Labor-Coalition plan to build a nuclear waste dump “somewhere” in an earthquake zone
21 November 2012. A new earthquake hazards map produced by Geoscience Australia reveals Tennant Creek – near the proposed site for a nuclear waste dump – is an area of high earthquake risk. Report: http://www.ga.gov.au/earthquakes/
Following revelations that an alternative site for the waste dump was under active consideration, Australian Greens spokesperson for nuclear policy Senator Scott Ludlam noted the Federal Government appeared increasingly desperate on the issue.
“The Government is now scrambling to solve a mess of its own creation, repeating the same errors as before. Parking Australia’s radioactive waste on Muckaty station, far from centres of technical expertise and against the wishes of local people, that’s bad enough. Doing it in an earthquake zone compounds the offence.
“What we need is an independent commission with the technical expertise to find a world’s best standard solution for Australia’s inventory of radioactive waste. What we’re getting is a shed with two security guards, stuck on a site chosen by politicians – which happens to be in an earthquake zone.”
Senator Ludlam today put extensive questions through the Senate to Minister Martin Ferguson on what consultation is underway for selecting an alternative site: http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/questions-notice/questions-relating-site-selection-nuclear-waste
Senator Ludlam’s speech yesterday asking why questions asked one month earlier had not been answered: http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/speeches-parliament/unanswered-questions-notice-regarding-muckaty-nuclear-waste-dump And answers received today: http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/sites/default/files/sqon2389_answer.pdf
A searchlight in the Senate, into the Government’s Muckaty nuclear waste dump mess
The vast majority of people on the Muckaty Land Trust who are signatories, and their families, remain not only unpersuaded but implacably opposed. Does the government really think that the same factors will not come into play if another site is chosen in the same earthquake zone that has been the site of so much contest and division between family members since this nomination first came to light-a place where several of the same groups of traditional owners have the same interlocking ownership and the same say over country due to overlapping songlines and stories? All of the same problems will follow the dump if the government tries to simply move it 10 or 20 kilometres in one direction or another. It 
must know that.
Unanswered questions on notice regarding Muckaty nuclear waste dump, http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/speeches-parliament/unanswered-questions-notice-regarding-muckaty-nuclear-waste-dump
Senate transcript, 19 Nov 2012 “…..Senator LUDLAM: I will put some brief remarks on the record as to why I am bringing this forward now… I have sought explanation for these unanswered questions on notice because several of them pertain to time-sensitive matters.
Question No. 2389 included questions about the status of the tender process for the concept design of a national radioactive waste facility. The question also put to the minister whether the department had any dialogue or provided briefings to the new Northern Territory government or its agencies regarding the location of a national radioactive waste facility at Muckaty. Particularly importantly, the question asked: has the department had any dialogue with any stakeholders over the potential for a further site nomination, either within the Muckaty Land Trust area or in any other region of the Northern Territory or elsewhere?
At successive budget estimates hearings I have put precisely that question to officers from DRET: are you looking at an alternative site? We know that the government is in serious trouble with the existing Muckaty nomination that is now five or six years old. We have been warning the government, from the time that it was proposed in the late years of the Howard government to the time that it was taken up by Minister Martin Ferguson of the Rudd and then Gillard governments, that the government has gone the wrong way and that this proposal would fail. I believe what we are seeing now are some signs that the government realises its proposals for the Muckaty radioactive waste dump is going nowhere. Continue reading
Lynas has applied to Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) to import radioactive waste
Lynas: People before corporate greed, who will pay the TOL? Concerned Sydney activists in support of Malaysians are gathering at Lynas Corporations head office on Pitt St in Sydney’s CBD at 12:30pm today, to express their dissent over the companies plan to export rare earths to Malaysia for processing.
Lynas Corporation has recently received a two year temporary operations license (TOL) from the Malaysian Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB), as of the 5th of September. This is an issue of significance to Australians, as the ore to be processed at the plant will come from Mount Weld rare earths deposit in Western Australia. The Lynas Applied Materials Plant (LAMP) hasn’t even submitted an environmental impact assessment to begin operations of one of the worlds largest rare earth refineriery located on the east coast of Malaysia in the Pahang state at Gebeng, Kuantan.
Tully McIntyre from Friends of the Earth stated “Lynas plans to export 22,000 tonnes of ore annually to Malaysia for processing, which risks polluting important mangrove coastal ecosystem and major sources of livelihoods for local people in Malaysia. There are well over 700,000 people living in a 30 km radius of LAMP.”
“These people were not consulted about the refinery, or a proper environmental impact statement carried out for LAMP.”
The Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia stated last week Lynas had submitted an application to Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) to import waste back to Australia, if so Australians are wondering where it would be stored.
Miss McIntyre went on to say “Australian activists are calling for more stringent research to be carried out in Australia and abroad before proceeding further, Malaysians do not want LAMP and an Australian company should not be forcing the project on an unwilling international community. The campaign against Lynas in Malaysia is the biggest environmental campaign in Malaysian history. Australian activists will remain to show strong support with the Malaysians to stop Lynas exporting this toxic legacy.”
Greens MP Jamie Parker NSW will address the concerned activist at the lunch time protest.
For more information or media comment contact: Tully McIntyre (Friends of the Earth, Melbourne) 0410 388 187 Peter Boyle (Malaysian activist) 0401 760 577
Lynas wants Western Australia to overturn law against importing radioactive wastes
Lynas left holding the baby, Aliran, 14 September 2012 If Lynas Corporation thinks that Western Australia will take its radioactive waste, it can think again, asserts Robin Chapple. Lynas has now submitted an application to the regulator, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), to import radioactive waste from Malaysia,” an Australian High Commission spokesman told The Malaysian Insider today.
This revelation beggars belief as just a few days ago a two-year temporary licence to operate was granted to Lynas, who intend to ship radioactive ores through Fremantle Port to export them to their plant in Malaysia, now seem to be asserting that they should be able to import the wastes of those ores back onto Australian soil.
Malaysia’s nuclear regulator Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) had said that the Australian miner was legally bound to remove radioactive waste from its Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) and return the residue to Australia under conditions of the temporary operating licence.
However, this news flies in the face of Australian government policy, and indeed Western Australian legislation, which asserts that Australia does not accept or import radioactive waste from other countries.
Robin Chapple MLC, Greens spokesperson for Mining Issues, commented on Lynas’ recent move: “It seems that again Lynas thinks it is outside the law as it is operating in Malaysia, and may be subject to less rigorous legal scrutiny. Well, it isn’t, and if it thinks that Western Australia will take this radioactive waste, it can think again.
“It didn’t consult with community on shipping its radioactive ores through Fremantle port, and it certainly hasn’t consulted on shipping back the radioactive waste. The WA Nuclear Waste Storage (Prohibition) Act 1999 prohibits it here. Period!
But really, you have to laugh. Lynas has now been tripped up by its own lack of willingness to take heed of Australia’s expectations with respect to sustainable mining and environmental, social and legal standards, and hasn’t it got it’s come-uppance. Talk about being left holding the baby!… http://aliran.com/10198.html
Rally opposing Sydney’s Hunters Hill radioactive waste going to residential suburbs
Fallout spreads from uranium waste dumping plan http://parramatta-advertiser.whereilive.com.au/news/story/fallout-spreads-from-uranium-waste-dumping-plan/ 29 AUG 12 BY ELIAS JAHSHAN AROUND 200 residents attended a rally at Lidcombe’s Remembrance Park last Saturday to protest the NSW government’s plans to transfer radioactive waste from an old Hunters Hill radium smelter to residential areas, including a facility at Lidcombe.
The rally was organised by the Auburn Asian Welfare Centre and Soka Gakkai International Australia, a Buddhist and non-government organisation.
A spokeswoman from SGI Australia said waste products from at least 500 tonnes of uranium ore processed at the former Hunters Hill smelter remained in the soil, and will be sent to the Office of Environment and Heritage-owned facility at Joseph St, Lidcombe.
At the rally, Monash University environmental engineer Gavin Mudd acknowledged that radioactive waste needed to be removed from Hunters Hill, but said the problem was a lack of transparency in the plans to dispose of the contaminated soil.
Dr Mudd believed the best place for that waste was the Australian Nuclear Research and Development Organisation facility at Lucas Heights.
“The best place is not Kemps Creek, and it’s not (Lidcombe),” he added.
Lucas Heights is prohibited by law from accepting anything other than Commonwealth waste. Dr Mudd said the soil from Hunters Hill would be classed as state-owned waste.
“Politicians can change legislation quickly when the will is there,” he said. THE STORY SO FAR
– The state government wants to rehabilitate and sell the land at the Hunters Hill uranium smelter site, which closed in 1915.
– Contaminated soil waste is to be transferred to a Lidcombe facility.
– November 2011: Auburn Council unanimously votes to become a nuclear-free zone, but state government can still override this vote.
– February: Auburn RSL delivers 1000 signatures for a petition against the plans.
– March: Rally held at Auburn Town Hall.
How the ALP government betrayed Australians on Muckaty nuclear waste dump plan
The first thing that happened subsequent to the Rudd Government taking office after the 2007 election was that radioactive waste management issues were mysteriously taken out of the science portfolio, where they had been right through the period of the Howard government and well before, and given to Martin Ferguson in the resources and industry portfolio. To transfer radioactive waste management from the science portfolio to the resources portfolio was to give it to somebody with absolutely no expertise, no subtlety and no willingness to follow through with the ALP’s election commitment.
THIS LAND IS NOT NOWHERE; THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT NO-ONE, Right Now, By Scott Ludlam , 13 Aug 12, This article is part of our August theme, which focuses on the environment and human rights. Read more articles on this theme.
The government is attempting to force a nuclear waste facility on to Muckaty Station, a cattle station 120 kilometres from Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, in direct violation of the commitments the ALP made in the run-up to the 2007 election. The proposal is strongly contested and the subject of a Federal Court challenge in which Traditional Owners argue they were not consulted by the Northern Land Council. They also argue that the proposed site is not one the Commonwealth can negotiate with one group of Owners given that at least five groups have interconnected and interwoven responsibility there. Matters do not reach the Federal Court on a whim; the Muckaty case goes to the heart of respect for Aboriginal land rights, and whether Australia will violate the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that prohibits storage of disposal of hazardous materials in the lands or territories of indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed consent……
[In 2005] the ALP condemned the nuclear dump legislation, with MPs and Senators accurately describing it as extreme, arrogant, heavy-handed, draconian, sorry, sordid, extraordinary and profoundly shameful. The ALP took a very clear and unequivocal position on this issue into the closing months of the 2007 election campaign.
The failure of the Committee to visit Muckaty or hold a hearing in Tennant Creek undermines the accuracy of claims about the process engaging all stakeholders.
The party’s platform of that time reflected that Labor was “committed to a responsible, mature and international best practice approach to radioactive waste management in Australia” and would “establish a process for identifying suitable sites that is scientific, transparent, accountable, fair and allows access to appeal mechanisms.” There was also a commitment to “international best practice scientific processes to underpin Australia’s radioactive waste management, including transportation and storage.”
That clear and sound position taken by the ALP makes their actions in office all the more bitterly disappointing. Continue reading
Minister Martin Ferguson making radioactive waste policy on the run
Waste dump tender is ‘putting the radioactive cart before the horse’. Calling for tender to design a remote radioactive waste facility while the only proposed site is under federal court challenge is putting the radioactive cart before the horse, the Beyond Nuclear Initiative (BNI) has said today.
BNI coordinator Natalie Wasley said “The only site federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson has indicated he intends to pursue for a national radioactive waste dump- Muckaty, 120km north of Tennant Creek in the NT- is subject to a federal court challenge and ongoing community challenge. The NT government is strongly opposed and trade unions, environment and health groups across the country have committed to stand up and stop the Muckaty proposal”.
“The Minister is making radioactive policy on the run, based on a political assumption that a remote site is needed and a miscalculation that people living nearby or culturally connected to those areas do not have the determination or capacity to defeat this proposal,” Ms Wasley added. Continue reading
Government calls for nuclear dump designs http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-08/nuclear-waste-dump-design-out-to-tender/4186010 August 08, 2012 The Federal Government has released a tender calling for concept designs for Australia’s first radioactive nuclear waste dump. The Government has previously announced its preferred site for the dump is on Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory, about 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek.
The tender says the concept design will be appropriate for a site in arid to semi-arid areas of Australia. It says the facility should be designed to accommodate waste for at least 100 years, and equipment at the site may be required to
repackage the radioactive waste.
Nat Wasley from the Beyond Nuclear Initiative is campaigning against the dump. Ms Wasley did not know the tender was being released. “It came as quite a surprise, but once again it’s an indication of the completely secretive and very un-transparent [sic] process that the Government’s been using,” she said. Submissions for the tender close in September.
Nuclear waste dump plan should be taken off the table before it goes off the rails.
by Cat Beaton and Natalie Wasley, 8 June 12, National and Northern Territory environment groups have called for an end to controversial plans to transport radioactive waste through the NT following another freight train derailment yesterday north of Tennant Creek. The Environment Centre NT, Arid Lands Environment Centre and Beyond Nuclear Initiative have said the latest accident highlights the risks and the lack of emergency response capacity associated with radioactive transport.
“The Territory is staring down the barrel of some major toxic transport projects including the proposed radioactive waste dump at Muckaty and the transport of copper concentrate and yellowcake from BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam mine in South Australia, along with possible uranium shipments from future mine sites in WA”, said the NT Environment Centre’s Cat Beaton. “Understandably the NT community is increasingly concerned by these plans and the growing transport threats, which are increased by the Territory’s extreme weather conditions. ”
At a forum in Darwin last week, United Voice secretary Matthew Gardiner highlighted the limited services available to respond to incidents involving radioactive waste. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has also said it could do little to safeguard against future train derailments (NT News June 4, 2011) following the Edith River copper concentrate accident in December 2011.
The Northern Territory Government has expressed deep concerns over the NT’s capacity to deal with any such event stating: “There is very limited capacity within the Northern Territory hospital network outside of Darwin to respond to any radioactive waste incident or accident” (NT Government submission to 2010 Senate Inquiry)
“The transport of radioactive material is a weak link in the government’s dump plan and is emerging as a real and serious threat to the Territory’s environment and people,” said Natalie Wasley from the Beyond Nuclear Initiative. “It is time for the federal government to listen to Traditional Owners and the NT community and stop pushing ahead with the Muckaty dump plan”.
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) joins opposition to Muckaty nuclear waste dump plan
“Today the unions passed this motion in Sydney and next week the community is holding a protest in Tennant Creek to mark five years since Muckaty was nominated as the possible waste dump. It is time that the government listened to all the Traditional Owners because we are not going to stop until they stop”.
Trade union support strengthens NT nuclear waste dump campaign Muckaty Traditional Owners have welcomed news that Australia’s peak trade union body, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, has today committed to actively support the campaign against a proposed radioactive waste dump at Muckaty, 120km north of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.
The ACTU National Congress unanimously passed a motion (full text below) expressing ‘disappointment that the highly contested Muckaty Land Trust site will continue to be pursued’ and agreeing to stand ‘in solidarity with Traditional Owners and communities resisting federal government plans for a radioactive waste dump’.
The move comes as a further blow to plans by Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson to advance the highly contested waste dump site at Muckaty. Recent legislation, the National Radioactive Waste Management Act (NRWMA), names Muckaty as the only site to be further assessed for a national radioactive dump and allows the Minister to override any state or territory law that would hinder the dump being built, but the plan faces growing political, legal and community challenge. Continue reading
The best nuclear waste action: Lucas Heights interim storage plus Independent Inquiry
The government’s newly-announced “Sydney solution” is not ideal but, if coupled with an independent inquiry, it is sensible.
Interim storage at Lucas Heights could be the spur for a genuine and credible independent inquiry into how best to manage our radioactive waste.
Proactive debate could cool radioactive waste http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/proactive-debate-could-cool-radioactive-waste/story-e6frezz0-1226355138854 Ian Lowe The Daily Telegraph May 15, 2012 ALL nuclear activities generate radioactive waste. As a younger man I worked on the physical problems of nuclear fuel and for more than 40 years I have watched the technical problems of waste management and deepening community concern.
Australia generates radioactive waste. If you include the massive amounts of radioactive tailings produced by uranium mining, the volume is staggering. The proposed Roxby Downs expansion will, if it goes ahead, create a vast toxic legacy and pollute a huge area.
If you ignore uranium mining, the volume of radioactive waste is more modest but the threat posed by the material is not. It remains hazardous to people and the environment for thousands of years.
Recently the federal government announced some of Australia’s long-lived radioactive waste currently being treated in Europe would return to Australia in a few years. Continue reading
Sutherland Shire Mayor the last to be told of nuclear waste plan
from our Sutherland Shire correspondent , 2 May 12, ANSTO did not even bother to let the local council, Sutherland Shire Council , know this was occurring [ ABC Illawarra , 97.3fm, 2.5.2012 , 7.36 to 7.40am , Peter Reily, breakfast announcer and Station Manager]. Naturally , this basic lack of common decency and lack of professional coutesy , boardering on arragoncy, did not go down well with the Mayor. She vowed to let ANSTO have a piece of her mind today at a hastily arranged meeting .
Australia should not be involved in any aspect of the nuclear cycle ; yet if we are ,ANSTO and government policy should be consultative and up-front with all members of community before we are forced to consider the policy with the nuclear waste on its way back to us.
This is the problem with this industry : some profit , while the rest of the community pays the price.
No nuclear waste store for Shire, says mayor, SMH, Matthew Moore, David Wroe May 2, 2012 SUTHERLAND Shire Council says a ”people power” campaign by residents might be the only way to stop plans by the nuclear agency to build a nuclear waste storage facility at Lucas Heights….. ANSTO said it wants to build an interim facility to store about 13 cubic metres of waste from 2015 until 2020 while a permanent facility is built, because Australia is required to repatriate its waste under the terms of an agreement made when it sent the material overseas…
. Thefederal government passed legislation earlier this year to set up a single nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory. Its preferred site is Muckaty Station, a former cattle station that is now Aboriginal freehold land under control of the Northern Land Council. However the site’s use is strongly opposed by green groups and faces a
Federal Court challenge by local Aborigines.
The temporary storage of the waste in Sydney has been welcomed by Greens and anti-nuclear campaigners. Greens senator Scott Ludlam described it a sensible way to store the waste while a longer-term solution could be found, pointing out that the Lucas Heights site already stored about 15 times as much radioactive waste. : http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/no-nuclear-waste-store-for-shire-says-mayor-20120501-1xx6w.html#ixzz1tkDWwgEQ
ANSTO radioactive waste application more responsible option then remote dump plan
1 May 12, The Beyond Nuclear Initiative (BNI) has cautiously welcomed news today that the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) will apply to build an interim storage facility at Lucas Heights for radioactive waste due to return from overseas reprocessing.
BNI coordinator Natalie Wasley says the application shows Minister Martin Ferguson’s current push for a remote dump on the Muckaty Land Trust in the NT is losing ground and that interim storage at Lucas Heights is a better option while a comprehensive and long-term management plan is considered. Continue reading
Australia obliged to take back Lucas Heights nuclear waste – it will go to Lucas Heights
The Australian Greens want to close the Lucas Heights reactor and ban the import and export of nuclear waste …...
Nuclear waste will be stored in Sydney at Lucas Heights BY: IMRE SALUSINSZKY, NSW POLITICAL REPORTER The Australian May 01, 2012 NUCLEAR waste due to boomerang back to Australia in 2015 will be stored in metropolitan Sydney, after decades of political dithering over a national radioactive waste repository in the outback.
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation will today launch its application for a licence to build an 800 sq m interim warehouse on the premises of the research reactor at Lucas Heights, which has generated the waste during the 50 years of its operation. Continue reading
Australian company Lynas has ‘no concrete radioactive waste management plan’
Unlike the Lynas plant, the other three refineries’ radioactive wastes are sent back to the respective mines.
“Lynas has no concrete radioactive waste management plan. Lynas claims it can store its waste onsite forever.
The Lynas plant, she added, would have 500 tonnes of liquid discharge per hour channelled into the Balok River.
Lynas whitewashing refinery safety concerns, says Fuziah, The Malaysian Insider, By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal April 16, 2012 KUALA LUMPUR, — PKR’s Fuziah Salleh has accused Lynas Corp of whitewashing safety concerns of its planned refinery in Kuantan by claiming there is a “concerted political campaign” against the plant’s construction,
In response, Fuziah accused the Lynas Corp head of “deviating” from the real issue of safety, saying that a simple
comparative study showed the Lynas refinery did not support any form of “sustainable development.”
“They are not addressing concerns of safety, whitewashing safety concerns, silent about safety issues. “They have only addressed radiation aspects, external radiation… they are narrow-minded in terms of perspective of radiation,” the PKR
vice-president told The Malaysian Insider. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
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