Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items

Nuclear waste dump on farming land? NOT A DONE DEAL!

Barb Walker Fight To Stop A Nuclear Waste Dump In South Australia, 1 Feb 2020

THIS IS NOT A DONE DEAL!!! A site has been selected but the process is FAR FROM OVER!!!

The whole state of South Australia needs to get behind our KIMBA FARMERS and say, SOUTH AUSTRALIA IS TOO GOOD TO WASTE!!!

KIMBA IS PART OF A HUGE GRAIN GROWING FOOD BOWL – NOT A PLACE FOR A NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP!!!

Please come and join the bus-loads of people coming from all over the Eyre Peninsula and SA regions tomorrow: KIMBA RALLY tomorrow Sunday 2nd Feb, at 11am.

SAY NO TO A NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP IN KIMBA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Please contact South Australia’s Premier, Steven Marshall, and remind him that under our South Australian state legislation we have a PROHIBITION ACT AGAINST THE STORAGE OF NUCLEAR WASTE !!!

https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/…/NUCLEAR%20WASTE…
LEGISLATION.SA.GOV.AU
South Australian Legislation   https://www.facebook.com/groups/941313402573199

February 1, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump | Leave a comment

A questionable vagueness about the federal govt’s nuclear waste plan for Kimba

Mark Simpkin   Fight To Stop A Nuclear Waste Dump In South Australia 1 Feb 2020, Once again smelly. Without fair balanced consultation with the community, disallowing all stockholders to participate in the ballot, there’s a questionable vagueness of what this dump will entail in terms of its storage of intermediate / high level waste.

When Rowan Ramsay (Kimba’s local federal member) was interview by Peter Goers on ABC Radio, no indication of the proximity of Rowan Ramsey’s own land to the dump site, little mention that land owners can NAME THEIR OWN PRICE for the land with no government oversight . 

Finally our own state Liberal government allowed this to run its course with full knowledge of our existing laws that were established to prevent this and to top it all, this announcement at a time when the countries attention and grief is for the bushfires speaks volumes of the nature and character of these individuals. Poor form.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/941313402573199/

February 1, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump | Leave a comment

Dodgy #ScottyFromMarketing govt process for Kimba nuclear waste dump needs investigation

Kim Mavromatis Fight To Stop A Nuclear Waste Dump In South Australia, 30 Jan 2020 
INVESTIGATION NEEDED ON DODGY SCOMO FED GOVT NUKE WASTE DUMPS PROCESS – COMMUNITIES UNDER SIEGE
The best way to describe the process is “Dodgy”. If a nuclear waste accident occurs, it’s likely to be catastrophic for the region and South Australia.
1. Why Dump Nuke Waste on SA Farmland?
2. Traditional Owners Excluded from vote?
3. 99.999% of South Australians were Excluded from the vote?
4. Aust Regulator Guidelines Ignored?
5. Fed Govt Ignore SA Law?
6. Where did the $55 million go?
7. Only 4.5% of SA is Agricultural farmland?
8. “Intermediate” really High Level Nuke Waste, to be transported to dumpsite?
9. Nothing scientific about site selection?
10. SA Citizens Jury already said NO?
ONLY 4.5% OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA IS AGRICULTURAL CROPPING LAND
Only 4.5% of South Australia’s land is Agricultural cropping land – so why on earth does Scomo’s Federal govt want to dump / introduce toxic radioactive nuclear waste on Agricultural Farmland near Kimba and Lake Gilles Conservation Park, which has an Export income for Kimba farmers of up to $80 million per year? And $778 million income for Eyre Peninsula farmers (Source : 18/19 RDA Whyalla and EP Report).
BARNGARLA TRADITIONAL OWNERS EXCLUDED FROM COMMUNITY VOTE
The sneaky way the Fed Govt has gone about excluding the Barngarla Native Title Holders from the Kimba Radioactive Nuclear Waste Dump ballot process, will inform the govt in the future of ways to get around the native title holders (to keep them from a vote), so not only has this process ramifications for the Barngarla people, but for all of Australia’s Aboriginal people.
So Barngarla had their own vote – with a Unanimous No vote against establishing the nuclear waste dumps on their traditional lands. The combined Kimba and Barngarla vote: 452 Yes from 1,033 Eligible voters “43.75%” (Yes vote), does not constitute broad community support.
99.999% OF SOUTH AUSTRALIANS WERE EXCLUDED FROM THE VOTE
Only Kimba Council were eligible to vote in the Dodgy process – the rest of South Australia as well as the traditional owners of the region were excluded from the vote.
FEDERAL GOVNT IGNORES IT’S OWN GUIDELINES AND IGNORES SA LAWS
Why has Scomo’s Federal Govt ignored ARPANSA guidelines and Site Selection Criteria, which state 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???
TRANSPORT ACCIDENT COVERUP
To transport the High-Level Radioactive Waste (ANSTO and Fed Govt classify as Intermediate) 1,700 kms from Lucas Heights via road, ship, rail? to Kimba, is irresponsible. The govt have stated that there’s never been a nuclear material transport accident in Aust – but there has been, and the people affected were treated badly and many died of cancers. Accidents do happen. Watch the film “Nuclear Waste Crash COVERUP – Poisoned Police Speak Out “
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL NUCLEAR WASTE IS REALLY HIGH LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE
ANSTO and the Fed Govt state that spent nuclear fuel from the Lucas Heights reactor is Intermediate Level Nuclear Waste – but it’s really High Level Radioactive Waste. And radioactive waste from reprocessed spent nuclear fuel that is returned to Australia from France, is classified as high level radioactive waste until it’s unloaded on our shores. The proposed site at Kimba and SA will end up with a High Level Radioactive Waste Dump disguised as Intermediate level waste. And if the govt gets away with this, it will open the door to an International High Level Radioactive Nuclear Waste Dump in our backyard. The Citizens Jury (2016) have already said NO to a high level radioactive waste dump in SA.
DEFINITION OF HIGH LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE
High-Level Radioactive Waste (HLW) is produced from the burning of uranium fuel in nuclear power reactors. It is of two kinds:
1) Spent nuclear fuel.
2) Waste resulting from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.
Due to its high radioactivity and very long half-life, HLW has to be well contained and isolated from the human environment.
(Source : IAEA International Atomic Energy Assoc)
RADIOACTIVE WASTE 10,000 X MORE RADIOACTIVE THAN URANIUM ORE
Even after 30 years, spent nuclear fuel from nuclear reactors is still 10,000 times more radioactive than uranium ore. And the waste that is shipped back to Australia from France from the reprocessed spent nuclear fuel, still contains 95% of the radioactivity.
(Source : Nuclear Waste Management Org , Canada : https://www.nwmo.ca )
SITE SELECTION
All 3 proposed sites are in the electorate of Grey (Flinders now removed). There was nothing scientific about the proposed sites selection. Even though ARPANSA (the Aust Nuclear regulator) have site specific requirements, the Fed govt took nominations from anyone – didn’t matter how suitable the property was. At Kimba, farmland owners simply nominated their properties – with no need to consult neighbours, Aboriginal traditional owners, councils, or anyone else. The Fed Govt will pay 4x what the property owner thinks their property is worth ($millions). For the first 12 months of the process, the Fed govt (and the media) only mentioned the permanent low level nuclear waste dump – no mention of the Intermediate (actually high level) radioactive nuclear waste that is also going to be temporarily dumped at the site for up to 100 years. The farmland to be acquired by the commonwealth has also now grown to 160 hectares. And once acquired, all rights by local and state govt authorities will cease to exist.

 

 

January 30, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump | Leave a comment

New short films show the shocking impact of nuclear waste plan on the Kimba community

Kimba community members speak on nuclear debate https://www.eyretribune.com.au/story/6575440/impact-of-nuclear-debate-laid-bare/?cs=1447&fbclid=IwAR1sYioMafIAlkSpKux4TzeSUGyD6LZB2vy6jvILE2J90rN_CeWVMjS5IHc, Rachel McDonald 10 Jan 2020,

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.

“The people that are fighting back really need to be heard.”

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.

January 14, 2020 Posted by | Federal nuclear waste dump, South Australia | Leave a comment

Scandalous that the Australian government plans a nuclear waste dump on our precious, scarce, agricultural land

Kim Mavromatis Nuclear Fuel Cycle Watch Australia 14 Jan 2020, Why on 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 you know that only 4.5% of South Australia’s land is Agricultural cropping land – 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 – which has an Export income for Kimba farmers of up to $80 million per year? And $778 million income for Eyre Peninsula farmers (18/19 RDA Whyalla and EP Report) ???????

January 14, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump | Leave a comment

When traditional Aboriginal owners are included in the vote, support for Kimba nuclear waste dump drops to 43%

Kim Mavromatis   Fight To Stop A Nuclear Waste Dump In South Australia
KIMBA AND BARNGARLA SEPARATE VOTE COMBINED : “YES” 43.75% .
Scomo’s Fed Govnt Radioactive Nuclear Waste Dumps process excluded Barngarla traditional owners from the Kimba ballot – so Barngarla organized their own independent vote and this is the combined Broad Community Support Yes Vote %.
Barngarla traditional owners and Kimba Farmers Speak out – watch these short films :
“Barngarla Speak Out” : vimeo.com/382855709
“SAVE SA Farmland – Kimba, Eyre Peninsula” : vimeo.com/381938156

January 13, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump, politics | Leave a comment

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

January 9, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, Federal nuclear waste dump, safety | Leave a comment

The hazards of nuclear wastes, radioactive particles travel in smoke

January 4, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump | Leave a comment

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/

January 4, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump | Leave a comment

Why does the Australian govt want to put nuclear waste ont Australia’s precious agricultural land?

January 1, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump | Leave a comment

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

December 21, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump | Leave a comment

Questions on the research and legal help given to men who offered their land for nuclear waste dump

December 19, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump | Leave a comment

In fealty to the global nuclear industry, the Liberals line up the nuclear dump site, amendments to law, deepwater port

Tim Bickmore shared a post. 16 Dec 19
 The lame ducks are now aligning:

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……

Infrastructure Minister Michael McCormack has announced $25.6 million today to support the development of a multi-commodity deepwater port at Cape Hardy in Eyre Peninsula.
Cape Hardy is an approved multi-commodity port that will enable multiple industries to share infrastructure, resources and other costs, reducing duplication and increasing global competitiveness.

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

December 16, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump, politics | Leave a comment

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/

December 16, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump | Leave a comment

Relief for Flinders Ranges as Minister Matt Canavan scraps nuclear waste plans for Wallerberdina

December 14, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump | Leave a comment