Reality check from a former energy executive: Nothing about new gas stacks up today — RenewEconomy
Investing in new gas is a poor choice, risking stranded asset write-offs for shareholders and worsening climate change. I wouldn’t spend a cent on it. The post Reality check from a former energy executive: Nothing about new gas stacks up today appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Reality check from a former energy executive: Nothing about new gas stacks up today — RenewEconomy
New renewables now beating most operational coal: IRENA report — RenewEconomy
A new report from an international renewables agency shows that new renewables are beating existing coal on price, all around the world. The post New renewables now beating most operational coal: IRENA report appeared first on RenewEconomy.
New renewables now beating most operational coal: IRENA report — RenewEconomy
Senate rejects Taylor’s bid to redirect renewable energy funds to fossil fuel projects — RenewEconomy
Senate issues major blow to Morrison government, rejecting Taylor’s quest to open up ARENA funds for CCS and fossil hydrogen, blocking new regulations. The post Senate rejects Taylor’s bid to redirect renewable energy funds to fossil fuel projects appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Senate rejects Taylor’s bid to redirect renewable energy funds to fossil fuel projects — RenewEconomy
June 23 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “Greener Oil Or Green Industry? Gridlock Puts Norway In A Bind” • Oslo is loath to relinquish Norway’s lucrative position as one of the world’s top oil and gas producers, accounting for over 40% of its exports. Instead it wants to make the industry greener. Critics of the plan are calling it “greenwashing,” […]
June 23 Energy News — geoharvey
Nuclear news – Australia and beyond
Pandemic. COVID-19 Is Still Raging in Much of the World South America Is Now Covid-19 Hot Spot, With Eight Times the World’s Death Rate.
Climate.Warming stripes show that climate change is here and now. Climate in a Fiery World.NUCLEAR. Not a lot is happening, probably largely due to the pandemic. There is, of course, the continued stream of articles in the mainstream media,extolling the virtues of new nuclear reactors – most look like handouts from the industry, faithfully regurgitated by relatively ignorant journalists.
A leak at China’s showcase Taishan nuclear reactor has raised global concern for the industry. Radioactive leak at Chinese reactor could finish French nuclear exports.
A bit of good news – The pandemic has revived hope that a more sustainable world is possible.
AUSTRALIA.
Resources Minister Pitt changes Nuclear Waste Bill in the effort to gain Labor’s support. Labor consults traditional owners about the Kimba nuclear waste dump Bill, considers supporting the Bill. The Greens will be standing up for a nuclear-free South Australia. The Federal government is pulling a nuclear waste confidence trick on South Australia. Nuclear waste storage facility legislation passes Senate. Some highlights from the Senate nuclear waste dump debate. Racism on show in the Australian Senate. Premier Marshall must enforce South Australia’s legislation prohibiting nuclear waste dump. Resources Minister Keith Pitt forced to back down – now must allow legal scrutiny of the ill-advised Kimba nuclear dump plan..
Nuclear waste intended for Kimba, -used to be classified as ”high level” – now called ”intermediate”. ANSTO’s dodgy classification of nuclear wastes.
NSW Productivity Commission Has “Lost The Plot” On Nuclear Power
Kalbar’s exotic minerals mine a toxic risk to Victoria’s food bowl. https://www.michaelwest.com.au/kalbars-exotic-minerals-mine-a-toxic-risk-to-victorias-food-bowl/
INTERNATIONAL.
INTERVIEW/ Daniel Ellsberg: Smart statesmen can make bad decisions leading to nuclear war. Biden and Putin agree: ‘Nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought’. Why can’t world leaders agree that a nuclear war should never be fought? ICAN chief urges Biden and Putin to push for deep cuts in nuclear arsenals, encourage China to back away from arms race.
‘‘Advanced” nuclear reactor designs – the latest version of nuclear wishful thinking.
Earth is now trapping an ‘unprecedented’ amount of heat, NASA says.
Julian Assange and the Collapse of the Rule of Law.
JAPAN. The Fukushima nuclear disaster and the Tokyo Olympics.
EUROPE. NATO’s hostility to the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty is in conflict with its true goal – to become a non-nuclear alliance . NATO readies for a collective response to attacks in space.
UK. Fire at Hinkley Point C building site. We don’t need costly, slow, nuclear power: solar, wind, tidal and wave power can amply do the job. House-building plans thrown into doubt as doubts grow about Wylfa nuclear project.
USA.
- The real welfare cheats are weapons makers. U.S. Space Force wants to use directed-energy weapons for space superiority,.
- The Pentagon’s Project, Pele Military micro-reactors – creates more problems than it solves.
- 20 Years After Pentagon Papers, Ellsberg Reveals US weighed 1958 nuclear strike on China over Taiwan,
- Why Utah really does not need Bill Gates’ small nuclear reactors.
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission launches special investigation at Southern Georgia Vogtle 3 nuclear unit.
- Tough when even a pro nuclear voice has to deplore the corruption in the nuclear industry. Countering a love letter to the nuclear industry .
- Renewable energy consumption grew in 2020 as fossil fuels and nuclear shrank.
CHINA. Is China covering up a nuclear leak? What actually happened at Taishan? French nuclear company and Chinese government once again have a problem with their much vaunted EPR nuclear reactor design. About the radiation leaks at Taishan nuclear power station. The public is always the last to know. Safety concerns on Taishan reactor, but China wants to be world’s nuclear leader by 2050.
RUSSIA. Collaboration between Russia and Europe finally cleans up the most dangerous nuclear ship in the Arctic..
FRANCE. Is the leak in a nuclear reactor in China due to a Framatome manufacturing defect ? Climate and weather hazards to France’s nuclear reactors in summer 2021.
IRAN. U.S. wants nuclear deal done before Iran’s new president takes power.
LIBYA. For the first time, drones autonomously attacked humans.
PAKISTAN. No need for nuclear arsenal once Kashmir issue is resolved: Pakistan PM.
Resources Minister Keith Pitt forced to back down – now must allow legal scrutiny of the ill-advised Kimba nuclear dump plan.
Resources Minister Keith Pitt has been forced to abandon moves to quash legal scrutiny of a federal plan for a national radioactive waste facility near Kimba in regional South Australia.
“More than a year after he began his push to make the choice of location immune from legal challenge, Minister Pitt has had to restore this fundamental democratic right in a move that passed the Senate last night,” said ACF nuclear free campaigner, Dave Sweeney.
The Minister’s backflip to break this year-long stalemate further highlights the federal government’s piecemeal and politicised approach to radioactive waste management.
“The government has failed to demonstrate there would be any public health or radiological benefits in moving Australia’s most problematic radioactive waste from its current secure storage at Lucas Heights to a location with fewer assets and much less protection at Kimba.
“The Kimba plan shirks the hard and long-term questions. Minister Pitt is not advancing a comprehensive solution, he is merely kicking a radioactive can down a dirt road.
“There are many reasons why the Lucas Heights facility, run by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), is the best place for our worst waste until a lasting and credible waste management solution is identified.
“Lucas Heights has secure tenure, a 24/7 federal police presence, the best radiation monitoring and response capacity in Australia and around 95% of the waste is already there.
“Importantly, ARPANSA, the federal nuclear regulator, has confirmed storage at ANSTO is secure, consistent with global best practice and can safely remain ‘for decades to come.’
“The revised approach reintroduces Wallerberdina in the Flinders Ranges as a potential waste facility site, showing the government is making policy on the run and has little understanding about how damaging this plan is to community cohesion.
“In December 2019 former Minister Canavan said the Flinders Ranges was no longer being considered as a site. It is a profound failure that 18 months later it is back on the list.
“This is not a Telstra tower. Australia’s first purpose built national radioactive waste facility deserves the highest level of scrutiny – not a highly politicised approach.”
Premier Marshall must enforce South Australia’s legislation prohibiting nuclear waste dump.
21 June 2021 ‒ Friends of the Earth Australia
By accepting amendments to the National Radioactive Waste Management Amendment Bill, the federal government has today abandoned its year-long attempt to shield its plan for a national nuclear waste dump in SA from judicial review. A vote on the Bill is expected this afternoon or tomorrow and the Bill is expected to pass.
Dr. Jim Green, national nuclear campaigner with Friends of the Earth, said: “The Morrison government’s disgraceful efforts to override the unanimous opposition of Barngarla Traditional Owners to the proposed nuclear dump will be challenged in the courts and politically. Barngarla Traditional Owners are expected to launch a judicial challenge.
“Friends of the Earth welcomes SA Labor’s policy that Traditional Owners should have a right of veto over nuclear projects given the sad and sorry history of nuclear projects in this state.
“Premier Steven Marshall’s support for a nuclear waste dump that is unanimously opposed by Barngarla Traditional Owners is unconscionable, crude racism and Friends of the Earth calls on the Premier to support Traditional Owners ‒ and all South Australians ‒ instead of shamefully falling into line behind his federal colleagues.
“The SA Nuclear Waste Storage Facility (Prohibition) Act was an initiative of the SA Olsen Liberal government to prevent the imposition of an intermediate-level nuclear fuel waste dump in SA. The state legislation was strengthened by the Rann government in 2002. Premier Marshall should fight Canberra’s push to dump nuclear waste on SA and to override state legislation, as did Premier Olsen and Premier Rann.
“The SA Nuclear Waste Facility (Prohibition) Act mandates a state Parliamentary inquiry in response to any attempt to impose a nuclear waste dump on SA and the Premier should initiate that inquiry immediately.
“Repeated claims that most of the nuclear waste is medical in original are dishonest. Claims that 45 jobs will be generated are deeply implausible. The dump will likely be the thin edge of the wedge; indeed several Coalition Senators today linked the looming passage of the Amendment Bill to the development of a nuclear power industry in Australia.
“Measured by radioactivity, well over 90% of the waste is long-lived intermediate-level waste that the federal government wants to store above ground at Kimba until such time as a deep underground disposal facility is established. No effort is being made to find a location for such a facility so this long-lived waste would remain stored above ground in SA ad infinitum.
“Intermediate-level waste should be stored at ANSTO’s Lucas Heights site until a suitable disposal facility is available. The Morrison government’s plan to move intermediate-level waste from secure above-ground storage at Lucas Heights to far less secure storage at Kimba is absurd and indefensible.
“The Howard government had to common sense to abandon plans to co-locate intermediate-level waste with a repository for low-level waste, and Premier Marshall should insist that the Morrison government do the same.
“South Australians fought long and hard to prevent the Howard government turning SA into the nation’s nuclear waste dump. We fought and won the campaign to stop the Flinders Ranges being used for a national dump. We fought and won the campaign to stop SA being turned into the world’s high-level nuclear waste dump. And now, we will fight until the Morrison government backs off.
“South Australians have greater ambitions for our state than to be someone else’s nuclear waste dump,” Dr. Green concluded.
Contact: Dr. Jim Green 0417 318 368
Nuclear waste storage facility legislation passes Senate.
– The Advertiser 21st June 2021, The Federal Government is now expected to name Kimba as the site of the facility after a key vote in Canberra. A nuclear waste dump set to be built in South Australia has cleared a major hurdle, with a shortlist of sites passing the Senate on Monday night.
Federal Resources Minister Keith Pitt is now required to name a site, which is expected to be Napandee farm, near Kimba on the Eyre Peninsula.Mr Pitt said: “This is an historic moment for our country that will pave the way for a critically important piece of national infrastructure.”He said while the bill has been amended, the Government would not be placing the facility in a community that does not provide broad support for it.
Wallerberdina voted against the facility in 2019, and is not expected to be the site.After months of deadlock, Labor agreed to back the Bill after the government last week proposed changes that would name three possible sites for the facility instead of specifying Kimba.The opposition had refused to back the original Bill over concerns that naming the site in legislation, rather than by a ministerial decision, would prevent the possibility of a future legal challenge.
Labor senator Murray Watt said the amendments were a “good compromise” that allowed for a potential judicial review but also acknowledged the work that had been done to shortlist three sites.Lyndhurst, in northeast SA, Kimba, and Wallerberdina, in the Flinders Ranges, are listed as the three possible sites.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young accused the major political parties of joining to “dump on South Australia”.She said community consultation for the sites had been a “debacle” which treated the traditional owners “terribly”. Labor consulted with the Kimba region’s traditional owners, the Barngarla people, before backing the Bill.The Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation was opposed to the Kimba site, but Mayor Dean Johnson last week said the community just wanted a decision.
Some highlights from the Senate nuclear waste dump debate
Greens: running most strongly on the waste issue as an example of systemic racism/ rights and history of Aboriginal resistance. Big parties are dumping on SA and we will not forget.
Rowan Ramsey apparently interjected ‘bullshit’ from the gallery during Lidia Thorpe’s speech – caused a fuss but no censure (“I didn’t hear the comment and so cannot rule on it” says the President)
Labor: disappointingly fulsome re ANSTO and on the same song sheet as the govt re nuclear medicine being the cause for the dump being needed. Kim Carr quite over the top re project of ‘genuine national importance’…and “I trust further judicial processes don’t lead to further delay”.
One useful thing Labor said was that the Govt “should explain why ILW should be moved from one temporary site to another”……this is an important door to further open….
Government: pushed the argument that the dump is needed for medical purposes. The most surprising thing was that multiple Libs spoke of the facility as an important step in advancing a future nuclear power industry in Australia – very enthusiastic in making this link and talking up the domestic nuclear option….again, an area to further highlight in coming times.
I was able to listen only to parts of the debate. I wait for Hansard transcript. My impressions:
I found Labor’s explanation mealy-mouthed and hypocritical – pretending fulsomely that they support Aboriginal rights etc – when we know darn well that they won’t lift a finger or spend a cent on helping the Barngarla with their legal action against the dump.
Greens Senator Jordan Steel John was forceful in explaining the racism behind the dump proposal.
Independent Senator Rex Patrick gave impressive information onthe greater suitability of other sites, especially Woomera.
June 21 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “The Save Our Future Act Offers Blueprint For Supporting Coal Workers And Communities” • Two US Senators introduced a solutions-oriented bill that would put a price on emissions of greenhouse gases and use the revenues to mitigate impacts of the policy on consumers, workers, and communities. The bill would help coal miners and […]
June 21 Energy News — geoharvey
Racism on show in the Australian Senate.
Senator Lidia Thorpe addressed the Senate today on the subject of the newly amended National Radioactive Waste Bill.
”…We need a new approach – unequivocal rejection of this fundamentally flawed and deeply disrespectful Bill.
How can Labor acknowledge the traditional owners when you can support a Bill that will destroy women’s sacred sites? Labor you should stand up and vote this Bill down along with us”
Senator Thorpe spoke passionately and eloquently, explaining First Nation people’s stromg opposition to the planned nuclear waste dump.
And whaddya know – from the Gallery yelled an old white man, a Member of the House ofrReps, but not a member of this Chamber. Yes, Rowan Ramsey MP, yelled ”Bullshit”.
Just as well the Hon Ramsey is a white man, confronting a black woman. Otherwise, if it were the other way round, you can bet your boots that the interjector would have been expelled from the Gallery……
And here’s some of what Senator Thorpe said (inexact transcript):” Greens speak up for the Barngarla people, oppose this Bill. The clearly expressed opposition of Aboriginal people. They strongly oppose the Wallerberdina site, and need to protect that sacred women’s site. Today’s proposed amendment again paves way for radioactive dump on this sacred site. The amendment puts all 3 sites back on the table. None of these sites have the consent of the traditional owners. None of these traditional owners want their sacred sites degraded.The ”community” consent was conducted on the basis that only rate-payers could vote. The Barngarla Aboriginal Corporation commissioned an independent company to conduct a ballot, with the result – unanimous opposition.
Labor – you’re agreeing with the amendment so that the traditional owners can fight this plan in court. Is Labor going to pay for their lagal action? Stop pretending that you’re here for the first people in this country. We say NO and we will continue to fight against the destruction of our country. Radioactive waste is something that will outlast you and this Parliament………We need a new pproach – unequivocal rejection of this fundamentally flawed and deeply disrespectful Bill. How can Labor acknowledge the traditional owners when you can support a Bill that will destroy womeb’s sacred sites. Labor you should stand up and vote this Bill down along with us.
Australian Senate now deliberating on the controversial Nuclear Waste Dump Bill
The Australian Senate is about to finally debate and decide on a new amendment to the National Radioactive Waste Management Amendment (Site Specification, Community Fund and Other Measures) Bill 2020, which has been languishing in the Senate for months.
The crux of the matter is that whereas the Bill previously designated Napandee, a farm near Kimba, South Australia, as the site for a nuclear waste dump, it now slightly, (but significantly) changes that , mentioning the possibility of other sites. Minister Keith Pitt is now almost certain to formally declare Napandee as the site.
The whole process has been obscure, while being highly promoted to the local community as both a ”Australian medical necessity” and a ”local economic boon”. Information provided to the local area has been promotional material and speakers from ANSTO and the Industry Department, but with no independent voices explaining the negative aspects. Local residents, farmers, and business people are calling on the government for a portion of the grant funding to Kimba to be allocated to an independent review and assessment of the project.
The Barngarla Traditional Owners were excluded from a community vote that approved the project, as were other landholders close to the Napandee site. They will now have the right to legally challenge the nuclear dump plan.Residents of the wider Eyre Peninsula, have had no say in the Kimba decision. Nor have the various communities whose residents are likely to object to having radioactive waste carried through their area, in this unnecessarily long transport from one temporary storage to another. South Australia has clear laws prohibiting the establishment of a nuclear waste dump in that State, the Nuclear Waste Storage Facility (Prohibition) Act 2000.
The most significant contributor to this planned waste dumping will be intermediate level nuclear waste produced by ANSTO’s nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights, Sydney. These toxic wastes are in interim storage in large canisters at Lucas Heights, where they are safely managed and guarded.. There is ample room for more storage at Lucas Heights, and no reason for this double handling, sending the same temporary storage canisters to Kimba.
If this Bill is now passed by the Senate, it will bring on a more chaotic situation of uncertainty for the people of Kimba, but with not one step towards what is really needed.
The Senate should reject this poorly devised Bill. Australians deserve a thorough, properly researched independent inquiry into finding a permanent and safe solution to ANSTO’s nuclear waste problem.
The Taishan death blow
China’s EPR reactor accident should end French reactor projects
The Taishan death blow — Beyond Nuclear International Radioactive leak at Chinese reactor could finish French nuclear exports https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/72759838/posts/3403922693
By Stéphane Lhomme, Nuclear Observatory
If the opacity maintained by the Chinese regime prevents us, for the time being, from knowing the exact consequences of the radioactive leak involving the EPR no.1 reactor at Taishan, revealed on June 14 by CNN, it is, on the other hand, already possible to see how this unfolded and to recommend some next steps.
The fault in the fuel duct seals inside the Taishan EPR dates back to October 2020, that is to say, it had already been going on for more than eight months: the operators of the reactor — the Chinese and the French company Framatome — were perfectly well aware of the gravity of the situation and had jointly decided to hide the existence of the problem from not only the surrounding population but also from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Luckily, the information ended up seeping out via the American subsidiary of Framatome (Areva NP Inc.). This latter, likely after discussions with the CIA and the White House, happily informed CNN.
Indeed, now that the situation at the EPR at Taishan is known around the world, it will be difficult for the Chinese to continue to operate the reactor under conditions that are most likely beyond its “scope of authorized operational safety” — contrary to what Framatome claims in order not to offend the Chinese.
It is widely known publicly that China and the USA, the two biggest global powers, are huge geopolitical and economic rivals. It is clear that if the Taishan 1 EPR, and perhaps its twin, Taishan 2, must be shut down for an extended period, this will be an inconvenience for China, which occasionally lacks electricity in this region. Hence the guilty pleasure felt by the Americans in revealing the problem.
But this will still remain only a limited problem for China where, contrary to what one sometimes reads or hears, nuclear power is a marginal energy source, consisting of less than 1% of the country’s energy consumption.
On the other hand, it is quite possible that the French nuclear industry will be the big loser in this affair, one that could represent a fatal blow for EDF’s EPR construction projects in France and overseas. Indeed, given that the EPR construction sites managed by the French — Areva in Finland, EDF in France and Great Britain — are veritable industrial and financial disasters, the promoters of the EPR reactor have been desperately clinging to the “good Chinese example”.
That is because the two EPRs at Taishan were built and brought on line (in December 2018 and September 2019 respectively) with “only” a few years delay and the cost overruns were officially limited to a few billion (according to China which, one must remember, is a dictatorship where “information” is totally controlled).
The situation currently unfolding in China demonstrates that, despite the alleged prowess of the Chinese nucleocrats, the Taishan EPRs are not going any better than those the French are trying desperately to build. This event will certainly sow enormous doubt among the few foreign leaders who are still considering ordering EPR reactors, despite all their setbacks. It is surely the straw that broke the camel’s back, or rather the radioactive leak that caused the (defective) EPR containment to overflow.
Likewise, this incident should motivate French political leaders (but also Finnish and British ones) to finally take responsibility and definitively halt EPR construction at Olkiluoto (Finland), Flamanville (France) and Hinkley Point (Great Britain), and to stop announcing future EPR projects in India and elsewhere.
Barnaby Joyce returns as deputy PM as Nationals implode over net-zero targets — RenewEconomy
Barnaby Joyce re-installed as Deputy PM after conflict erupts within the Nationals over climate targets. The post Barnaby Joyce returns as deputy PM as Nationals implode over net-zero targets appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Barnaby Joyce returns as deputy PM as Nationals implode over net-zero targets — RenewEconomy
1 This month.
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/235274195556
19 May – Webinar- Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Start: 2026-05-19 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-05-19 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
20 May – Webinar – The dangerous world of AUKUS, US, military occupation and suppression of dissent
National Webinar, 20th May, 2026, 6.30pm AEST. Confronting laws restricting/suppressing protest speech and action
Speakers: Former Sen. Rex Patrick, Lawyer Nick Hanna ,Arthur Rorris ,Jorgen Doyle, Sen David Shoebbridge,
Facilitator Kelley Tranter.
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 