Australian govt quietly planning expansion of ANSTO’s nuclear facility
Central Australia to get nuclear waste dump Herald Sun AAP * March 09, 2010 “…federal parliament’s public works committee is holding an inquiry into proposed extensions to the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) facility at Lucas Heights, in Sydney’s south. Continue reading
Review: Nuclear waste dumping, nuclear’s costs and safety
Australia: Others join Maralinga veterans’ court case. Mounting opposition to NT nuclear waste dump, while both major parties push for it. Movement for sustainable energy becoming nationally organised
International: Questions in U.S. Congress about financial risks of Obama’s nukes policy, as States become anxious over costs and safety. Pro nukes enthuise over “clean”, “renewable” nuclear energy Safety risks raised over UK’s planned French nuclear reactors, while France mounts push to sell nuke reactors to 3rd World. Practicality and popularity of renewable energy continues to grow.
Melbourne’s big nuclear debate was a blow to the nuclear industry
“Should Australia Embrace Nuclear Power?” – The big debate at the Melbourne Town Hall, on March 4, – resulted in an audience swing of opinion against nuclear power
A poll before the debate found an eight percent margin in favour of nuclear power. A poll taken immediately after the debate revealed a margin of 24 percent against nuclear power – 34 percent in favour, 58 percent against. This 32 percent turn-around was all the more striking given that the pro-nuclear debating team included high-profile nuclear advocates Dr Ziggy Switkowski and Dr James Hansen.
The video will be posted sometime soon at:
http://www.iq2oz.com/events/event-details/2010-series-melbourne/01-march.php
ABC TV will broadcast the debate on “Big Ideas’, possibly on 23rd March.
Muckaty nuclear waste dump plan threatens groundwater
Muckaty station sits above an ancient aquifer which is used by both the aborigines for drinking water and white station owners to water their cattle. It also experiences large intermittent rainfalls during the year.
A heresy is occurring in Australia, anthropologyworks by Helen Caldicott, 8 March 2010, “….the current abuse and desecration of several aboriginal tribes inhabiting their land in the Northern Territory. This land called Muckaty station is conveniently located adjacent to the railway line, constructed recently by Dick Cheney’s former company Halliburton, which bisects Australia connecting Darwin, a port in the north, to Adelaide a port in the south. Continue reading
Who pays for nuclear power’s “Front End” and “Back end” ?
Who pays for the hidden costs of nuclear power? Why don’t we talk about the short and long-term costs of the “Front End” – the uranium industry, and of the” Back End” – finished nuclear reactors, and nuclear wastes. (Doncha love that euphemism “Decommissioning” of the dead nuclear reactors? )
“Robust” a wobbly word for discussing nuclear industry?
The forthcoming visit of President Obama is indeed very low key in the Australian media. Amongst the issues to dicuss, we learn that the talk will be “robust”
“Robust” – another one of those Wobbly Words – that serve to obscure meaning – e.g meaning about possible plans for the US to Lease uranium from Australia, thus returning nuclear wastes to ….where?- well, of course – aboriginal land in the Northern Territory
Deliberate deception about “need” for nuclear waste on aboriginal land
In the item below, we learn that medical radioactive waste is negligible as a long term storage program, compared to nuclear reactor spent fuel waste. The radiologist kindly suggests that Martin Ferguson, (Australia’s Minister For Promoting the Nuclear Industry) is “confused”.
It sounds to me more as if Ferguson is determined to impose nuclear waste dumping on Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory – as part of the campaign to open up Australia to international nuclear waste dumping.
Martin Ferguson’s confused claims about medical radioactive waste
Waste is not from nuclear medicine , ABC Radio Darwin, 5 March 2010, By Liz Trevaskis
“…….Nuclear radiologist Peter Karamoskos spoke to Leon Compton on the Morning program. He explained that the majority of nuclear medicine procedures do not produce waste that requires long term storage.
He says that “I think the Minister is probably a little bit confused about what he refers to as nuclear medicine…. nearly all nuclear medicine involves short acting radio isotopes which usually decay on site, and then are disposed of into the normal environment.”
“The amount of waste is commensurately small when compared to the vast bulk of the waste which will be stored at the repository, which is the nuclear fuel waste.” http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/03/04/2836622.htm?site=darwin
Northern Territory govt against Martion Ferguson’s nuclear waste dump
“There was extensive research done between 1992 and 2004 to identify any number of sites around Australia, none of which were in the Northern Territory.”
Traditional owners ‘united’ behind nuclear dump, By Alison Middleton ABC News Mar 3, “… Continue reading
Lax security at BHP’s Yeelirrie uranium tailings dump
Children accessing old uranium site ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)Mar 3, 2010 BHP Billiton says it will step up security at an old uranium testing site in Kalgoorlie after concerns children are accessing the area.Labor’s candidate for the federal seat of O’Connor, Ian Bishop, says damage to a security gate has allowed children to enter the site at Hannan’s north on dirt bikes. More than 5,000 tonnes of tailings from the Yeelirrie uranium deposit, near Wiluna, were buried in the area after BHP stopped testing ore-processing there in the 1980s.
Greens Senator warns on divisive effects of nuclear waste dump on Aboriginal land
Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam says the plan to build a radioactive waste dump in the region has become extremely divisive.
Aborigines discuss nuclear proposal on tribal land By Phil Mercer,BBC News, 3 march 2010, Sydney Aboriginal groups have held a public meeting to debate controversial plans to build Australia’s first nuclear waste dump on tribal land…. Continue reading
Open your eyes, Australia, on nuke dumping on Aboriginal land
Australian aboriginals to discuss nuclear proposal on tribal land, Open Your Eyes News 4 March 2010 First you steal their land; then you wipe out 90% of their population, mainly through diseases; then you steal their children; then you use their land for nuclear bomb testing; then you count them as “flora & forna” in censuses until 1967; and then you dump the world’s nuclear waste on the desert land that you recently and reluctantly gave back.
Open Your Eyes News » Australian aboriginals to discuss nuclear proposal on tribal land
Obama’s bailout of the nuclear industry should be stopped
Nuclear power is so financially risky that even Wall Street won’t bet on it. It’s a public health and financial disaster waiting to happen.
Stop the Nuclear Industry Bailout Green Ferret, March 3, 2010 President Obama has proposed a whopping $54 billion in loan guarantees for the construction of new nuclear power plants.What does that mean? Continue reading
Justice sought for “Woomera babies”, aborigines, servicemen
“We are dealing with generations of people who have been affected by radiation from the fallout and who have never had that acknowledged,”
“The medical science now exists in order to prove these injuries are linked to the tests.”
Aborigines to sue British Government over nuclear tests Telegraph.co UK By Bonnie Malkin, 02 Mar 2010 “…..Among the Australians seeking compensation are families of the “Woomera babies” – 60 infants who died, some without explanation, during the decade of testing. Woomera lies 600km west of the test site at Maralinga and some believe the town could have been affected by fallout from the nuclear blasts.
Other alleged victims of the blasts have told of a “black mist” of fallout descending on their homes after the explosions. Continue reading
Pacific islanders fear radiation at nuclear test islands
Abon sees resettlement of Rongelap Atoll as “impossible” because only a small part of the atoll has had its nuclear contamination cleaned, while the population has grown significantly, meaning they need to use more islands to comfortably resettle.
ISLANDERS LOATH TO RETURN TO NUKED HOME, PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT March 2, 2010,
“….March 1 is a national holiday that recognizes Nuclear Victims Day in the Marshall Islands. This year, which marks the 25th year since Rongelap Islanders’ self-evacuated their radioactive islands, islanders are facing a U.S. ultimatum: move back to Rongelap in 2011 or face cutoff of funding support for the “temporary” community at Mejatto Island in Kwajalein Atoll, where about 400 islanders have lived since their 1985 evacuation….. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 