Iluka Resources to subdivide West Victoria land with radioactive trash tomb
Miner Iluka Resources gets Horsham Council approval to subdivide Douglas mine land http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-04/miner-iluka-gets-nod-to-subdivide-douglas-mine-land/6910420 Horsham Council has approved an Iluka Resources’ application to subdivide land at its Douglas mine in western Victoria.
The approval is subject to a range of planning and environmental conditions.
“The mineral sands miner said it did not need some parts of the site, including Pit 19 where radioactive mining by-product was buried.
The council’s planning committee has been reviewing the application for the past month and it has now been approved with conditions. Future activities on the land deemed sensitive will trigger an environmental audit and previous use of the land would be disclosed to any future buyer.
The conditions require a plan which clearly outlines land previously used for mining purposes and the disposal of radioactive by-product.
Australian media continues to confuse return of Lucas Heights wastes with plan to import world’s radioactive trash
Why does the media continue to confuse the return of nuclear waste to Lucas Heights (permitted due to contracts, in Australian law) with the ill conceived plan to invite the world’s radioactive trash in, as a supposedly $squillion dollar industry – (which is illegal in Australia)
WA site ‘ideal’ for nuclear dump https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/29976367/wa-site-ideal-for-nuclear-dump/ Andrew Probyn | Federal Political Editor | Canberra November 3, 2015, The man behind WA’s only short-listed site for a radioactive waste dump says the mulga scrub near Leonora would be ideal home for the world’s spent nuclear fuel rods.
Glenn Baker, who owns 100ha submitted by Leonora Shire Council for low and intermediate level radioactive waste dump, said the area had the stable geology, environment and remoteness necessary for a world repository of high level nuclear waste.
The South Australian Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission has been told the industry could be worth $28 billion over the next three decades, such is the global demand for nuclear waste storage.
Mr Baker’s property “Waarmba” is one of seven sites short-listed for a federal radioactive waste management facility to dispose more than 4200 cubic metres of low-level waste from hospitals and universities, and store almost 700 cubic metres of intermediate waste from Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney. Continue reading
Australia’s Minister For Nuclear soon to release shortlist for waste dump site
Seven locations make nuclear waste dump shortlist October 29, 2015, James Massola http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/seven-locations-make-nuclear-waste-dump-shortlist-20151029-gklxu4.html
Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg is poised to release a shortlist of sites that could play host to a permanent nuclear waste storage facility in Australia.
Fairfax Media has been told the shortlist contains seven possible locations for the facility and had been finalised and approved by the Abbott government before Ian Macfarlane was replaced as Resources Minister by Mr Frydenberg.
The list of sites was originally scheduled to be released by August. Mr Frydenberg now intends to release the short list by the end of the year, after consulting with local MPs affected the decision, the opposition and other stakeholders over the politically sensitive issue.
Two locations in South Australia’s Kimba shire, west of Port Augusta, and two in Western Australia, at Leonora, north of Kalgoorlie and Yalgoo, north of Perth, have voluntarily nominated to be considered for the shortlist, while a proposal for the facility to be located at Mt Isa, in remote Queensland, was recently advanced. The full list of possible locations is a tightly held secret.
Once the shortlist has been released, a further period of public consultations will begin before a preferred site is identified in mid-2016, with a detailed business case due in mid-2017 and construction and operation of the facility due by the end of the decade.
The pending decision on the waste facility comes amid renewed debate on a possible future nuclear industry in Australia.
The facility will store low and intermediate-level radioactive waste from Lucas Heights and Australian-produced waste that had been sent to France, the United States and Britain between 1996 and 2009, which is to be returned under an international agreement.
An interim facility has been constructed at Lucas Heights to hold waste being sent back to Australia. A general purpose cargo ship called the BBC Shanghai is currently en route to Port Kembla from the French port of Cherbourg carrying 25 tonnes of waste and is due to arrive at the end of the month. The waste aboard that ship will then be driven to the Lucas Heights facility.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull went further on Wednesday, suggesting that many Australians had a “perfectly reasonable” view that said “we have got the uranium, we mine it, why don’t we process it, turn it into the fuel rods, lease it to people overseas, when they are done, we bring them back and we have got stable, very stable geology in remote locations and a stable political environment”.
“That is a business that you could well imagine here.”
South Australian Labor Premier Jay Weatherill has an ongoing royal commission into the nuclear industry.
The Australian Conservation Foundation’s anti-nuclear campaigner Dave Sweeney, who was also a member of the government’s advisory panel on the permanent waste facility, said achieving consent from residents of whatever area was selected for the site was crucial.
“Successive governments have failed to realise the importance of this [consent], or to achieve it. We are at the point of the process now, which is the test of the government’s commitment to community inclusion and having social licence to do this,” he said.
“We believe there is no environmental or public health reason to rush this [site selection]. The majority of the waste is currently in secured federal facilities and we need to take the time to get it right.”
Malcolm Turnbull favours importing radioactive trash to Australia
Australia could store nuclear waste for other countries, Malcolm Turnbull says, Guardian, Daniel Hurst, 28 Oct 15 PM tells Adelaide radio that he was sceptical Australia would ever build nuclear power stations, but a larger role in nuclear fuel industry was worth exploring….
Australia should “look closely” at expanding its role in the global nuclear energy industry, including leasing fuel rods to other countries and then storing the waste afterwards, Malcolm Turnbull has said.
But the prime minister said he was “sceptical” about whether Australia would ever build its own nuclear power stations to provide electricity to domestic customers, given the country had plentiful access to coal, gas, wind and solar sources.
Turnbull made the observations in a radio interview on Wednesday, a day after he named Dr Alan Finkel, a vocal advocate of nuclear power and the outgoing chancellor of Monash University, as Australia’s next chief scientist.
He was asked to weigh in on the issue during a visit to South Australia, where the state Labor government has launched a royal commission into options for participation in the nuclear fuel cycle. Turnbull praised the premier, Jay Weatherill, for setting up the inquiry…..
“…it’s a perfectly reasonable view: we’ve got the uranium [and] we mine it; why don’t we process it, turn it into the fuel rods, lease them to people overseas; when they’re done, bring them back – and we’ve got very stable geology in remote locations and a stable political environment – and store them?”
“That is a business that you could well imagine here.”….. playing that part in the nuclear fuel cycle I think is something that is worth looking at closely.”
Turnbull was environment minister in the Howard government, which commissioned a study into the feasibility of nuclear power by a task force led by the former Telstra chief, Ziggy Switkowski, who is now chairman of NBN Co……
The Australian Conservation Foundation described Turnbull’s comments as “ill-considered” and warned that radioactive waste was “a complex and contested policy area”.
“Radioactive waste presents serious environment, security and public health challenges – and it lasts a lot longer than any politician’s tenure,” said Dave Sweeney, a foundation campaigner.
Greenpeace dismissed nuclear power as “an expensive distraction from the real solutions to climate change, like solar and wind power”.
“It leaves a legacy of radioactive waste which remains dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years,” said Emma Gibson, head of program for Greenpeace Australia Pacific.
“We only have to look at the Fukushima disaster in Japan to be reminded of the health, social and economic impacts of a nuclear accident, and to see that this is not a safe option for Australians.”
Turnbull is seeking to bolster the Liberal party’s popularity in South Australia, where the government suffered political difficulties after his predecessor, Tony Abbott, backed away from a pre-election promise to build 12 submarines locally……. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/28/australia-could-store-nuclear-waste-for-other-countries-malcolm-turnbull-says
Time that Australia took a responsible attitude to radioactive trash management at Lucas heights
Australia’s Policy On Nuclear Waste Is All At Sea, Huffington Post, Dave Sweeney, 27 Oct 15 “…….. Australia has dropped the ball badly in relation to responsible radioactive waste management. For over 20 years, successive federal governments have repeatedly tried and failed to ‘solve’ this issue by imposing a national nuclear facility on unwilling remote communities. Apart from causing unnecessary and deep community stress, this approach has delivered little.
ANSTO’s Lucas Heights facility has secure tenure and is actively policed. The site is fenced and patrolled and both generates and is home to the majority of Australia’s radioactive waste. The facility is also home to Australia’s highest concentration of nuclear expertise and technology.
Furthermore, after an Aboriginal-led campaign saw Muckaty Station in the NT removed as a possible waste site during a Federal Court trial last year, ANSTO has improved its ability to store waste at Lucas Heights with a new dedicated and purpose built on-site storage facility.
Key parties including ANSTO, industry lobby group The Australian Nuclear Association, and federal regulator The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency all agree that the secure management of radioactive waste at ANSTO is feasible and credible. And in a rare case of consensus on matters nuclear, national environment groups agree.
Two decades of short-term political ‘fixes’ for a long-term environmental and human challenge have delivered very little. Extended interim storage at the site of production at Lucas Heights offers the least-worst solution and provides a circuit breaker in a long running but scarcely advanced public debate.
It gives us the assurance and ability to do what Australia has never done and clearly needs to do. We need an evidence-based and open review into the best options to most responsibly manage Australia’s radioactive waste.
In the interest of all, including future Australians, this is an opportunity we cannot afford to waste. http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/dave-sweeney/australias-nuclear-waste-_b_8387352.html
Australian Conservation Foundation debunks argument for Mount Isa radioactive trash dump bid
Australian Conservation Foundation questions Mount Isa radioactive waste dump bid http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-20/environmentalists-question-mount-isa-radioactive-waste-dump-bid/6868404 By Zara Margolis The Australian Conservation Foundation says the creation a radioactive waste management facility in north-west Queensland will not be the economic saviour the region is looking for.
Last week, Mount Isa City Council voted to make a submission to the Federal Government to safely store Australia’s radioactive waste. Mayor Tony McGrady said the creation of a waste facility was timely given recent mining job cuts and could help secure future jobs.
However, nuclear-free campaigner Dave Sweeney said that would not happen and he was concerned pressure to secure the region’s economic future was clouding the council’s judgment.
“Mount Isa will not get the full information because people are already either ideologically leaning towards all things nuclear or so desperate to get a job in the door that they won’t look at the downside,” he said. “So our concern is that ideology, plus desperation, plus misleading or misinformation doesn’t make for a clear and considered basis.
“There’s a lot of misinformation, or missing information, about this process. This is not a big earner. We’re talking six long-term jobs and a small amount of money to be spread over a region or possibly a state in a community benefit package. “This is not a solution to the resource downturn or economic decline in Mount Isa.” The Commonwealth said other locations for the site could be considered, despite nominations having closed in May.
Aboriginal women will fight on against nuclear waste dumping in South Australia
Aboriginal women reaffirm fight against nuclear waste dump in South Australia ABC Radio National, The World Today By Natalie Whiting 16 Oct 15 The first shipment of Australia’s nuclear waste to be returned from re-processing in France has now left a French port, and will arrive on our shores by the end of the year. The return of the 25 tonnes of nuclear waste is putting renewed pressure on the Federal Government to find a location for a permanent waste dump.
The shipment began its journey just a day after senior Aboriginal women gathered in Adelaide to mark their fight against a proposed dump in South Australia in the 1990s.
The women say they will fight against any new move to put the waste on their land…..
SA Aboriginal women remember waste dump victory A Federal Government plan to build a 
nuclear waste dump in the South Australian outback in 1998 attracted fierce opposition, especially among local Aboriginal people.
An event in Adelaide last night celebrated the work of a group of women called kupa piti kungka tjuta, who campaigned against the dump. Emily Austin from Coober Pedy was one of them. (centre in picture)
The women campaigned for six years until a Federal Court challenge from the South Australian government put an end to the dump. Ms Austin said she could remember the day the court found in South Australia’s favour.
“I was out in the bush hunting and I heard it on the radio in the Toyota. We were all screaming, ‘We won’.
“All the kungkas (women) were happy.”
While the Federal Government is in the midst of a voluntary process for finding a site for a dump, South Australia’s outback is still seen as an ideal location.
The South Australian Government’s attitude to the industry has been shifting.
It has launched a royal commission to investigate possible further involvement in the nuclear fuel cycle.The royal commission is looking at everything from mining uranium, processing, waste storage and nuclear power.
The organiser of last night’s event, Karina Lester, is the granddaughter of one of the women who campaigned and her father was blinded by the British nuclear tests at Maralinga half a century ago.
She said the Aboriginal people in South Australia’s north have a long and tortured history with the nuclear industry. “Maralinga’s had a huge impact because people speak from first-hand experience,” she said.
“People like the amazing kupa piti kungka tjuta, many of those old women who are no longer with us today, they were there the day the ground shook and the black mist rolled.
“It’s an industry that doesn’t sit comfortably with Anungu community.”
Ms Lester said it was good to see the royal commission consulting with people before a decision is made.”Credit to the royal commission that they’ve made an effort to engage with a broader community of Aboriginal communities,” she said.
“But how many of those Anangu are really understanding he technicality of this royal commission and what industry really means?” Ms Austin said she was ready to fight any future attempts to set up a waste dump in the region.
“Oh yeah, I’ve still got fight yet. They might stop yet, they might listen, I dunno,” she said. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-16/aboriginal-women-fight-against-nuclear-waste-dump-in-sa/6861012
Radioactive trash returning to Lucas Heights by ship from France
Ship carrying nuclear waste heads to Australia, West Australian CHERBOURG, AFP October 16, 2015 A ship carrying 25 tonnes of reprocessed nuclear waste is steaming to Australia despite protests from activists about an “environmental disaster waiting to happen”.
The BBC Shanghai left the northern French port of Cherbourg after approval from local officials, who carried out an inspection on Wednesday, and is due to arrive by the end of the year in NSW. It is laden with radioactive waste from spent nuclear fuel that Australia sent to France for reprocessing in four shipments in the 1990s and early 2000s, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation says.
The reprocessing involves removing uranium, plutonium and other materials, with the remaining substances stabilised in glass and stored in a container…….
Greenpeace, French environmental campaign group Robin des Bois (Robin Hood) and a leading Greens MP have called for the shipment, sent by Areva, to be halted. “Areva, almost bankrupt, are using a dustbin ship to carry waste, without any serious inspection!” Denis Baupin a senior MP with the French green party, tweeted.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific said the ship, owned by German firm BBC Chartering, was an “environmental disaster waiting to happen”, claiming the Shanghai was “blacklisted by the United States because of its safety record”……
But Areva’s external relations director, Bernard Monnot, said the ship was “not banned from ports in the United States but banned from transporting material for the American government”.
Nathalie Geismar from Robin des Bois said other ports had found it had a “staggering number of flaws”……
ANSTO said the material would be kept at the Lucas Heights facility in southern Sydney until a nuclear waste dump site, which has yet to be chosen, is found and constructed……https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/29834316/ship-carrying-nuclear-waste-heads-to-australia/
Mt Isa Council, Queensland, considers inviting in radioactive trash
Mount Isa council considers late bid for north-west Queensland to host radioactive waste dump, ABC News By Zara Margolis The Mount Isa City Council is considering applying to the Federal Government to develop a radioactive waste management facility in the region.
Earlier this year, the Department of Science and Industry invited states and territories to nominate land for a facility to safely store Australia’s radioactive waste.
Nominations officially closed in May but Tony McGrady said he was only made aware of the process on Wednesday and the council still wanted to apply……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-16/mount-isa-considers-bid-for-radioactive-waste-dump/6859612
Outcry in France over nuclear waste shipment to Australia
Nuclear shipment bound for Australia sparks outcry, Splash 24/7 OCTOBER 16TH, 2015 A ship described by one French MP as a “dustbin” has set off from France to Australia carrying a controversial cargo of nuclear waste.
Greenpeace and French environmentalists had campaigned for the shipment to be stopped. However, French authorities said the BBC Shanghai (4,900 dwt, 2001 built) was in good condition and allowed it to go, carrying 25 tonnes of nuclear waste from Areva’s reprocessing plant in Beaumont-Hague, near the port of Cherbourg, from where the ship set sail on Thursday.
Shortly before the cargo ship set sail, French Green MP Denis Baupin tweeted (in French) that Areva was “using a dustbin ship to carry waste, without any serious inspection”……… http://splash247.com/nuclear-shipment-bound-for-australia-sparks-outcry/
Safety concerns over transport of radioactive trash returning to Australia
Ship laden with nuclear waste heading to Australia despite safety concerns, Guardian, Oliver Milman, 17 Oct 15 The 25 tonnes of waste was originally generated by Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation and sent to France in 2001 for reprocessing. A ship laden with nuclear waste is heading to Australia from France, despite concerns raised over its safety record.
The BBC Shanghai, flagged to Antigua and Barbuda, is on its way to Port Kemblain New South Wales from the French port of Cherbourg with a cargo of reprocessed nuclear waste.It’s outrageous the BBC Shanghai is heading towards Australia and is not outfitted to safely carry nuclear waste. -Emma Gibson, Greenpeace Australia Pacific
The 25 tonnes of waste was originally generated by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation and sent to France in 2001 for reprocessing.
Environmental groups have raised concerns over the safety of the BBC Shanghai, pointing out it has been blacklisted by the US due to its record. Continue reading
‘Dustbin’ ship takes N-waste to Australia
http://www.gulf-times.com/australia/244/details/459111/%E2%80%98dustbin%E2%80%99-ship-takes-n-waste-to-australia A ship carrying 25 tonnes of reprocessed nuclear waste was steaming to Australia yesterday despite protests from activists about an “environmental disaster waiting to happen”.
The BBC Shanghai left the northern French port of Cherbourg after approval from local officials, who carried out an inspection on Wednesday, and was due to arrive by the end of the year in New South Wales state.
It was laden with radioactive waste from spent nuclear fuel that Australia sent to France for reprocessing in four shipments in the 1990s and early 2000s, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) said yesterday. The reprocessing involves removing uranium, plutonium and other materials, with the remaining substances stabilised in glass and stored in a container.
“The container will be placed on a nuclear-rated ship, brought to an Australian port, and trucked to Lucas Heights (nuclear facility) with an appropriate security operation,” ANSTO said in a statement.
“The ship was selected by (France-based nuclear company) Areva, and after a full inspection carried out by both French maritime safety authorities and by the French nuclear safety regulator on October 14, the ship’s seaworthiness was confirmed and certified.”
Greenpeace, French environmental campaign group Robin des Bois (Robin Hood) and a leading green lawmaker called for the shipment, sent by Areva, to be halted.
Secrecy on nuclear waste plans, as Fed govt delays announcing site for radioactive trash dump
Federal Government delays announcement of Australian waste dump site after silence from NT October 5, 2015 NT News http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/federal-government-delays-announcement-of-australian-waste-dump-site-after-silence-from-nt/story-fnk1w5xx-1227557268139Transport and storage of nuclear spent fuel is just too dangerous
Nuclear Fuel Chain Royal Commission WEEK 11 – MANAGEMENT,
STORAGE AND DISPOSAL OF NUCLEAR AND RADIOACTIVE WASTE, dan 17 Sept 11115 Any risk assessment for the management of spent nuclear fuel should firstly consider the current management practice internationally. In considering the possible establishment of a new facility, it should firstly be accepted that transportation of spent nuclear fuel to any centralized facility presents risk which could be avoided entirely if waste is managed at or near its present locations.
In some cases, spent nuclear fuel is currently stored in closer proximity to human populations than desirable, so I can understand some host nations’ desire to export their spent nuclear fuel liability to a distant receiving country like Australia. I also acknowledge the position presented by Barry Brook and Ben Heard that future reprocessing technology may be able to separate uranium and plutonium from the spent fuel and produce electricity as a by-product of this process. The risk associated with this vision of the future is that such technology currently expressed in theory may never eventuate, and the spent nuclear fuel may thus prove to be an extremely long-lived management liability.
Risks which Australia should consider if considering the prospect of importing spent nuclear fuel include the possible appropriation of shipments by terrorist groups either in transit or after receipt. Similarly, a transport vessel may be attacked and join the number of sunken nuclear-fuelled submarines slowly corroding on the seabed around the world, destined to have unknown ecological impacts. As this Commission is no doubt aware, spent nuclear fuel can be reprocessed to obtain plutonium and uranium, both of which can be then repurposed as weapons material. This has serious implications for nuclear weapons proliferation risk.
Following receipt of spent nuclear fuel, the responsibility for protecting this material would presumably become Australia’s and would remain so for centuries (pending some technological breakthough in speculative technology). Should Australia enter war during the course of the life of the radioactivity contained in the stored spent fuel, or otherwise become a future terrorist target, any centralized repository of spent nuclear fuel represents a potential air-strike or bomb target.
If such an attack were to occur, storage vessels may be ruptured and release radioactive material to the atmosphere, essentially functioning as a ‘dirty bomb’. Wherever spent nuclear fuel is stored, it is my opinion that every measure should be made to protect it from air-strike or terrorist attack. The fallout from such an event would lead to the establishment of a new sacrifice zone, akin to those surrounding stricken Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear power plants. Consequences for human health would take years to manifest and be demonstrably linked to such an event- meanwhile displaced persons would suffer anguish and may, as in the case of Fukushima, lead to people taking their own lives. Should such a facility be located in the South Australian outback, those most directly affected would likely be indigenous Australians, who would mourn the event as a colossal, cultural loss as their connection to country is severely damaged.
Obviously wartime or terror attack-proofing of spent fuel storage is not achieved in many locations where spent nuclear fuel is currently stored. I would assume that the quantity of these stores would be smaller than any proposed new facility, dedicated exclusively to the storage of spent nuclear fuel. Perhaps there is a case for improving management of spent nuclear fuel at or near existing storage.
Should a new facility be constructed, it should (in my opinion) be secure and underground, in a position where water infiltration is extremely unlikely. Examples of corrosion and water infiltration proving problematic for nuclear waste storage facilities include Orchid Island (Taiwan) and Yucca Mountain (USA).
When all is thoroughly considered, it might be concluded that the improvement and standardisation of current storage practise at or near locations where spent fuel is currently held provides an alternative pathway to proceed down if the objective of this exercise is risk minimisation.
Importing #nuclear waste is illegal. The Lucas Heights returning waste is an exception
I hope that The Age and other media will make clear the fact that this radioactive trash returning from UK and France, emanates from radioactive trash that originated at Lucas Heights. Australia is legally obliged to take it back. A completely different proposition from the hare-brained idea of importing foreign nuclear wastes.
Under Commonwealth and State laws, no nuclear waste repository can be set up in Australia, with just this one exception.
The nuclear lobby, and the South Australian government will use this exception to confuse the public – so that this exception could become a foot in the door for the ill advised plan by some greedy Australian individuals, and by the desperate overseas nuclear companies, for South Australia to become the world’s nuclear toilet.
1 This month
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
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