100% renewable energy for UK data centre
U.K. data center commits to 100 percent renewable energy sources, ZDNet, By Heather Clancy | June 9, 2010, The operator of a newly opened 750,000 square foot data center in Wales has contracted with a renewable energy supplier to ensure that all of the energy that powers the new facility is generated from renewable energy sources. Continue reading
Review: resources tax, India’s dilemma, oil gusher
Australia: a seemingly quiet week. Obama cancels visit to Australia. Mainstream media continue to ignore Senator Scott Ludlam’s penetrating questioning on matters nuclear – (the taxpayer funded Uranium Council lobby, Muckaty nuclear waste plan, nuclear weapons proliferation..) BHP and Rio spend a sizable little of their massive profits to fight the govt’s super profit resources tax. These corporations fear that other countries might take up the idea too. Union push against health danger of uranium mining.
International: Dow Chemical Company escapes justice after 25 years, and hundreds of thousands of deaths from the Bhopal gas disaster. A portent for India’s nuclear energy future? Meanwhile USA seeks to prosecute BP over oil spill. U.S looks like getting useless Climate legislation. Pointless debate over nuclear bombing as a solution to BP’s oil gush .
Australian city to lead in smart-grid renewable energy
help households save energy, connect renewable energy to the grid and tackle climate change.
$100m ‘green city’ trial in Newcastle, Kidsolo’s Newspaper , 8 June 2010, Newcastle is about to become the nation’s greenest city and is about to undergo one of its biggest transformations yet. A consortium led by EnergyAustralia won the federal government’s $100 million Smart Grid, Smart City bid yesterday. Newcastle will soon be the heart of Australia’s first commercial-scale smart grid. Continue reading
The definitive story on nuclear power and health
I recommend that you download, print off, and study at your leisure, the complete article – from
Evatt Foundation: Publication: Nuclear power & public health – 31 May 2010
Nuclear power & public health, Evatt Foundation:, By Peter Karamoskos, 31 May 2010“… there is a linear dose-response relationship between exposure to ionizing radiation and the development of solid cancers in humans. It is unlikely that there is a threshold below which cancers are not induced.” – National Academy of Science, BEIR VII report, 2006
“We need to develop a very firm commitment to the elimination of nuclear power as a source of energy on the earth.” – Russell Train, former US Environmental Protection Agency administrator, 1977″
[t]he [economic] failure of the U.S. nuclear power program ranks as the largest managerial disaster in business history, a disaster on a monumental scale.” – Forbes, 1985
Introduction
The public health implications for a resurgence of nuclear power appear to have taken a subordinate position to the economic and global warming arguments that the industry has advanced to justify its expansion. The purpose of this essay therefore is several-fold: to review the scientific evidence for public health impacts of nuclear power, to assess occupational hazards faced by nuclear industry workers involved in the nuclear fuel cycle, to assess the evidence for nuclear reactor safety and critically challenge the underlying assumptions which may be less than adequate. It will also examine the public health risks of spent fuel from nuclear power reactors. The common thread linking these safety issues is the risk posed to public health by ionising radiation and in particular the cancer risk. The nuclear industry and our understanding of radioactive health hazards, developed in tandem during the twentieth century, however, the relationship to this day has always been uneasy and often in conflict. A brief historical narrative of this joint evolution is reviewed as it is essential to understanding the context and scope of the public health issues at the heart of the nuclear power debate.
If we are to believe the nuclear industry, nuclear power is both safe and vital to our future, yet over half a century of nuclear power has proven both contentions as false……
Evatt Foundation: Publication: Nuclear power & public health – 31 May 2010
Australia-wide campaign on action on Climate Change
climate action groups around the country, .. launched a national 100% renewables campaign on May 2.……..For more details visit 100percent.org.au.
Natural gas can play a role in move to renewable energy
Diesendorf also supports “a limited role for gas, because renewable energy is not yet ready to take over all of gas’s roles”.
Replace Hazelwood with gas? Green Left Weekly, June 5, 2010 By Ben Courtice “.., Environment Victoria has taken up the campaign with enthusiasm. A report for EV by energy market analysts Green Energy Markets (GEM) has provided one plan for replacing Hazelwood. Launching the report, GEM director Ric Brazzale said: “By combining new renewable energy with efficient gas and energy efficiency measures we can cut Hazelwood’s annual emissions of 16.2 million tonnes to 1.8 million tonnes, which would reduce Victoria’s emissions by 12% annually, as well as freeing up 27 billion litres of water for other uses.” Continue reading
NSW wind power project approved, despite fossil fuel lobby’s hype
coal and nuclear power industries are spreading bad press about wind power as it is presently their main renewable competitor,…“Local anti-wind groups have sucked up their propaganda.”…..wind power has the cheapest operational costs. “
Wind Power a Concern for Some Communities, Epoch Times, By Cassie Ryan, 31 May 2010, In Australia this month, Epuron’s 73-turbine Gullen Range wind farm in New South Wales was approved, Continue reading
5 U.S. states can co-ordinate wind and solar power
A Bullish View of Wind Power Out West, NYTimes.com, By JOHN COLLINS, RUDOLF, June 1, 2010, Wind energy has plenty going for it: it is clean, unlimited in supply and the most economical source of renewable power. Its clearest drawback is unreliability: sometimes the wind just does not blow.But that intermittency – long considered a major shortcoming – may have little impact on the potential for wind to power much of the electric grid in the western United States, according to a new study by the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab. Continue reading
The declining status of nuclear energy
Ockham’s Razor – 30 May 2010 – Nuclear energy: a panacea for climate change?
Nuclear energy: a panacea for climate change?. ABC Radio National, Ockham’s Razor, Dr Adam Lucas – 30 May 2010 “………..What is the status of nuclear energy in the world at the moment? And do the arguments of its proponents stand up to scrutiny?Nuclear energy is currently responsible for generating around 14% of the world’s electricity. And although nuclear contributes anything from 2% to 6% of the world’s total energy needs, it has been steadily losing out to renewables over the last decade or so, which now contribute between 7% and 20% of total global energy. Continue reading
Australian union (AMWU)’s call for 100% renewable energy
WA metal workers call for 100% renewable energy by 2020 Green Left Weekly May 29, 2010 – from a motion passed at the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union state conference in Western Australia on May 27. “……The delay in the uptake of renewable energy is historically due to the fact that the fossil fuel lobby has been able to dominate energy. A “business as usual” model will not address the urgency of climate change.100% renewable energy by 2020 is achievable. It is also necessary to combat climate change in such a manner as to negate the pro-uranium lobby. The demand for 100% renewable energy by 2020 is an international campaign that we need to not only support but be prepared to take action in support of, thereby attaining a nuclear-free future…” WA metal workers call for 100% renewable energy by 2020 | Green Left Weekly
Egypt: $110 billion for renewables, mainly wind
Egypt Government to Invest in Wind, From $110 Billion Renewable Energy Budget, Green Prophet, May 28, 2010 The Egyptian government has announced plans to generate 1,000 megawatts of wind power this year. Speaking at the energy forum for the Middle East and North Africa 2010, Egypt’s Electricity Minister Hassan Younis said that the country is ready to increase its capabilities in alternative energy projects by 2027. Continue reading
Do your savings go to promote the nuclear industry?
Banktrack is a coalition of citizen organisations whose research campaign is tracking down those financial institutions bankrolling the nuclear industry.
This is the secret the www.nuclearbanks.org website will tell you.
Nuclear banks? No thanks! | Greenpeace International, by jmckeati – May 26, 2010 , Today sees the launch of the http://www.nuclearbanks.org website, a joint venture between BankTrack, Greenpeace International, Urgewald (Germany), Les Amis de la Terre (France), Antiatom Szene (Austria), WISE (the Netherlands) and CRBM (Italy).Banks around the world love to boast about their investments in green technologies and renewable energy. What they don’t like to boast about is their involvement with the dirty and dangerous business of nuclear power. Continue reading
Nuclear energy push is the central aim of U.S. Climate Bill
Nuclear Energy Has a Friend in Heads of Obama’s BP Oil Disaster Commission, by kgosztola May 25, 2010“……..Public Citizen reports the current climate legislation is a “nuclear energy-promoting, oil drilling-championing, coal mining-boosting” piece of legislation “with a weak carbon pricing mechanism thrown in.” The public interest groups warns against the nuclear power incentives currently in the climate change bill:
At its core, this legislation is all about promoting nuclear power and handing taxpayers the bill. Consider: Continue reading
Huge anti nuclear protest in Switzerland
Swiss anti-nuclear protest gathers 4,000 Solothurn, Switzerland (GenevaLunch), 26 May 2010, – More than 4,000 people gathered in Goesgen, canton Solothurn, in northern Switzerland Monday, for a peaceful protest against the continuing development of nuclear energy in the country. The protest had participants from 83 groups in Switzerland, France, Germany and Austria. One of their key points was that switzerland’s nuclear power plans are preventing the rapid development of alternative energy programmes. GenevaLunch » Swiss anti-nuclear protest gathers 4,000
USA’s western electricity grid ready now for solar, wind power, transmission
Should these utilities succeed in coordinating their efforts and realize even 27 percent wind and solar power, they would cut carbon emissions by 25 to 45 percent. It would also lessen fuel and emissions costs by 40 percent, depending on the future prices of natural gas.
Western States Could Reach 35% Renewable Power by 2017, The Energy Collective, by Taylen Peterson on 05/24/2010 , The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) says the western US electric grid could harness up to 35 percent of its energy from wind and solar power within seven years — and without any major upgrades to the existing electric network. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 