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
GNEP becomes the IFNEC
Global Nuclear Energy Partnership Steering Group Members Approve Transformation to the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation Department of Energy – U.S. Department of Energy , 18 June 2010,
The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership Steering Group met in Accra, Ghana on June 16-17, 2010 and approved unanimously several transformative changes to reflect global developments that have occurred since the Partnership was established in 2007. The transformation includes a new name – the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation Continue reading
Radiation leak investigated in Queensland
Qld Health investigating radiation, Rockhampton News, 19th June 2010 A QUEENSLAND Health representative yesterday confirmed the department was investigating a radioactive substance leak at QMAG’s Parkhurst plant last week…….e small leakage of caesium-137.The leak was detected during statutory testing, where a high radiation reading was reported at the base of a cylinder on a gauge………The spokesperson said Queensland Health was investigating the cause of the incident.
UK support for Australian union’s stand against health danger of uranium industry
“We will be urging unions in the UK to join in the stand opposing nuclear- rather than joining the industry’s Compensation Scheme for Radiation Linked Diseases which has thousands of applicants and has paid out millions of pounds – with the caveat that you don’t talk about it,”
Radiation Free Lakeland backs Aussie unions’ nuclear stance , GETNOTICEDONLINE Uk 14 June 2010 Radiation Free Lakeland is supporting Australian unions who have banned members from working in the nuclear industry. Continue reading
Low price continues for uranium
Uranium oxide price shows no sign of moving | Industrial Fuels and Power News . Trading June 17th, 2010 by IFandP Newsroom The uranium spot market remains in the doldrums. The weekly spot price for uranium oxide hovered at US$40.75 in the week ended June 14 with no change from the previous week, according to Ux Consulting Co, a view echoed by TradeTech. Three transactions were reported with the gap between buyers and sellers remaining narrow at around US$1.00…… Uranium oxide price shows no sign of moving | Industrial Fuels and Power
Australian media publicising mining billionaires’ cheating message
On Australian TV we witness the unappetising vision of a bunch of billionaires looking like feral hippies – protesting against the government’s proposed super profit resources tax.
Well, of course – these impoverished underprivileged citizens want to have their 15% minimum profit, pretty much untrammelled by letting us – the great unwashed, and our descendants, get some benefit from this greed and environmental destruction.
It is sad that the Australian public can be conned in this way, due to media that is either bowing to its corporate ownership, or just too stupid or slack to see what is happening.
No wonder BHP, Rio Tinto etc are scared that other governments might get the idea of acting in the interests of their people, rather than of corporations. And it’s happening – – in the nuclear industry, as Germany is about to ring in a similar tax on nuclear power.
Miners want 15% profit – Olympic Dam uranium mine expansion might not proceed
Broker casts doubt on viability of Olympic Dam expansion, Sydney Morning Herald, BARRY FITZGERALD, June 17, 2010
BHP BILLITON’S proposed Olympic Dam expansion in South Australia’s outback could have no ”economic value” under the Rudd government’s hotly debated proposal to subject resource company super profits to an additional 40 per cent tax……. the assessment of mining analysts at Morgan Stanley, ”Our modelling of this project shows that the resource super profits tax reduces the net present value of the project to an extent that it becomes negative, and return on invested capital falls below the minimum hurdle rate of 15 per cent used by the mining industry.
BHP Billiton’s managing director, Marius Kloppers……. said that although BHP had not shelved or frozen projects in response to the proposed tax, Olympic Dam was the sort of high capital expenditure project with long lead times that was ”most disadvantaged”……But BHP has yet to commit to the project. Approval from the SA, Northern Territory (ore is exported from Darwin) and federal governments is needed and is planned for the first half of next year. The final proposal with all the permits and conditions attached is then likely to go before the board in the latter half of next year.
New tax on nuclear brings uncertainty into nuclear industry
if the plan is approved, other countries could adopt similar measures…the new move will bring uncertainty in the European nuclear sector,
Huge nuclear tax on the cards in Germany, World Nuclear News, By Rumyana Vakarelska, 15 June 2010 The German Ministry of Finance has envisaged an additional €2.3 billion ($2.8 billion) per year ‘windfall tax’ on nuclear operators as part of the 2011 Federal Budget and its financial plan up to 2014………..According to the German Finance Ministry the charge “will be necessary, as part of an overall energy concept, to prolong the operational life of nuclear power plants.” At a time when Germany is looking for tens of billions of euros in budget savings, the ministry said that the money will be used to meet nuclear decommissioning and final repository costs.….. Continue reading
W.A. Premier threatens compulsory Aboriginal land acquisition – gas now, uranium later?
Gas hub land may be compulsorily acquired ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 15 June 2010, The Premier Colin Barnett has again foreshadowed compulsorily acquiring land north of Broome to build a Kimberley gas hub. Continue reading
Uranium project stalled idefinitely by community opposition
A conglomeration of NGOs, civil society organizations including the powerful Khasi Students Union (KSU) is leading the agitations to prevent UCIL from starting the site activities. Opposition to uranium mining
(India) KPM Uranium Mining in Meghalaya: A Controversial Project | PRAGOTI, 15 June 2010, Problems in Meghalaya KPM project in Meghalaya has been mired in controversy right since its inception forcing the UCIL to stall its activities 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
World’s rarest seal threatened by depleted uranium
to protect marine mammals and other marine life from the …… highly toxic materials like depleted uranium that have been deposited by the military. Archipelagos has created the only independent, non-profit laboratory in Greece,
Saving the world’s rarest seal from uranium, guardian Uk, 17 June 2010, Dr Anastasia Miliou was interviewed by Georgina Kenyon. Continue reading
Arkaroola uranium mining threatens rare frog species
Mining worries as frog species found – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 16 June 2010, The owner of Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary says discovery of a new frog species is yet another reason to be wary of mining in the Flinders Ranges region of outback South Australia.Scientists say it is the first new species to be identified in SA in 45 years.The species was found this month at Arkaroola, where Marathon Resources is involved in a uranium exploration project at Mount Gee.Sanctuary owner Marg Sprigg says she is worried Marathon’s initial drilling program could lead to it getting a full drilling licence later in the year.”I’m a geologist, I’m not against mining but I don’t think you have to mine everywhere and there were a lot of geologists who put in submissions saying ‘leave Arkaroola alone, it is too special, it’s a brilliant geological teaching laboratory’.”Ms Sprigg says mining could prevent more unique species being found in the Flinders Ranges.
Mining worries as frog species found – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Missing Australian nuclear scientist’s body found
Body of nuclear scientist found Sky News: June 16, 2010 The body of an Australian nuclear scientist who disappeared in the wilds of Canada five months ago has been found in the Ottawa river near the town where he was living.Two canoeists have found the body of former Melbourne resident Lachlan Cranswick.His brother Rupert says photo identification was located on the body and the victim was wearing the clothes in which he was last seen.41-year-old Lachlanhad been working at a nuclear facility for the past seven years.Rupert says it appears his brother had ventured onto the frozen river and fell through the ice
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