Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items

Reactor Sales to China Might Save Failing Nuclear Industry

Here’s how the shell game could work. If the coal industry could sell outdated, pollution-spewing, coal-fired power plants to China, could the nuclear power industry do the same thing? Could they get rid of their unresolved and unfunded decommissioning headache with the same trick?

(USA) How Do You Say “Oh Crap!” in Chinese?, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Alexia Parks, February 22, 2010 China is picking up the worst of American technology along with its best. For example, to keep up with U.S. consumer demand, China has bought and imported the worst of our outdated, pollution-spewing, coal-fired power plants. Continue reading

February 23, 2010 Posted by | 1, uranium | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Australia: Nuclear Waste Dump, Obama Visit, Uranium Expansion.

It’s all happening in hyping the nuclear industry in Australia. Expensive advertising by the nuclear lobby (Environmentalists for Nuclear Power), big nobs promoting it (e.g. Bob Hawke), and  Ziggy Spinowsky everywhere.

What great timing! Just as the Australian government plans to put a radioactive nuclear waste dump on aboriginal land, President Barack  Obama is to visit Australia to discuss uranium, while BHP Billiton is about to launch a huge expansion of its Olympic Dam uranium mine.

Let’s not forget that Australia is still signed up to the The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), by which as a uranium supplier, Australia would be  obliged to take back radioactive  waste from sales of uranium to the U.S.A..

(Australia is also obligated to take back a small amount of our own Lucas Heights radioactive waste from UK, – but that is not tied to uranium sales, and that doesn’t have to be on aboriginal land).

February 22, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Christina reviews, climate change - global warming, energy, uranium | , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Plan for U.S nuclear waste dump in Australia

No container will last 500,000 years. Oh and do we expect payment for looking after the stuff for that long?

OBAMA WILL SEND NUCLEAR WASTE TO AUSTRALIA Talking Headlines, by Bill Green, February 18th 2010 Strange that Obama is subsidising huge nuclear plants in Georgia while his government is panicking about nuclear waste. The country has been unable to contain it safely. The huge waste facilities in Washington State are leaking into the Columbia River. Continue reading

February 22, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy, politics international | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

U.S. nuclear energy future depends on solving waste problem

Nuclear energy can’t expand without a nuclear-waste site The Columbus Dispatch, February 21, 2010 “….No permanent place exists in the United States to store high-level radioactive waste. ………. the waste from the power plants already in operation just keeps piling up in temporary storage sites around the nation, which is not safe. Continue reading

February 22, 2010 Posted by | 1 | , , , , | Leave a comment

U.S govt ‘s $96 billion project on nuclear waste, and still no solution

the federal government continues to search for suitable sites for storage of high-level wastes from nuclear power plants and for very long-lived radioactive materials from weapons production.

For the time being high-level waste remain on the sites where they were generated…….

Where to dump nuclear waste? Manila Bulletin By ATTY. ROMEO V. PEFIANCO February 17, 2010, Dumping nuclear waste has been a serious problem in the US since 1970 Continue reading

February 22, 2010 Posted by | 1 | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dr Caldicott’s message on nuclear health dangers

”That’s the ace up the sleeve of the nuclear industry,” she says. ”It’s a silent, cryptogenic disease that doesn’t denote its origin. You have to do big epidemiological studies like the German study to find out what’s going on.”

Why nuclear energy struggles to get private sector funds Sydney Morning Herald , Paddy Manning, February 20, 2010

People have forgotten – a younger generation perhaps never knew – what is scary about nuclear energy.

Anti-nuclear campaigners such as Dr Helen Caldicott are routinely disparaged nowadays. A quick trawl through the clippings yields choice descriptors: “inane”, “hysteric”, “rabid”, “ageing”, “anti-nuclear messiah” and “warrior princess”. Continue reading

February 20, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, spinbuster | , , , , , | 3 Comments

Vermont’s leaking nuclear plant casts doubt on nuclear industry’s future

just one of dozens across the country that have seen similar leaks in recent years

VT Nuclear Plant Leaking- Industry Faces Concern Nationwide Fox News February 19, 2010 , by: Molly Line As President Obama advocates expansion of America’s nuclear power industry, pushing for billions of dollars in federal incentives and announcing plans to build the first nuclear plant in decades, a long-running facility in Vermont is leaking a cancer causing carcinogen. Continue reading

February 20, 2010 Posted by | 1 | , , , , | Leave a comment

Over 65 per cent of U.S. energy budget goes to nuclear military facilities

Nukes Aren’t the Answer, OpEdNews, Robert Alvarez 19 Feb 2010 “…………..- More than 65 percent of our energy budget covers military nuclear activities and the cleanup of weapons sites. It’s single largest expenditure maintains some 9,200 intact nuclear warheads. Continue reading

February 20, 2010 Posted by | 1 | , , , , | Leave a comment

Labor MP to fight against NT nuclear waste dump

Hale to fight own party against nuclear dump  ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) By Louisa Rebgetz 20 Feb 2010
As speculation mounts that a nuclear waste dump will be located in the Northern Territory, MP Damian Hale says he will “fight tooth and nail” to prevent it happening. Continue reading

February 20, 2010 Posted by | Northern Territory, politics | , , , , | Leave a comment

Violent political upheaval in uranium-rich Niger

Armed soldiers storm Niger presidential palace – in the uranium-rich al-Qaeda haven, West African country Islamization watch 18 Feb 2010

Armed soldiers storm Niger presidential palace ~ in the uranium-rich, al-Qaeda haven, West African country

http://islamizationwatch.blogspot.com/2010/02/armed-soldiers-storm-niger-presidential.html

February 20, 2010 Posted by | 1, uranium | , , , | Leave a comment

Muckaty Station likely to be the chosen nuclear waste dump site

NT property could be chosen as nuclear waste dump site ABC Rural News , 19/02/2010 The Australian Conservation Foundation believes a station in the Northern Territory could be the location of Australia’s first nuclear waste dump.The Northern Land Council is handling negotiations with the Commonwealth on behalf of the traditional owners that own Muckaty Station, 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek. Continue reading

February 20, 2010 Posted by | Northern Territory | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bill Gates pushing ‘4th Generation’ nukes, but they’re dodgy

there are also some nuclear experts who warn that the promise is a snare and a delusion.

Fourth generation nuclear power may not be the clean energy silver bullet, FinancialTimes, by Ed Crooks, 18 Feb 2010 Continue reading

February 20, 2010 Posted by | 1 | , , , | Leave a comment

Nuclear workers scared to speak out

(USA) Workers at San Onofre nuclear plant fear retaliation for reporting problems, memo says | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times 19 Feb 2010 -Shelby Grad Workers at the San Onofre nuclear power plant fear retaliation if they report problems at the facility operated by Southern California Edison, according to an internal memo released by an Orange County environmental group.The memo, written by a plant engineer, said 25 workers who reported problems at the plant said they feared retaliation from management after they made complaints…..

San Onofre has been the subject of several investigations by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over the last few years for various safety issues

Workers at San Onofre nuclear plant fear retaliation for reporting problems, memo says | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

February 20, 2010 Posted by | 1 | , | Leave a comment

Bob Hawke pushes for Australian lucrative nuclear waste import industry

Aust has a duty to take world’s nuclear waste, Hawke says The Canberra Times BY SCOTT HANNAFORD 20 Feb, 2010 Australia had an unarguable responsibility to accept the world’s nuclear waste and discarded nuclear weapons, and could create a huge new industry for the country by doing so, former prime minister Bob Hawke said last night.

aste, Hawke says – Local News – News – General – The Canberra Times

February 20, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics | , , , , | Leave a comment

Why Rudd will put a radioactive waste dump in the Northern Territory

a few prominent white suits (living well away from the NT) could indeed see this as the beginning of a bonanza of taking in the rest of the world’sradioactive wastes.

Once again – it’s all simple politics. The Australian government is obligated to take back , within a year or so, radioactive wastes from UK – wastes that originated in Australia’s terrorist target – the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor.

There is no simple solution. Perhaps this relatively small nuclear waste dump could be situated at Lucas Heights, where it started, or perhaps it could join the existing radioactive waste at Woomera in South Australia.  Then Lucas Heights could be closed, and that would be the end of it.

No such simple story, however, and in fact, no story at all, as it’s all decided very quietly – let the Australian public sleep on!

But – it must be the Northern Territory  – they’re the only ones who cannot defy the federal government, – all the other States have the power to veto taking in nuclear wastes.

Anyway,a few aborigines could indeed see it as a good deal, getting a living standard equal to the rest of Australia perhaps –  though the rest of us didn’t need to have our land turned into a radioactive waste in order to get that standard.

More to the point, a few prominent white suits (living well away from the NT) could indeed see this as the beginning of a bonanza of taking in the rest of the world’s radioactive wastes.

February 19, 2010 Posted by | Christina reviews, Northern Territory, politics | , , , , , , | Leave a comment