Nuclear Power Agreement between Obama and Australia
The proposed Agreement permits the transfer of information, material, equipment (including reactors), and components for nuclear research and nuclear power production
Message to the Congress Concerning a Nuclear Agreement with Australia. THE WHITE HOUSE, BARACK OBAMA, 5 May 2010, Politics News, – “I am pleased to transmit to the Congress, pursuant to sections 123 b. and 123 d. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2153(b), (d)) (the “Act”), the text of a proposed Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Australia Concerning Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy……. Continue reading
Nuclear reactors shutting down faster than new ones are built
Last year saw the shutdown of four reactors but the start-up of only two.
Another drop in nuclear generation, World Nuclear News, 05 May 2010 “…Annual generation of nuclear power has continued on a slight downward trend, decreasing 2% last year to 2558 TWh, according to the latest estimates…… Continue reading
Ionising radiation risk to pregnant women, in air travel
“Pregnant women are flying through solar storms all the time, and they have no idea,”
Solar storms will make airline radiation hot issue The Province, By Josh Noel, MCT May 2, 2010 Passengers may be suspicious of the low-level radiation doses coming from full-body scanners being deployed at airports, but a far greater threat comes from the radiation that creeps into airliners while in flight. Continue reading
Radioactive incidents at Lucas Heights nuclear reactor
at least one employee had “received a substantial dose of radiation”……The accident was confirmed by a confidential report by the nuclear industry regulator, Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency
Safety breaches at Lucas Heights, Sydney Morning Herald, ELLIE HARVEY, May 6, 2010 New claims of safety breaches have emerged at Australia’s only nuclear facility at Lucas Heights. The allegations were made by an employee of 28 years and backed up by an external safety report by an industry regulator. Continue reading
Oil a visible disaster – ionising radiation an invisible one
If only radiation — which leaks every day at the 104 nuclear reactors in the US — was as visible as the growing BP oil slick in the Gulf Coast
Wake up and smell the oil THE HUFFINGTON POST, John Rosenthal, May 3, 2010 “………..Close your eyes and imagine for a minute that instead of BP’s deepwater offshore well exploding 5,000 feet below the surface of the ocean, spreading millions of gallons of toxic and visible oil across the Gulf Coast, that one of the 104 nuclear reactors operating in the US, exploded due to a loss of coolant, operator error or a terrorist attack, sending a radioactive plume similar to the recent volcanic ash from Iceland, in whatever direction the wind happens to blow. Continue reading
Arab states concerned that Israel has not signed Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty
they directed their focus to Israel, whose “unacknowledged” nuclear arsenal gets a free pass thanks to US protection in IAEA and the UN Security Council..
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon commented over the weekend that more progress must be made world-wide in nuclear disarmament.
Nuclear conference: Arab states say Israel destabilizes the region, Palestine Note 4 May 2010, “………..Jordan’s foreign minister says the world must work harder for a “nuclear-free” Middle East, the Associate Press reports from the second day of the UN nuclear summit. Continue reading
Foreign nuclear companies jittery over India’s radiation safety risks
Radiation death in India raises nuclear safety concerns, (Reuters) 5 May 2010, – The radiation-related death of a scrap metal worker has raised concerns over nuclear safety in India, at a time when the Asian power is wooing foreign players to its $150 billion civilian nuclear market. Continue reading
U.S. judge rules against new nuclear reactors – because not shown to be ‘in the public interest’
Judge rules permitting of new Georgia nuclear reactors illegal FACING SOUTHH, 5 May 2010, The Georgia Public Service Commission violated state law when it granted a permit to build two new nuclear reactors at the Southern Company/Georgia Power Plant Vogtle near Augusta, Ga.
A Fulton County Superior Court judge ruled last week that the PSC failed to detail why the plant’s expansion is in the public interest, as required by law. Continue reading
Radioactive dust and BHP’s Great Big New Uranium Mine
Government, media, corporations … tum ta da … all happy with the “resources boom” – Never mind the question of uranium wastes, when BHP Billiton sets up its Great Big New Uranium Mine. I mean – where will the radioactive dust go?
Oh dear – to Antarctica, and perhaps a few other places, too – like Australia’s capital cities. What about the towns and regions near Olympic Dam?
Quiet progress of People for a Nuclear Free Australia
More than half the battle, in getting rid of the toxic uranium , nuclear power, and nuclear weapons industries, is in informing people, about the true nature of the dangers, and financial waste involved.
This is an uphill battle in Australia, as we head off into Third World colonial status, pursuing the short term greed of the “resources boom” . The major political parties are subservient to polluting corporations. The mainstream media is closely allied to mining interests. Australia still has its cultural, colonial cringe – resulting in public ignorance and apathy about the nuclear issue.
People for a Nuclear Free Australia (PFNA) are changing this. By well planned educational materials, the facts are being placed before doctors and other professionals, trade unionists, and members of parliament. The Australian Electrical Trades Union has just produced an excellent film which documents the health implications of uranium mining both to the miners and their families who live near the mines.
To learn more about PFNA, or to contribute to their educational effort, go to http://pnfa.com.au
Australian women’s anti-nuclear peace walk to Canberra
Our aim is to communicate how the whole nuclear cycle is unsafe; it will leave a toxic legacy for over 200 000 years.
FootPrints For Peace Australia | Indymedia Australia, 1 May 2010, On 13 March 2010 five women aged from 37 to 69 began walking from Brisbane to Canberra to take a message to the prime minister. The message conveys the hopes and dreams of the Australian people, asking that we take steps towards a nuclear free future. Continue reading
Nuclear caste system, and nuclear doubletalk
Washington maintains a double standard that allows its friends
to make key nuclear weapons but prevents its rivals from doing so…….
. “What is important is to preserve the right of non-nuclear states to the peaceful uses of nuclear weapons,– said Egypt’s Abdelaziz.
The nuclear caste system , Foreign Policy, by Colum Lynch , 30 April 2010. Next week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet in New York with diplomats from more than 180 countries at the eighth review conference of the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (pdf), the Cold War pact that determines who can have nuclear weapons and who can’t. Continue reading
Australian government attempts world’s worst practice on Northern Territory nuclear waste dump
Elders from the Ngapa, Milwayi, Ngarrka, Yapayapa and Wirntiku clans have come all this way to reject the Government’s claim that any one person has the exclusive rights to say yes or no to the waste dump.
Proposed solution lights a lasting fuse, Greens Senator SCOTT LUDLAM
Northern Territory News (20,Sat 01 May 2010)
Some of Australia’s most deprived to host toxic time capsule
THE Federal Government has betrayed Territorians with its decision to put a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty Station Continue reading
Australian input into anti-nuclear march to United Nations
Peace Trekkers Visit Montclair , Baristanet April 28, 2010 About 25 peace marchers, some of whom have been on the road since February, walked up Bloomfield Avenue today, chanting, beating drums and carrying their message of opposition to nuclear power and bombs to the Central Presbyterian Church on Park St., where they’ll be spending the night. The marchers are members of Footprints for Peace……. plan to reach the United Nations on Saturday. They said the Montclair Presbyterians offered shelter on 24 hours notice.
“I’ve only been walking for a month,” said Kerrie-Ann Garlick, who came from Australia to participate in the march, and who will be speaking at the UN. She said Australia is the third largest exporter of uranium in the world, which is why so many Australians are involved in the peace effort. “We want to close the whole industry down,” Garlick said. Peace Trekkers Visit Montclair (Baristanet)
Students, senior citizens, – community action stops uranium mining
(India Search for uranium deferred, The Telegraph – Calcutta (Kolkata), Shillong, April 29: The Meghalaya government today decided to keep “in abeyance” the proposed exploratory drilling of uranium in Balpakram National Park in South Garo Hills district in view of stiff opposition from various quarters. Continue reading
1 This month
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