Australian uranium miners salivating as they help Russia towards global nuclear dominance
Russia Offers Huge Market for Australian Miners …..as Moscow aggressively campaigns to be the top dog in the global nuclear industry.
Russia Expands Uranium Market Presence, Uranium Investing News, 24 March 2010, By Melissa Pistilli Against the advice of the Australian Federal Parliament’s treaties committee, the Rudd government is going forward with an agreement to allow sales of uranium to Russia. Continue reading
Nuclear plant kills tons of marine life each year
(USA) Oyster Creek nuclear plant kills 1,000 tons of sea life a year, agency says APP.com EnviroGuy,March 22, 2010 By Todd B. Bates The Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey has killed 80 million pounds of aquatic organisms in the past 40 years, a federal agency says. Continue reading
Australian patients not informed on cancer risks from CT scans
Doctors underestimating CT scan risks, Rheumatology Update, 22 March 2010, Patients are not being properly informed about the potential for cancer from tests involving ionising radiation, Australian doctors warn.Writing in the Medical Journal of Australia, they claimed that while radiologists understood the risks of CT, referring doctors had limited knowledge of these risks. Continue reading
NRC says uranium wastes radioactive for 1000 years
The [uranium mining waste] design must provide “reasonable assurance of control of radiological hazards to be effective for 1,000 years, to the extent reasonably achievable, and, in any case, for at least 200 years,” according to the NRC.
Risk assessment a complex task – Experts described the top threat from uranium mining, and regulators cited thorough efforts, League of Individuals for the Environment, Inc, By Duncan Adams, 23 March 2010, One thousand years. If uranium mining and milling of ore happens someday near Chatham, Va., Virginia Uranium or another company involved could be required by Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations to design a disposal system that can safely impound mining wastes for a millennium. Continue reading
Aboriginal opposition to National Land Council’s Nuclear Waste Dump Agreement
“You and your organisation should be embarrassed hiding behind legislation that suspends the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (1976).”
N-dump anger The Guardian , 24 March 2010. Darren Coyne, Opposition is mounting against a proposal to site a national radioactive dump at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory despite the Northern Land Council (NLC) insisting it has the support of traditional owners. Meetings, protests and angry statements have been the fall-out since a recent announcement by Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson………… Continue reading
Canadian doctors make a stand against uranium mining
Residents have expressed concern that tailings from uranium mining and exploration could affect the quality of the air and contaminate local drinking water.
(Canada) Anti-uranium doctors renew threat to resign, March 22, 2010 CBC News
Nearly two-dozen doctors in Sept-Îles, Que., are renewing their threats to resign and leave the province after the government rejected calls for a moratorium on uranium mining and exploration in the region. Continue reading
Australian Aboriginals audio: No to Nuclear Waste Dump at Muckaty
Censored news, indymedia.org.au, 20 March 2010
Australian Aboriginals Audio: No to Nuclear Dump at Muckaty
AUSTRALIA: MUCKATY STATION NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP
http://wgar.info/
http://beyondnuclearinitiative.wordpress.com/
Nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory (2 Mar 10)http://indymedia.org.au/2010/03/02/wgar-news-nuclear-waste-dump-in-the-northern-territory-2-mar-10–
Audio from Public meeting
Beyond Nuclear Initiative’s weblog: New audio uploaded
http://beyondnuclearinitiative.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/new-audio-uploaded/
Continue reading
Nuclear waste problem likely to end the ‘nuclear renaissance’
ANALYSIS – Toxic waste weighs on revival of nuclear industry Reuters, by Ayesha Rascoe, 17 March 2010, “…LEGAL LIABILITY ANOTHER ISSUE Nuclear power producers also have to grapple with the legal liabilities of owning waste. The Energy Department was supposed to take ownership of waste in 1998, but that has not happened
Utilities “don’t like the idea of this long-term liability over which they really have no control,” said Robert Fri of Resources for the Future.
With no place for the used fuel to go, the nuclear waste has to stay on site even when plants are shut down. There are about 14 shut-down reactors where waste remains at the site.
Dealing with technical and legal issues will not be easy. But the biggest obstacle for the new commission will most likely be overcoming political opposition.
ANALYSIS – Toxic waste weighs on revival of nuclear industry | Business News | Reuters
Australians don’t believe Martin Ferguson’s claims on safety of uranium to Russia
Australia exports uranium with no requirement for IAEA inspections to take place.
Can Russia be trusted with our uranium? Sydney Morning Herald, JIM GREEN, March 22, 2010 A 2005 survey of 1200 Australians found that 56% of us believe that the International Atomic Energy Agency’s nuclear ‘safeguards’ system is ineffective. Barely half as many believe the system is effective. Continue reading
Taiwan’s antinuclear activists show the way in stopping nuclear power
For now, Taiwan’s anti-nuclear forces are focused on opposing any plans for a nuclear dumping ground.
Asia’s nuclear dilemma, Global Post, by Jonathon Adams, 21 March 2010 “…Taiwan’s activists have successfully slowed, if not stopped, the island’s nuclear expansion. Continue reading
‘Baseload’ power planned for Australia, in huge solar energy plant
Cobra Energy Eyes $1 Billion Solar Power Plant For Australia – Ecofriend, Mar 19 2010, Eco Factor: Massive solar power plant designed to generate 250MW of energy.Cobra Energy has unveiled plans to develop a massive $1 billion solar power plant in Australia that will be able to generate up to 250MW of renewable electric power. Continue reading
Nuclear waste dump becoming an Australian election issue
Mr McCarthy predicts an electoral backlash against his federal colleagues over their plan to put the waste dump in Central Australia. He says it could become an election issue.
MP predicts electoral backlash over waste dump, ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), By Alison Middleton Mar 19, 2010
The Senate committee in charge of the inquiry into the Federal Government’s proposed nuclear waste dump legislation has decided not to hold hearings in Tennant Creek.
Public hearings will be held in Darwin and Canberra, but not in Central Australia, where the Government is planning to put the dump. Continue reading
Growing concern over safety of nuclear reactors
Nuclear “SpinCo”, t r u t h o u t , 18 March 2010 by: World Business Academy, Rinaldo Brutoco and Madeleine Austin “…..About a quarter of all US nuclear power plants are leaking radioactive tritium, but the pro-industry Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) refuses to require Entergy and other nuclear plant owners to monitor their groundwater. Continue reading
Australia says will not sell uranium to India (but can we believe this government?)
Australia remains firm against sale of uranium to India, The Hindu, AP March 19, 2010
Any Australian uranium sales to Russia would meet non-proliferation requirements, but the government remains firmly against sales to India, Trade Minister Simon Crean said on Friday. Continue reading
US Calls on Russia to stop supplying Iran’s nuclear program
Clinton, Lavrov Clash Over Iran Nuclear Plant – Antiwar.com, 20 March 2010, Visiting Russia today with an eye toward negotiating a nuclear arms reduction treaty, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton instead harangued Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over Iran’s civilian nuclear program.Secretary Clinton called on Russia’s government to stall the completion of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran until further notice. Russia is constructing the plant, and expects it to be completed this summer.
Clinton, Lavrov Clash Over Iran Nuclear Plant — News from Antiwar.com
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of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
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