Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items

Australia’s nuclear waste dump plan affects all Australians

Once again, Australia’s Aboriginal land rights are to be trampled by White Australia’s ignorance and apathy, (helped along by the subservient mass media), and by corporate   greed.   Not much comfort for Aboriginal owners of the Muckaty area – but eventually, even White Australians will suffer from this.

BUT – the fight is not over – as support for the Muckaty land owners and national resistance build among Australians of any colour.

May 8, 2010 Posted by | Christina reviews, uranium | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Muckaty Australia’s Nuclear Waste Dump now – but What’s Next?

The nuclear waste dump battle is far from over. The Rudd government got elected partly on its promise to overturn Howard’s Radioactive Waste Management Act. Now, a tame Senate Inquiry has endorsed Rudd’s even more draconic National Radioactive Waste Management Bill.

Orchestrated by Australia’s fine Minister For Promoting the Nuclear Industry, Martin Ferguson, the new Bill opens the way for a radioactive waste dump to be imposed on Aboriginal land, against the will of its traditional owners, of the regional community, and the Northern Territory Government.

But that’s not all. Along with the Northern Territory Intervention, this Bill opens the door to further encroachment on the rights of all Australians, not only Aboriginals.

And – yesterday’s announcement of an agreement between the Australian Government and the Obam administration on nuclear technology, will soon be followed by a Obama’s visit to Australia. The timing of all this is remarkable.  The Muckaty nuclear waste dump is supposed to take the returned Lucas Heights nuclear waste.

But what’s next for Australia – which remains a signatory to the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership?

May 8, 2010 Posted by | Christina reviews, uranium | , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Senate Report toes govt line on dumping nuclear waste on Northern Territory

Senator Ludlam criticised the Bill for its “heavy handed” overriding of Territory and Aboriginal heritage protection laws, and the reliance on secret documents for the nomination of Muckaty.

[The Report]t said an objects clause should be inserted as should an explanation of the minister’s “absolute discretion” on site selection.

Inquiry dumps on Northern Territory, Northern Territory News  BEN LANGFORDMay 7th, 2010 THE Senate inquiry into laws which could put a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory has recommended the new legislation be passed.But the inquiry’s report was immediately criticised as “an unbalanced and closed-minded justification for a foregone conclusion” by one of the committee members. Continue reading

May 8, 2010 Posted by | Northern Territory, uranium, wastes | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Australia: Flawed Senate Report into Radioactive Waste Plan

“This proposed legislation remains controversial and contested.  Minister Ferguson’s legislation is a bad deal, not a done deal.”

Senate radioactive dump inquiry deeply flawed, Australian Conservation Foundation, 8 May 2010 A Senate report into laws to authorise a controversial planned nuclear waste in the Northern Territory has failed to make any progress towards responsible radioactive waste management in Australia, the Australian Conservation Foundation said today… Continue reading

May 7, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics, uranium | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Uranium tailings inflict cancer on a town in Utah

A town under siege from Cancer, ABC 4.com – Salt Lake City, Utah Newsby: Brent Hunsaker
MONTICELLO, Utah  7 May 2010,
The Uranium mill was big for little Monticello. Still, not everyone worked there. So why would people who never set foot on mill property still get cancer? Continue reading

May 7, 2010 Posted by | uranium | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Be wary: Australian govt compensation may impede current legal action

Aust Govt to compensate nuke vets, Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog, 7 May 2010, “……..This may be very good news for the surviving 2,000 nuclear veterans out of the Australian 8,000 service personnel who were used as target practice for the British nuclear weaponeers,…..

It still leaves the question as to whether the payments will contain clauses impeding the current legal action against the British government, Continue reading

May 7, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, secrets and lies, uranium | , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Environmentally induced cancer, including by radiation “grossly underestimated”

(USA) President’s Cancer Panel claims cancers due to environmental toxins grossly underestimated –  TIME.com, President’s panel analyzes environmental cancer impact, by Tiffany O’Callaghan 6 May 2010, “……what evidence there is suggests that the “true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated,” the authors write……In hospitals and doctor’s offices, the authors emphasize the need to minimize radiation exposure, Continue reading

May 7, 2010 Posted by | Uncategorized | , , , | Leave a comment

White Australia urged to join Aboriginal fightback

Uranium, gold, oil, iron ore — these are the reasons why Aboriginal people are being humiliated…..And a lot of money is to be made in contracts for the dumping of foreign toxic waste in the Northern Territory………
If we had a free media in Australia, this would be exposed.

“Support NT Indigenous fightback.” Togs’s Place.Com.: John Pilger:, 7 May 2010, We are celebrating once more the resolve and courage and political determination, and imagination, of a group of Indigenous Australians. Continue reading

May 7, 2010 Posted by | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

AREVA’s radioactive water contamination in Niger

VIDEOLeft in the Dust – Areva’s uranium mining in Niger | Greenpeace International

Left in the Dust – Areva’s uranium mining in Niger | Greenpeace International 6 May 2010, Operations of Nuclear giant AREVA put lives at risk in Niger Uranium mines in Niger operated by the state-owned French nuclear giant AREVA continue to create a radioactive hazard for the people living nearby.

A new report released today by Greenpeace reveals contamination levels in the air, water and soil above internationally accepted limits.“Radioactivity increases poverty because it creates more victims. With each day passes we are exposed to radiation and continue to be surrounded by poisoned air, polluted water and earth – while AREVA makes hundreds of millions from our natural resources.”

said Almoustapha Alhacen, President of the local Nigerian NGO Aghir in’ Man (which means “the shield of the soul” in the Touareg language, is a local environmental and human rights organization).Last November, Greenpeace carried out soil, water and air tests in Arlit and Akokan, located a few kilometers from the mines.

The samples were studied in collaboration with the France-based Research and Independent Information on Radioactivity Commission (CRIIRAD).“The analysis we have performed show that the uranium contamination in four out of five water samples exceed World Health Organisation safety limits*. We found evidence of radon, a radioactive gas dissolved in water and also chemical elements. Even so, this water is still being distributed to the population and the workers for consumption” said Bruno Chareyron, an engineer in Nuclear Physics from CRIIRAD. Left in the Dust – Areva’s uranium mining in Niger | Greenpeace International

May 7, 2010 Posted by | uranium, water | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Greens again call for safety audit of Lucas Heights Nuclear Reactor

Audit nuke risk at Lucas Heights: Greens, Sydney Morning Herald, GABRIELLE DUNLEVY, May 6, 2010 – There are new calls for an independent audit into the Lucas Heights nuclear facility, with a whistleblower claiming staff are at risk from serious safety breaches. Continue reading

May 7, 2010 Posted by | General News | , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

May 6, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics international, uranium | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

May 6, 2010 Posted by | Uncategorized | , , | Leave a comment

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

May 6, 2010 Posted by | New South Wales, safety | , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

May 6, 2010 Posted by | Uncategorized | , , , , | Leave a comment

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

May 5, 2010 Posted by | uranium | , , , , , | Leave a comment