Closure of Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor may signal end of nuclear industry
With the Green Mountain State’s newly elected pro-green governor and legislature, Yankee may be the first domino to fall in a chain of leaky, rickety, increasingly dangerous elder nukes. With them would go a serious premise of a nuclear future.
Vermont Votes No Nukes, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Harvey Wasserman: , 10 Nov 10, Vermont has elected a governor pledged to make the state truly green by shutting its decrepit, leaking nuclear plant. And the town closest to that reactor has voted to take it by eminent domain if necessary, a step unprecedented in world history. Continue reading
Indian govt presses on with Meghalaya uranium mining, despite public opposition
‘How can we allow them to start this mining project when they themselves cannot give satisfactory answers on health and environment impact of uranium mining,’
Meghalaya civil groups oppose uranium mining project Shillong, sify news, Nov 10 (IANS) Anti-mining groups in Meghalaya Wednesday vowed that they would continue to oppose a uranium mining project, while the central government set 2012 as the year to start mining in the state’s West Khasi Hills district. Continue reading
Australian airline pilots will trust the government on radiation scanner safety
Australia is planning to introduce the full-body scanners at its international airports early next year….Australian International Pilots Association (AIPA) has no plans to boycott, it will continue to work with the Government to address safety issues.
Australian Pilots Negotiating Full-Body Scan with Government | TopNews United States, by Jatinder Kumar , 11/09/2010 -The American Allied Pilots Association has announced a boycott on new airport security devices that capture images of passengers’ naked bodies. Continue reading
Airport radiation scanners to be boycotted by world’s largest pilot union
In April, radiation experts from the University of California, San Francisco, warned President Obama’s science assistant that the machines pose potentially serious health risks……
World’s largest pilot union shuns full-body scanners The Register Warning cites radiation risk, By Dan Goodin in San Francisco , 9th November 2010 The world’s largest independent airline pilot association is warning its members to avoid security screening by full-body scanners out of concern the machines emit dangerous levels of radiation. Continue reading
Massive protest in Germany highlights anti-nuclear feeling
What has made this particular demonstration so explosive is the coincidence of this transport of nuclear waste with the government’s decision to overturn former legislation aimed at phasing out nuclear power by around 2020.
Mounting disappointments boost anti-nuclear protests Deutsche Welle, Ben Knight, 08.11.2010 “……..The ongoing civil disobedience campaign against a train delivery of nuclear waste to a storage facility in Gorleben is being reported as one of the biggest of its kind ever in Germany. Continue reading
Woomera ‘prohibited’ zone to have both uranium mining and weapons testing
The region is synonymous with the testing of long range missiles and rockets during the Cold War and is still used by the military for weapons testing. The Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said that the new recommendation is that the miners and the military would be both operating at some sections of the land on a time share basis.
Australia May Tap Restricted Area of Woomera for Natural Resources [uranium mining] Azomining, By Joel Scanlon, 9 Nov 10, The Woomera weapons testing range in South Australia’s outback will be downsized to allow mining in the region as per a federal government report recommendation. Vast restricted areas of South Australia will be opened up to mining companies including foreign investors if the review is considered favourably. Continue reading
Australian airline pilots might boycott radiation scanning
The [backscatter radiation scanning] devices are planned to be rolled out across Australia next year…The Australian and International Pilots Association says it is also considering the issue raised by the APA
Pilots boycott full-body scanners over health fears By Kate Schneider, news.com.au , November 08, 2010 THE world’s largest pilot’s association has boycotted full-body scanners over health risks Continue reading
Frequent fliers’ increased cancer risk due to ionising radiation
Airline frequent fliers ‘radiation poisoning risks’ from space ‘solar flare’ storm activity – Telegraph By Andrew Hough 05 Nov 2010 Researchers found passengers faced the “hazard” of space radiation, which created unhealthy levels of exposure while flying at “typical cruise altitudes” of 40,000 feet. Continue reading
Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates – quiet pro nuclear spin to Australia?
The nuclear sales show is sure getting complicated. AS USA can’t sell new nukes to its own people, and France falters in that same effort at home – then it’s time to flog off the nuclear industry to Asia while you can still make a buck or a euro out of it.
Below you can read of Obama’s efforts right now, as he visits India with a stack of nuclear industry executives. Sarkozy’ does a similar deal in China.
Where does Australia come into all this? Surely not! Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates are in Australia for a jolly sunny holiday. No?
No – they’re in Australia to sell us military stuff, and to get Australia further into USA’s military machine. The Australian public will, as usual, be kept in the dark about this, and who knows what else?
Perhaps USA wants Australia to sell uranium to India – to further USA’s nuclear reactor sales there, and to spit China?
While Europe has just decided that it’s too dangerous to transport nuclear wastes beyond its shores, USA has made no such decision. Perhaps Australia is the preferred destination for USA’s mounting embarassment of nuclear wastes?
Hillary Clinton not likely to be answering questions on nuclear wastes
Pardon my cynicism, but I bet that Hillary Clinton will be answering nice safe (non-nuclear) questions from young Australians.
Hillary Clinton to take questions from young Australians in Melbourne forum from Herald Sun, 4 Nov 10, |US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will take part in an hour-long question and answer forum in Melbourne on Sunday.Ms Clinton, who will be in Melbourne for the first time as Secretary of State, will answer questions from a live audience as well as respond to questions posted on Facebook, Twitter and others posted via video link.
The forum, aimed at people under-35 and at a secret location for security reasons, comes one day ahead of Ms Clinton’s expected attendance at the Australia-United States Ministerial (AUSMIN) consultations on Monday at Melbourne’s Government House
Questions for the forum, which will be televised on Sunday evening, can be posted on ABC News’s Facebook page or on Twitter with the hashtag #hillaryoz.
John Durie of THE AUSTRALIAN recommends nuclear waste storage industry for South Australia
South Australia’s Rann could do everyone a favour by realising the best way to maximise growth in the state is to look at some sort of environmentally friendly nuclear waste storage in the state. – John Durie writes in THE AUSTRALIAN 5 Nov
“This could be a new industry for the country, and as much as the environmental benefits of nuclear power are questionable, it is another source of power which should go into the mix.
It just so happens BHP is sitting on tonnes of uranium, and it just so happens its boss Marius Kloppers is a big advocate of a carbon tax to get Australia on to the greenhouse combat zone efficiently.
Next stop is to start pushing for nuclear power in Australia, powered by the Big Australian, which it seems has got too big to buy anything of any size offshore…..”
AREVA illegally storing radioactive waste at rail terminal
Greenpeace has therefore filed a complaint against French nuclear giant Areva for use of an undeclared basic nuclear installation, by storing nuclear waste in a place not designed for this purpose. Areva does not respect the legal criteria for storage of radioactive nuclear waste….The nuclear waste inside has a half life about 700 million years.
Complaint against AREVA for illegal storage of nuclear waste Greenpeace International, by JulietteH – November 4, 2010, On Tuesday, at 3pm, Greenpeace conducted a citizen inspection at the entrance of the railway terminal in the small town of Valognes, France. Activists carried out radiation measurements by monitoring the passage of trucks that have been carrying containers of highly radioactive nuclear waste for a week. Continue reading
Thousands of Germans will protest nuclear waste transport
Monday’s attack on a power cable in an S-Bahn rail station came just days before many thousands of anti-nuclear activists are expected to protest on Nov. 5-8 against the transport of nuclear waste to a dump in the northern town of Gorleben.
German anti-nuclear activists disrupt Berlin trains | Reuters BERLIN Nov 2 – German anti-nuclear activists on Tuesday took responsibility for setting a small fire in a Berlin rail station during rush hour that caused widespread disruption to commuters throughout the capital. Continue reading
Hazards in BHP’s planned export of uranium to China
“BHP propose precedent sale of uranium in copper concentrates to China…“This is not sanctioned under Australia’s nuclear treaties … it would compromise our safeguards and environmental responsibilities, and dump some 1.2 million tonnes of long-lived radioactive mine wastes in China every year.
‘Toxic lake’ future for Olympic Dam, Roxby Downs Sun, 25 Oct, 2010 02:26 BHP must present feasible alternatives to prevent or reduce the environmental impacts of the proposed Olympic Dam expansion in the next phase of the Environmental Impact Statement process, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) say. Continue reading
Ionising radiation found to be a greater cancer risk
a new study reveals that the hazard may be greater in adults than previously believed……..our results [now] show that for a middle-aged person around 50 or so, that risk came out to be twice what the standard models had predicted.”….
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 