Health effects of uranium mining in India
Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD), an affiliate of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize recipient International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, conducted a health survey in 2007 that looked at 2,118 families within 2.5 km of the mines.It found that 9.5 percent of newborns die each year due to extreme physical deformities…….
Uranium mines afecting health of workers and local communities, India Info Online, 20 Sept 10, AT BANDUHURANG, there are no prohibitory signs, no warnings about radiation, no barbed wire and no demarcation of territory. Continue reading
USA looks like giving up on selling nukes to India
the chances of altering how the legislation works appear to be dimming….it looks increasingly likely that the Obama visit will center instead around job-creating deals for the U.S………..Nowhere did the statement contain a reference to the nuclear deal.
U.S. Chances Dim on India Nuclear Revision – India Real Time – WSJ, by Paul Beckett, September 20, 2010, As we reported recently, the U.S. government and nuclear-equipment industry have been scrambling to alter the impact of nuclear-liability legislation passed by the Indian parliament that the U.S. side views as unfavorable to U.S. nuclear suppliers … Continue reading
Hillary Clinton to Australia – to discuss “clean” ?nuclear energy
Clinton Sets Australia Visit, Thinking Australia, 20 Sept 10, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to visit Australia in November for re-scheduled ministerial talks……There are many matters that are of mutual interest, from developing new technologies for clean energy to addressing climate change, halting nuclear proliferation, countering the threat of terrorism, and so much else”.Clinton Sets Australia Visit
BHP Billiton- Kloppers’ spin to promote uranium mining
But is BHP just playing the uranium card ?….is it an announcement to push the South Australian government to OK the Olympic Dam mine expansion;
BHP Boss Casts Doubt On Coal’s Future, Energy Efficiency, September 18th, 2010 When the world’s largest mining boss Marius Kloppers warns Australia should look beyond coal and towards other energy sources, you have to wonder whether its spin or otherwise. Continue reading
France’s “Nuclear Socialism” a warning to USA
“This analysis shows the greatest danger is not that the U.S. will import French technology, but that it will replicate the French model of nuclear socialism,”…“ go to France to see more nuclear means less renewables and energy efficiency,”
U.S. Nuclear Industry Will Remain Ward of the State, as in France, Report Warns By Sara Stroud SolveClimate, Sep 16, 2010 Government subsidies of nuclear power plans could hitch U.S taxpayers to a technology that suffers out-of-control costs while pushing aside renewable energy development, according to a study released last week by the Vermont Law School’s Institute for Energy and the Environment. Continue reading
How uranium mining poisoned the Navajo
investigative journalist Judy Pasternak comprehensively recounts in her chilling new book, “Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed.”
“Yellow Dirt”: Radioactive reservation, The shocking story of how industry and government poisoned and then abandoned the Navajo Nation, Salon.com, Laura Miller, 19 Sept 10,
In the summer of 1979, an earthen dam over the town of Church Rock, Utah, broke, flooding the arroyo below and then the bed of the Rio Puerco (an intermittent stream) on the southern border of the Navajo Nation. It was a small flood, but a dangerous one. It burned the feet of a boy who stepped into it, and caused sheep and crops along the banks to drop dead. Continue reading
BHP Billiton’s Marius Kloppers’ strategy for uranium
Bear in mind too that BHP has its foot on the world’s biggest uranium deposit, at Olympic Dam in South Australia……..Olympic Dam, currently in the planning stages for a huge expansion, was key to BHP’s strategy to limit the impact of the resources rent tax and clearly it is central to its future energy strategy.
Kloppers plays strategic card by backing a carbon tax, Sydney Morning Herald, Ian Verrender, September 18, 2010 “……Kloppers is no fool. Quite the contrary. Softly spoken with an uncharacteristically lilting Afrikaans accent, the youthful head of BHP Billiton is a master strategist, not just when it comes to commerce and digging holes but in the not-so-gentle art of political persuasion…. Continue reading
Nuclear ‘renaissance’ just hasn’t taken off, says World Nuclear Association
Speaking at a meeting of the World Nuclear Association in London today, Ron Cameron head of the Nuclear Energy Association’s (NEA) nuclear development division said: “The nuclear renaissance hasn’t taken off”
Nuclear resurgence constrained Nuclear may go way of the Asian toaster, tcetoday news, 17 Sept 10, by Adam Duckett“……..PROBLEMS with finance, policy and skills have hamstrung the much-hyped resurgence of the nuclear power sector, experts have said. Continue reading
Large scale study shows cancers from ionising radiation
The association between radiation exposure and risk of second cancers was particularly significant for radiation-sensitive cancers, such as those of the lung, colon, breast, thyroid and bladder, as well as leukemia.
Pro nukes stack Western Australia’s uranium study panel
We still do not know whether or how key issues – such as workers’ health and safety, tailings rehabilitation, transport and groundwater impacts – will be addressed by the panel. We fear that crucial issues, such as impacts on workers’ health and communities and nuclear weapons proliferation, will not be addressed at all.
The panel excludes experts in relevant areas such as occupational health and safety, transport, Aboriginal heritage and native title, non-proliferation and safeguards.
Uranium industry’s record raises doubts, The West Australian, By Mia Pepper, September 16th, 2010, The Barnett Government recently announced that the Australian Centre for Geomechanics had won a tender to form an “independent panel on uranium mining regulations”. Sitting on the panel are pro-nuclear lobbyists and behind the scenes are corporate sponsors including some that are anything but independent.
BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are two of the sponsors – companies with operating uranium mines in Australia and uranium interests in WA. Continue reading
Kidnapping of 7 AREVA nuclear workers in Niger
Seven nuclear workers kidnapped as they slept, The Guardian, 16 Sept 10, French people working in Niger have been kidnapped along with one from Togo and one from Madagascar Associated Press in Paris Five French people working in Niger have been kidnapped along with one from Togo and one from Madagascar, France’s foreign ministry said today.The seven, who were employees of the French nuclear reactor builder Areva and a subcontractor, were seized near the uranium-mining town of Arlit as they slept. Seven nuclear workers kidnapped as they slept | World news | The Guardian
The plot thickens in promotion of Olympic Dam Uranium Mine
Last month the Australian government set up a Mines Tax policy team. It is led by Don Argus, former chairman of uranium miner BHP Billiton. Other members are former uranium company Rio Tinto executive David Klingner, Erica Smyth, chairman of uranium explorer Toro Energy.
So, Australia’s mining tax policy is guided by uranium mining representatives.
And now, in a bold statement in facvour of a carbon tax, BHP Billiton’s Chief Executice officer Marius Kloppers sets the scene for BHP to increase its influence over Australia’s government.
It all sounds so good. But note that, in supporting action on Climate change, Kloppers promotes “alternative” energies to take over from coal.
I’ll bet that “alternative” will turn out to be one of those words like “renewable” and “clean” that are applied to nuclear power. And all in such good timing, as BHP Billiton is desperate to get its Olympic Dam uranium mine expansion happening.
Liberal MP in Northern Territory plans to betray Aboriginal Jeffrey Lee
Member for Katherine Willem Westra van Holthe wrote: “People like Mr Lee won’t be around forever so I believe it will be easier to ‘unreserve’ a piece of land than mine it inside a park boundary or excise it … at a later time.”….
CLP digs up new uranium policy | Northern Territory News | Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia | ntnews.com.au, BEN LANGFORD, September 16th, 2010 PLOTTING is afoot within the Territory Opposition to change its policy on uranium mining at Koongarra, a leaked email shows. Continue reading
BHP’s Marius Kloppers accused of having “nuclear agenda”
Business Spectator, Sept 16 10, “……Liberal senator Cory Bernardi said Mr Kloppers was speaking out of self-interest because BHP Billiton was keen to pursue a nuclear agenda.”In sharemarket parlance, people talk up their own book and that’s what Mr Kloppers is doing,” he told Sky News, adding the resources giant’s chief executive officer was pushing alternative sources of energy such as uranium. Greens welcome Kloppers’ remarks | News | Business Spectator
Mexico stalling on nuclear power, as gas is cheaper
Mexico Delays Decision on New Nuclear Plants as Gas Price Falls, By Carlos Manuel Rodriguez Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) — Mexico, one of three Latin American nations that use nuclear power, is delaying by as much as two years a decision on building nuclear plants as lower natural-gas prices reduce the attraction of the alternative energy source…
…A final decision on whether to build new nuclear plants and the quantity will be based on cost-effective “technical” factors, including the outlook for gas prices, Kessel said……In the U.S., lower gas prices, combined with less demand for electricity because of the weak economy, has slowed investments in renewable-energy projects and may prevent expansion of nuclear energy, NextEra Energy Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lewis Hay said in a June 23 interview.
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