Australia’s trade sanctions against Iran
Australia is pretty good at posturing as a leader in nuclear weapons non-proliferation. Trouble is, Australia is also a leader in selling nuclear fuel to several nuclear weapons countries.
Australia unveils unilateral Iran sanctions , PRESSTV, 15 Jun 2010 Less than a week after the UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran, Australia says it is planning unilateral punitive measures. Continue reading
China’s secrecy over nuclear radiation leak
The report said a large amount of radioactive iodine was released into the air.It said the plant’s management had kept the incident secret
China nuke leak ‘kept secret’ The Australianm AFP June 16, 2010 HONG KONG: A nuclear plant in China’s southern Guangdong province has recorded a small leak, the Hong Kong government said yesterday, after the incident was exposed by a US-based radio station….. Continue reading
Japan’s space junk falls on aboriginal land
Joy and delight, it seems, greets the fall of the asteroid bit, onto already contaminated Aboriginal land at Woomera!
Now I ask you – who, other than the Aborigines, would we expect to be delighted about a bit of metallic junk being flung onto their property?
First the Aborigines got atomic bombs, then uranium mining, now radioactive wastes, now space junk…!
Space probe returns to Earth from trip to asteroid, Google hosted news, By TANALEE SMITH (AP) –14 June 2010,”… It is the first time that a spacecraft has successfully landed on an asteroid and returned to Earth……
Japanese space probe to land in Australian outback, news90, June 13, 2010 · “…local Aboriginal elders,.. will fly out in a helicopter to check it has not damaged any sites sacred to the local indigenous people. – (and what if it has? – too late now!)
USA finally supports South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty
POLITICS: US MOVES TO SUPPORT NUCLEAR FREE ZONE TREATY, Islands Business, Nic Maclellan, 11 June 2010, In a major policy change, the US government has announced it will move to support the Rarotonga Treaty for a South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone (SPNFZ)—25 years after the treaty was first signed by Pacific nations. Continue reading
Churches report on Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty review conference
Churches seeking specific steps to stop nuclear arms shared long-standing disappointments – plus a few new grounds for hope – with many governments and most of the 120 civil society organisations in New York during May for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference.
Majority puts new pressure on minority’s nuclear weapons, Ekklesia, By Jonathan Frerichs, 9 Jun 2010 Is it time to start work on banning nuclear weapons? “Yes” says a growing majority of governments and civil society groups. “No” insists a tiny nuclear-armed minority. Continue reading
Honeymoon uranium mine to be controlled by Russian govt
Moscow moves on global uranium mines The Australian * June 10, 2010 RUSSIA has moved to boost its holdings in global uranium mines, with state-owned Rosatom agreeing to take a controlling stake in Canada’s Uranium One……If the deal goes ahead, it will put the Honeymoon uranium project in South Australia, scheduled to come into production at the end of the year, under the control of the Russian government.…. Continue reading
Australian uranium will help Russia to run Iran’s nuclear plant
Rosatom Agrees to First Asset Sale to Foreign Investor, The Moscow Times, 09 June 2010By Anatoly Medetsky “…..Kiriyenko announced that Russia and Iran would jointly run Iran’s first nuclear power plant that Rosatom plans to launch in August…..
Under a deal signed in 2007, which Australia also has yet to ratify, Russia will be able to import Australian uranium for use at its own nuclear power plants after enrichment…….Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said at the end of April that the country would ratify the agreement. He didn’t say when.Rosatom Agrees to First Asset Sale to Foreign Investor | Business | The Moscow Times
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 .
The definitive story on nuclear power and health
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 will not sell uranium to India, will sell gas
Mr Smith reiterated that his country will not change its stand on uranium exports.
Australia keen to supply gas but baulks on uranium , The Hindu Business Line K Giriprakash Perth, June 7 Australia on Monday said it is willing to supply more gas to Indian companies but remained firm on its stand on supplying uranium to only NPT-signatory countries. Continue reading
Nuclear Abolition Day marked in Melbourne
…The ICAN video can be viewed on YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yVXLDA3YMM – and see also the ICAN Australia website entry – http://www.icanw.org/node/5252
Nuclear Abolition in Melbourne 4 June 2010 On the eve of Nuclear Abolition Day ICAN Australia launched a new short video entitled “Who by Fire” based on retelling of the legend of Prometheus and Pandora displayed in a mural on the wall of the Fire Station Museum on Victoria Parade. Before the screening, which took place at Trades Hall, there was a peace picnic in Parliament Gardens, courtesy of Friends of the Earth ACE Collective, and a live performance of the work interspersed with live music and rap. Members of the audience – including several from Japanese for Peace – stood in the grounds of St Peter’s Eastern Hill church opposite the Museum, and 23 of them held lanterns, each representing 1000 nuclear weapons, this being the total world arsenal today …The ICAN video can be viewed on YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yVXLDA3YMM – and see also the ICAN Australia website entry – http://www.icanw.org/node/5252
ACE Collective
Australia agrees: Israel should come clean on its nukes
Make the Middle East nuclear-free, says Stephen Smith From: AAP News.com.au June 02, 2010 AUSTRALIA has lent some support to the goal of ridding the Middle East of nuclear weapons – which would mean forcing Israel to disarm. Continue reading
Review: hypocrisy on uranium and nuclear industry
Australia: what a load of hypocrisy is going on. about the Resources Tax! BHP saying that Olympic Dam uranium mine’s expansion is threatened. Of course it is! – By the collapse of the uranium market ! ANSTO forced to admit its safety failures. And, we wait to see if Peter Garrett will be able to promote AREVA’s uranium mining in Koongarra, while he still poses as Minister for Environment
International: hypocrisy as the closing Nuclear Non Proliferation conference promotes the nuclear industry, as pro-nukes suggest nuke bombing the oil spill, as the industry touts new, little, thorium reactors. All in a desperate bid to keep the “peaceful” nuclear industry afloat, as nuclear reactors age and close down, while new ones just aren’t getting built, except in secretive totalitarian states, such as China
Iraq: legal action over depleted uranium babies
Atomic radiation has increased the number of babies born with defects in the southern provinces of Iraq.
VIDEO
Fallujah babies born with birth defects as a result of Depleted Uranium WMD contaminated dust. 1 June 2010, Iraq WILL sue US and Britain over depleted uranium bombs (FULL story here- http://www.presstv.ir) Ministry for Human Rights will file a lawsuit against Britain and the US over their use of depleted uranium bombs in Iraq, an Iraqi minister says. 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
1 This month
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