on the plan for rural South Australia to become the world’s nuclear toilet.
Victorian Government INQUIRY INTO NUCLEAR PROHIBITIONThe submission closing date is Friday 28 February 2020. more – https://antinuclear.net/2019/11/07/victorian-government-inquiry-into-nuclear-prohibition/
Free Julian Assange, before it’s too late. Sign to STOP the USA Extradition
FEDERAL. Inquiry into the prerequisites for nuclear energy in Australia Read the published submissions on the Parliamentary website. Read the SUMMARIES of submissions here.
