Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items

Senator Bob Brown speaks out against Northern Territory nuclear waste plan

such a project would not be tolerated in other locations in Australia. “Who would want [or] allow in Sydney or Melbourne a uranium mine within the outer fringes of their suburbs,”

Brown questions nuclear dump rationale  ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) 21 April 2010The Greens Senator Bob Brown says a proposed nuclear waste dump at Muckaty Station is not necessary. Continue reading

April 22, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics, uranium | , , , | Leave a comment

Lax controls in possibly corrupt BHP Billiton

BHP Reveals Possible Corruption  Australasian Investment Review – (AIR) 22 April 2010, BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest mining company, has joined its smaller rival, Rio Tinto, in being implicated in possible corrupt activities.The news was buried in the company’s first quarter exploration and development report, issued yesterday……
The ASX and or ASIC should ask BHP to provide more details as soon as possible……The disclosure laws here in Australia will have to be applied to see if BHP has provided timely and adequate disclosure to the local (and London) markets……There’s no word on whether the US Justice Department will become involved, but if it involves a breach of America’s bribery laws, it will.

If the reports are confirmed then authorities in countries in Europe, especially the European Commission and China could also become involved…..the fact that the allegations have been raised by the SEC shows the lax controls inside BHP, Australasian Investment Review

April 22, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, secrets and lies, uranium | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

ERA fails to come clean on Ranger uranium leak

ERA fails to come clean on Ranger uranium leak ,  Scott Ludlam, 21st April 2010, Ranger Uranium Mine. Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) has failed to come clean with shareholders and the people of the Northern Territory about the contaminated water leaking from the Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu National Park during today’s Annual General Meeting in Darwin. Continue reading

April 22, 2010 Posted by | Northern Territory, secrets and lies, uranium | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Can the Mirrar aboriginal people hold out against ERA’s plan to expand uranium mining in Kakadu National Park?

No traditional owners were at the meeting, but they have repeatedly said they do not want Jabiluka mined..

ERA still keen to mine Jabiluka for uranium, By Louisa Rebgetz   ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Apr 21, 2010 Energy Resources of Australia has made it clear it wants to mine the Jabiluka uranium deposit within the Kakadu National Park.

ERA owns and operates the nearby Ranger uranium mine… Continue reading

April 22, 2010 Posted by | aboriginal issues, Northern Territory, uranium | , , , , | 1 Comment

Earthquake in Western Australian mining area

Biggest quake in 50 years hits Australia’s goldfields (open pit) Virginia Against Uranium Mining: Biggest quake Perth, Australia (AFP) April 20, 2010 The biggest earthquake in 50 years rattled Western Australia’s Goldfields region on Tuesday, damaging buildings but not causing any injuries, officials said.The 5.2-magnitude quake, at a shallow depth of just 10 kilometres (six miles), struck just outside the Kalgoorlie-Boulder mining towns at about 8:17 am (0017 GMT), geologists said……..A spokesman for the geoscientific agency said the remote mining centre, about 600 kilometres (370 miles) east of Perth, had not seen an earthquake bigger than 4.2 in the previous half-century.”This is quite a large earthquake for Australia and a shallow, potentially damaging, earthquake,” he said. “It’s the largest event in this area in the last 50 years.” Officials at nearby mines were not immediately available for comment.

Virginia Against Uranium Mining: Biggest quake – Flash Player Installation

April 21, 2010 Posted by | 1, safety, Western Australia | | Leave a comment

An Olympic sized earthquake danger

the EIS Study Team is not competent to evaluate seismic risk. The EIS Study Team did not include any geophysicists – it is essential that the EIS be approved by seismologists,

EARTHQUAKE WARNINGS – SOUTH AUSTRALIANS WAITING FOR THE BIG ONE April 18, 2010 by Coober Pedy Regional Times“.……in 2004 Sandra Kanck, Leader of the South Australian Democrats and Member of the Legislative Council warned that the earthquake risk was too high for the proposed nuclear waste dump at Woomera in South Australia’s Far North……

OLYMPIC DAM: Mashers Fault Mashers Fault and the Seismicity Anticipated to be Stimulated by the Proposed Open Pit Mine at Olympic Dam, By: Edward Cranswick, Geophysicist,


Abstract: The proposed excavation at Olympic Dam of one of the largest open pit mines on Earth, 4.1 km long, 3.5 km wide, 1 km deep, at a bend in the steeply dipping, 35-km-long Mashers Fault, and the associated perturbation of the local groundwater pore pressures in a region of horizontal compressive stress would most likely stimulate local seismicity. Continue reading

April 21, 2010 Posted by | safety, South Australia, uranium | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Australia’s shame: ignoring its “Black Mist” atomic radiation victims

Radiation skin burns from contact with the radioactive Black Rain among Hiroshima victims is officially recognized by the United States.
With such a long and documented history, official Australian ignorance of Beta Radiation Burn to skin as a consequence of contact with nuclear fallout has no excuse………

The Black Mist and its Aftermath, The Black Mist Incident « Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog, 21 April 2010, -Oral Histories by Lallie Lennon A Submission to the Government of South Australia, the Commonwealth Government of Australia and the International Atomic Energy Agency Oral Historian Michele Madigan, 2006 and 2009Transcription and Commentary by Paul Langley…… Continue reading

April 21, 2010 Posted by | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, uranium | , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

U.S. corruption investigation involves BHP Billiton

BHP embroiled in US corruption probe, The West Australian, 21 April 2010, BHP Billiton says it is co-operating with US authorities in an investigation into possible corruption involving government officials. Continue reading

April 21, 2010 Posted by | secrets and lies, uranium | , , , , , | Leave a comment

ANSTO’s SILEX nuclear laser invention is a weapons proliferation risk

“If this [SILEX new laser technology] proliferates, a country could develop material for a nuclear weapon without anyone being able to detect their activity.”

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Says SILEX Needs a Careful Look Newswise 4/13/2010— As global leaders discuss ridding the world of nuclear weapons, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory (NRC) Commission has acknowledged that a new laser technology— which could lead to even more global proliferation – deserves a closer examination.Commonly known as SILEX (Separation of Isotopes by Laser Excitation), the laser technology carries significant proliferation risks because of its small size and low energy use. Continue reading

April 21, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, technology | , , , | Leave a comment

Review: nuclear waste, Security Summit, Non Proliferation

Review. Australia. Government and media doing a fine job keeping quiet about the Senate Inquiry into Radioactive Waste Management Bill, while opposition mounts locally to the Northern territory nuke waste dump plan. South Australia’s Rann govt embarassed at $million cost likely from its court defeat regarding uranium protestors. Confusion in the uranium mining lobby, as prices tumble. Even more confusion about the Nuclear Security Summit plan to promote recycled uranium. Meanwhile ANSTO salivates at the thought of setting up a lucrative nuclear waste management business, and ANSTO’s baby, Silex promotes its dangerous laser nuclear technology.

International: Some 20 countries or more join up to Nuclear security Summit plan to send their enriched uranium to USA  or to Russia, for recycling.  Anxiety over earthquake risks in this plan.  Much confusion over Recycling, Reprocessing, Fast Breeder Reactors, Integral Fast Reactors.  Nuclear lobby gears up, with AREVA promoting its products at Nuclear Security Summit.  More nuclear power promotion for upcoming Non-Proliferation talks. India grappling with problem of nuclear insurance, and of a dramatic radiation exposure incident

April 20, 2010 Posted by | Christina reviews, uranium | , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Australia is complicit in Japan stockpiling plutonium

a problem succinctly explained back in 1982 by current South Australian Premier Mike Rann: “Again and again it has been demonstrated here and overseas that when problems over safeguards prove difficult, commercial considerations will come first.”.…The Rudd Government needs to break this habit and establish an independent inquiry to identify measures to tighten the safeguards system.

The Myth Of The Peaceful Atom, newmatilda.com, By Jim Green, 20 April 2010, “…………Last December, the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND), co-chaired by Australian Gareth Evans and Yoriko Kawaguchi from Japan, released its first report.

Like other bodies ICNND chooses to skim over the proliferation risks arising from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel — Continue reading

April 20, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics international, uranium | , , , , , | Leave a comment

On Renewable Energy: False Claims by Switkowski Report and the Nuclear Lobby

The promoters of nuclear power claim that we have to choose between coal and nuclear, that there is no alternative. This is a false choice, between BHP-Billiton and … BHP-Billiton.

Nuclear power: no solution to climate change, Green Left, quoting Mark Diesendorf , 17 April 2010 “………The 2006 Uranium Mining, Processing and Nuclear Energy Review, chaired by Dr Switkowski..  claimed that “nuclear power is the least-cost low-emission technology that can provide baseload power”. However, there was no basis in the report for such a gratuitous statement, which was outside the terms of reference of the report. Continue reading

April 19, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy, solar, spinbuster, uranium | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Melbourne protest against Ferguson’s nuclear waste dump plan

VIDEO No Dump at Muckaty – Melbourne, 12 April 2010 — EngageMedia

National Day of Action, 12 April, against Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson’s plans for a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty in the Northern Territory. – Jim Green 18 April 2010, Protesters gathered first on the steps of the Victorian Parliament House

before making their way through the lunchtime crowds of the CBD to join Ziggy the nuclear White Elephant at Flinders Street Station. Continue reading

April 17, 2010 Posted by | politics, uranium, Victoria | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rudd govt trying to deceive Australian public over radioactive waste dump

Labor Lied About Nuclear Waste, New Matilda, By Scott Ludlam , 17 April 2010, The Rudd Government is trying to force a nuclear waste dump on a remote Aboriginal community and is hoping that most voters won’t care or notice,Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s proposed “solution” to our 60 year radioactive waste legacy has sparked a major confrontation. Continue reading

April 17, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, secrets and lies, uranium | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Stupidity of South Australia’s pro-uranium govt will cost taxpayers $millions

Justice Anderson awarded the plaintiffs a combined total of $724,000,….Costs will be awarded against the State of South Australia. Senior legal figures in Adelaide and Melbourne estimate that these could be between $4 and $5 million..

Blunder may cost SA millions,  The Independent Weekly, HENDRIK GOUT17 Apr, 2010 Hendrik Gout investigates the protest that went terribly wrong and became frightfully expensive. Continue reading

April 17, 2010 Posted by | civil liberties, South Australia, uranium | , , , , , , | 1 Comment