Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items

Obama to visit Australia, nuclear issues to be discussed

Australia, U.S. to discuss nuclear, economy issues next month   English News, CANBERRA, May 28 (Xinhua) — Nuclear weapons and economic recovery will top the agenda when U.S. President Barack Obama visits Australia in mid-June, U.S. ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich said on Friday.Bleich said there would be “a lot to talk about” when Obama meets Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Canberra……  Australia, U.S. to discuss nuclear, economy issues next month

May 31, 2010 Posted by | uranium | , , , , | Leave a comment

Escalating and long term costs of nuclear wastes

The equipment and reactors cannot easily or cheaply be dismantled and will remain radioactive for hundreds of years

Nuclear and radioactive waste disposal – by Patrick Boniface -Helium, 30 May 2010, Nuclear waste is dangerously toxic, its environmental impact if released would be devastating, as was witnessed during both the Chernobyl explosion, the American Three Mile Island scare and the Windscale fire of 1957.In these cases radioactive material was released into the atmosphere. With the Windscale fire some 15,000 terabequerels (TBq) of radioactive material (notably Iodine-131) were released (3). Continue reading

May 31, 2010 Posted by | uranium | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Northern Territory to become China’s uranium colony?

Uranium powers Chinese interest in NT Northern Territory News |NADJA HAINKE May 28th, 2010

CHINA is turning to the Northern Territory to source uranium in its ever-increasing need for power. Territory Uranium Company has received immense attention from several Chinese businesses wanting to invest in its exploration projects in the NT.

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But it is believed no solid agreements have yet been reached…..Managing director Ian Bamborough said …… Territory Uranium Company was keen to sell off about 50 per cent of its shares as more funding would mean more drilling…………

……One of the prospects getting particular interest from Chinese businesses is the Daly River project, about 350km south of Darwin…….

Environmental surveys and negotiations with traditional owners have yet to be completed. Uranium powers Chinese interest in NT | Northern Territory News | Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia | ntnews.com.au

May 28, 2010 Posted by | business, Northern Territory, uranium | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

May 27, 2010 Posted by | uranium | , , , , | Leave a comment

3rd degree examines Western Australia’s uranium problems

The 3rd degree is a community radio show on 2ser 107.3 FM bringing meaningful climate change dialogue to the Sydney airwaves. We’re a crew of people involved in environmental movementsTune In!Listen to the 3rd degree Thursdays 9-9.30am est on 2SER 107.3FM or online here
Click here to download our nuclear special!
Ep.105: Western Australia – the nuclear state?

There are several proposed mines being processed at the moment, many on Indigenous homelands. Western Australia also doesn’t have a regulatory framework to deal with the risks of nuclear mining and many community members are concerned about this….. who is exploring where, what is being planned and what does the community say?

the 3rd degree: Ep. 105: Western Australia – the nuclear state?

May 27, 2010 Posted by | energy, General News, uranium | , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Campaign to remove BHP’s special legal exemptions for Olympic Dam uranium mine

Friends of the Earth is currently working on a campaign to have the SA Roxby Downs Indenture Act repealed. This legislation allows the mine to operate with wide-ranging exemptions from the Aboriginal Heritage Protection Act, the Environment Protection Act, the Natural Resources Act and the Freedom of Information Act………….

Radioactive Exposure tour at Olympic Dam, The Monitor Newspaper : by Celeste Lustosa, 27 May 2010, The Friends of the Earth conducted their annual Radioactive Exposure Tour from May 14 to 23.  As part of this event, they were in the Roxby Downs / Olympic Dam area from Sunday, May 16. Continue reading

May 27, 2010 Posted by | energy, politics, South Australia, uranium | , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tony Abbott would sell uranium to India

Australia’s Abbott Wants Japan Trade Deal, India Uranium Sale, Bloomberg Business Week By Marion Rae May 25 — Australia will try to clinch a trade deal with Japan, boosting ties with its second-largest trading partner after China, and will sell uranium to India under a Liberal-National government, opposition leader Tony Abbott said..

…The coalition will build a “strong strategic partnership” with Japan, including stronger military links and a conclusion to free trade talks, and will “overturn Labor’s ban on uranium exports,” Abbott said today in a speech to the Asialink-Asia Society forum in Canberra……Rudd’s government doesn’t allow uranium to be sold to India for energy use because the South Asian country hasn’t signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

That ban will be scrapped, opening a new market for uranium producers such as BHP Billiton Ltd., Energy Resources of Australia Ltd., which is controlled by Rio Tinto Group, and explorers such as Toro Energy Ltd., Abbott said. Australia’s Abbott Wants Japan Trade Deal, India Uranium Sale – BusinessWeek

May 26, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy, politics, uranium | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Review: Kakadu, Israel’s nukes, UK’s muddle

Australia: Doubts on the future of uranium mining are really the result of the financial crisis in Europe. Still  BHP, ERA etc grasp the opportunity to blame  the Australian govt’s proposed new resources profit tax. BHP plans transporting uranium through W.A. towns.  ERA’s uranium mine leaking into Kakadu National Park. Women peace walkers ,- part of Footprints For Peace International,  arrive in Canberra. Lucas Heights about to close down old nuclear reactor.

International: Israel in awkward double standards over nuclear weapons.  USA’s far right pushing for hawkish nuclear policy. World uranium stockpiling up, as its market in the doldrums. UK’s nuclear policy in a muddle. Marshall Islanders to be sent back to polluted islands.Native Americans fighting new uranium mining. Conflict of interest in USA’s Radiation Health Study

May 25, 2010 Posted by | Christina reviews, uranium, water | , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Uranium mine’s radioactive leak raises doubts on Cameco’s planned mine close to Alice Springs

No clean water, no Alice Springs. Is a uranium mine worth the risk? Judging by the experience of the Mirrar people in Kakadu — no way.

Kakadu’s tainted water is a no-go for Alice Springs, The Age, Jess Abrahams, Arid Lands Environment Centre, Alice Springs, 25 May 2010, URANIUM mining is not a safe or sustainable industry for Australia.The Ranger mine is meant to epitomise world’s best practice.But a poorly engineered dam apparently collapsed, spilling 6 million litres of radioactive water into the Gulungul Creek, which flows into Kakadu. Is this the best the uranium mining industry can manage?

Here in Alice Springs, Canadian company Cameco wants to dig a uranium mine at Angela Pamela, just over 10 kilometres from the southern outskirts of town. Continue reading

May 25, 2010 Posted by | environment, Northern Territory, uranium, water | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hanford’s radioactive waste- no solution in sight

one of the biggest challenges the US nuclear weapons complex, and consequentially, the Department of Energy, has ever had to deal with………… the tanks were leaking, and the government had failed to report the leaks and the spreading contamination……….

Cleaning Up After The Cold War: Hanford’s Tank Waste, Daily Kos:by Page van der Linden  May 23, 2010 “…..the remote sites around the United States, consisting of laboratories and manufacturing facilities, the complex that made The Bomb possible. And unless you’re very familiar with this complex, or you’re a resident of the Pacific Northwest, you may not know about a remote part of Washington State known as the Hanford Site…… Continue reading

May 25, 2010 Posted by | uranium | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Uranium mining radioactively pollutes Kakadu National Park

Mine fears grow as pollutants flow to Kakadu, Sydney Morning Herald, LINDSAY MURDOCH May 24, 2010


MILLIONS of litres of radioactive water from the Ranger uranium mine have flowed into internationally acclaimed and World Heritage-listed wetlands in Kakadu National Park. Continue reading

May 24, 2010 Posted by | environment, Northern Territory, uranium, water | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Atmospheric nuclear testing caused human teeth to become “radioactive clocks”

How 1950s Nuclear Bomb Testing Turned Our Teeth Into Radioactive Clocks, Gizmodo, Kyle VanHemert, 23 May 2010, Researchers trying to determine the age of deceased individuals are finding success with a new method: looking in people’s mouths. Nuclear bomb testing in the 1950s, it turns out, turned everyone’s teeth into radioactive clocks. Continue reading

May 24, 2010 Posted by | Uncategorized | , , , , , | Leave a comment

No gold health card for Australia’s atomic veterans

no provision had been made for the children of Maralinga veterans suffering from nuclear-related health problems.

Payment for nuclear veteran ‘not enough’ * Verity Edwards  The Australian * May 23, 2010 AFTER almost 50 years of fighting for compensation, Maralinga veteran Avon Hudson’s frustration has turned into a feeling of intense disappointment.Mr Hudson says the Rudd government’s budget decision to provide nuclear veterans with a pension is just not enough.In particular, he thinks the defence force members who participated in British nuclear testing at Maralinga, Emu Field and the Monte Bello Islands in the 1950s and 60s deserve a health gold card. Continue reading

May 24, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Marshall Islanders – guinea pigs for radiation exposure

In 1957, they were returned to their homeland ……. The desire to study humans living in a radiation-contaminated environment appeared to be a major element of this decision…” by far the most contaminated place in the world.”

The Legacy of U.S. Nuclear Testing in the Marshall Islands, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Robert Alvarez: 23 May 2010, The radiological legacy of U.S. nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands remains to this day and will persist for many years to come. Continue reading

May 24, 2010 Posted by | Uncategorized | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Anti-nuclear women walkers greeted in Sydney

Anti-nuclear activists on the road  Alternative Media Group, Pam Walker & Anna Watanabe , 20May 2010 The City of Sydney hosted a reception for anti-nuclear walkers from Footprints for Peace at Town Hall last week, showing its support for ending Australia’s involvement in the nuclear cycle.

Among supporters were Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon and various councillors from Sydney Mayors for Peace.

The walkers from Footprints for Peace – Women’s International Peace Walk, are walking from Brisbane to Canberra to protest nuclear proliferation.In Canberra the walkers will present Prime Minister Kevin Rudd with a message stick from the indigenous people of Brisbane Continue reading

May 20, 2010 Posted by | energy, General News, uranium | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment