Australia’s nuclear waste danger
Obama’s visit later this year may well lead to Australia becoming an international nuclear waste dump – THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY and RADIOACTIVE WASTES – our theme for June 2010 With the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill, the Australian government is setting Australia up for a possible later step in the sorry story of nuclear wastes.
The decision to impose a nuclear waste dump on Northern Territory Aboriginal land has been followed quickly by an agreement between the Australian government and President Obama, on sharing nuclear technology. And this will now be followed by Obama’s visit to Australia – just at the time when 
Obama is in deep trouble over the USA’s growing mass of nuclear wastes.
At the same time, Obama has set up a (somewhat pro-nuclear industry) “Blue Ribbon Panel” to find out what on earth to do with USA’s nuclear wastes
Australia is still signed up to the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation , (that’s the new name for the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership), by which uranium -selling countries agree to take back nuclear wastes from overseas countries
Senator Scott Ludlam raises nuclear problems in Senate Estimates
Reporting on Senate Estimates Committee, Scott Ludlam, 19 June 2010, Midway through week one, estimates got radioactive as it always does. A serious leak of radioactive water from the Ranger Uranium Mine into Kakadu National Park made my usual talk with the Office of the Supervising Scientist a little more interesting, with new revelations emerging about pollution spikes and long term impacts in Kakadu. Continue reading
Video on Nuclear waste Dump for Australian Aboriginal Land
VIDEO Australia nuclear waste dump row – Asia-Pacific – Al Jazeera English Asia-Pacific – Al Jazeera 17 June 2010, Australia’s government is pushing its plans for a nuclear waste dump in a remote part of the country’s Northern Territory.It has signed an agreement with the traditional owners of the land who will receive $10m in compensation, most of it in cash.But the proposed nuclear dump has divided local people while and environmentalists warn it could one day be used to store waste from overseas.Al Jazeera’s Azhar Sukri reports.
Labor’s sorry record on uranium mining and Aboriginal rights
Ark Tribe faces the bosses’ court – time for unions to get back on the front foot, Socialist Alliance Unionists, 17 June 2010, “…..Indigenous rights? The racist and humiliating Northern Territory Intervention. Uranium mining? Looming open slather for mining bosses. So why support the ALP? 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 .
Leading Australian law firms take up case against Muckaty nuclear waste dump
Maurice Blackburn, Julian Burnside, charged with waste dump action 3 June 2010 | by The New Lawyer THE Commonwealth Government and the Northern Land
Council will face a Federal Court legal challenge over plans for a radioactive waste dump in the Northern Territory.Maurice Blackburn Lawyers is working with NSW law firm Surry Partners, and Julian Burnside QC, to commence proceedings challenging the nomination of the Indigenous land, at Muckaty Station near Tennant Creek. Continue reading
Legal case: Aboriginal owners do not want nuclear waste dump on their land
Mr Newhouse says his clients do not want compensation but for the nomination of the site to be withdrawn.
NT nuclear waste dump faces legal challenge. ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), By Jane Bardon and Gina Marich Jun 3, 2010 A legal challenge to the Federal Government’s plan to establish a national nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory has been taken to the Federal Court. Continue reading
Review: Nuke waste resisted, Radiation and Breast Cancer
Australia: Muckaty Aboriginal owners take their fight internationally. To public outcry, Paul Howes pushes for uranium mining in Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary. Martin Ferguson manages to avoid supporting real progress in renewable energy. Tony Abbott promises to slow renewable energy. Calls to phase out Victoria’s brown coal, and move to job intensive renewables.
International: Renewed concern over special cancer dangers for women and the young, from ionising radiation. Water issues threaten nuclear industry’s future. UK’s new govt raises doubts on new nuclear. Iran does uranium swap deal with Turkey. Cannes film festival launches “Countdown to Zero”. Indian community action stops uranium mining in National Park.
Muckaty nuclear waste battle goes to a global audience
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcuNpT84Ov
The proposed waste dump law excludes the Muckaty Traditional Owners from procedural fairness and appeal rights, removes Aboriginal Heritage and environmental protections and overrides any Commonwealth, State and Territory laws that could be used to oppose or challenge the dump plan.
From the campfire to cyberspace: Radioactive waste concerns go global, Natalie Wasley, 18 May 2001 Aboriginal Traditional Owners opposed to a radioactive waste dump at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory of Australia have taken their campaign to a global online audience. Continue reading
Labor breaks election promise to set up inappropriate nuclear waste dump
Medical experts – including nuclear medicine practitioners – confirm that Australians can continue to have unimpeded access to diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicines without the need for this dump.
Labor reneges on nuclear waste promise, The Age, DAVE SWEENEY, May 14, 2010 –Before the 2007 election, federal Labor promised a new approach to the management of radioactive waste, Continue reading
Ionising radiation double the cancer risk for the young
Younger Patients Face Double Radiation Risk from CT Scans: Study, Ethiopian Review, May 13th, 2010 Younger patients run a higher risk of health problems from radiation exposure caused by computed tomography (CT) scans, according to a new study. Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina found that the radiation risk for younger patients were double those of older patients in a CT radiation exposure study presented last week at the American Roentgen Ray Society 2010 annual meeting in San Diego, CA. Scientists say that the findings indicate that age is another factor that doctors should consider when ordering CT scans. Younger Patients Face Double Radiation Risk from CT Scans: Study
Australian Government postpones Nuclear Waste Bill, Spurns Discussion with Greens
Ferguson’s response was “I don’t deal with the Greens, why would I deal with the Greens, we don’t deal with the Greens” and walked off.
The government’s strange flip flops on nuclear, Crikey, by Bernard Keane, 13 May 2010, “….This week it [the Australian Government] was preparing to speed its National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010 through parliament, with the aid of an unusually compliant opposition. The bill was scheduled for today but has been dropped ahead of higher priority bills. It is expected to return in June. Continue reading
Review: Nuke waste, media silence, environmental causes of cancer
Australia: Strangely absent from the mainstream media was the Senate’s Report,giving green light to Martin Ferguson’s Muckaty nuclear waste dump plan. Also strangely absent, a new agreement between Obama and Rudd on nuclear technology co-operation. But – lots of coverage given to BHP’s objections to a super profit resource tax. Tony Abbott ‘educates’ kids towards Climate Change scepticism. Federal govt might compensate Maralinga vets, perhaps to prevent legal case.
International: U.S. President’s Cancer Panel Report spells out environmental causes, including ionising radiation. Israel under pressure to admit to its nuclear weapons. Germany less likely now to restart nuclear power. India’s Parliament in turmoil over nuclear insurance to help foreign nuclear companies. Uranium prices and revenues low. World Bank finds nuclear power uneconomic. – the week that has been
Legal challenge preparing against Australia’s plan to dump nuclear waste on aboriginal land
Lawyers step in as waste dump gets nod, ABC Alice Springs – Australian Broadcasting Corporation, By Alex Johnson 11 May 2010, A team of solicitors will travel to Tennant Creek today to prepare their case against the Federal Government’s plan to build a nuclear waste dump north of the town. Continue reading
Australia’s nuclear waste dump plan affects all Australians
Once again, Australia’s Aboriginal land rights are to be trampled by White Australia’s ignorance and apathy, (helped along by the subservient mass media), and by corporate greed. Not much comfort for Aboriginal owners of the Muckaty area – but eventually, even White Australians will suffer from this.
BUT – the fight is not over – as support for the Muckaty land owners and national resistance build among Australians of any colour.
1 This month
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