Will Gillard toe Ferguson’s line on Muckaty nuclear waste dump?
“In no way can we allow any state or Territory
government to get in the way of establishing a repository,” said Martin Ferguson
Hendo urges Gillard to dump Muckaty, Northern Territory News, NICK CALACOURAS June 26th, 2010 AUSTRALIA’S new Prime Minister Julia Gillard should rethink her predecessor’s decision to build a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory, Chief Minister Paul Henderson said. Continue reading
Highly Enriched Uranium (for a bomb) easy to get from commercial nuclear reactors
Every nuclear-powered nation on the planet has nuclear material, and not all of it’s under lock and key. Civilian stockpiles in Europe and Japan aren’t staffed by armed guards, nor are most nuclear research reactors on U.S. college campuses. But if you’re looking for a truly easy score, try Russia.
What’s It Take to Build a Nuclear Weapon? | TakePart, by Adam Trunell, 25 June 2010, “…………..The Nuclear Material The most important ingredient in a nuclear bomb is the nuclear stuff itself, which is also the hardest to get. No way can you find nuclear material like plutonium or highly enriched uranium stockpiled in a tool shed behind some half-hearted padlock. Right? Wrong Continue reading
Australia’s nuclear waste danger
Obama’s visit later this year may well lead to Australia becoming an international nuclear waste dump – THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY and RADIOACTIVE WASTES – our theme for June 2010 With the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill, the Australian government is setting Australia up for a possible later step in the sorry story of nuclear wastes.
The decision to impose a nuclear waste dump on Northern Territory Aboriginal land has been followed quickly by an agreement between the Australian government and President Obama, on sharing nuclear technology. And this will now be followed by Obama’s visit to Australia – just at the time when 
Obama is in deep trouble over the USA’s growing mass of nuclear wastes.
At the same time, Obama has set up a (somewhat pro-nuclear industry) “Blue Ribbon Panel” to find out what on earth to do with USA’s nuclear wastes
Australia is still signed up to the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation , (that’s the new name for the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership), by which uranium -selling countries agree to take back nuclear wastes from overseas countries
Rudd undermined, but the Resources Tax idea spreads
Pressure from mining corporations like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, combined with the political ambitions of right-wingers, Bill Shorten and Paul Howe must have played a part in the undermining of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Kevin Rudd might not be a cuddly, warm and fuzzy person, but Rudd had the interests of Australians and their children and grandchildren at heart, in promoting the Super Profit Resources Tax.
BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto etc had at heart the interests of corporate profit, in Australia, but also in other countries. They worried that other government’s might put their people’s future ahead of those corporate profits.
Well – the undermining of Rudd might have come too late – the idea lives and spreads- as for example in Germany – “The German Ministry of Finance, for example, has envisaged an additional €2.3 billion annual “windfall tax” on nuclear operators as part of the 2011 Federal Budget and its financial plan up to 2014.” – Wall street Journal
Mining corporations expecting Gillard to retreat on the Resources Tax
Australian Miners Won’t Mourn Rudd’s Departure, Wall Street Journal, by David Cottle, 25 June 2010, It’s safe to say the vast Australian mining industry isn’t going to miss ousted prime minister Kevin Rudd……. It looks as though a watered-down version of the levy is on the cards now, if not a total return to the drawing board……………………
Rocketing nuclear reactor costs send AREVA into the red!
While the rocketing costs of the OL3 EPR have dragged down AREVA’s results for years, this is the first time that they have sent the company into the red…..AREVA’s losses are ultimately borne by French taxpayers.
AREVA covers up extent of massive nuclear reactor cost overrun Greenpeace International by jmckeati – June 24, 2010 French nuclear giant AREVA were force to issue a profit warning yesterday. It has had to find an extra 400 million euros to cover the additional costs of building its so-called flagship European Pressurised Reactor at Olkiluoto in Finland. Continue reading
Uranium company director Ken Talbot and Arkaroola corruption charges
The death of Ken Talbot in an airplane crash puts a stop to the legal proceedings that have been ongoing over corruption charges, and the murky history of uranium miner Marathon resources.
The charges concerned $300,000 allegedly paid by Talbot to Nuttall while Nuttall was a Minister of the Crown. Nuttall was sentenced in July this year to seven year’s jail…………
Arkaroola uranium hunter on bribery charges, The Independent Weekly, HENDRIK GOUT17 Oct, 2009 The owner and director of the largest shareholder in the company which the state government allows to explore the Arkaroola wilderness for uranium, Marathon Resources, is awaiting trial on charges of having bribed a government minister.
Ken Talbot of Talbot Group Investments Pty Ltd is accused of corruptly making payments to Gordon Nuttall, then a Labor minister in the Queensland Government…………In December 2008, Gordon Nuttall and Ken Talbot were committed to stand trial on 35 corruption charges. Continue reading
Surfers against nuclear power
The message is clear from the surf community in Jeffreys Bay and is supported by surfers from all over the world. Don’t build a Nuke at Thuyspunt.
(South Africa) 23 June 2010, The Jeffreys Bay surf community came out in full support of the Supertubes Surfing Foundation’s call to prevent the building of a nuclear power station at nearby Thuyspunt. Continue reading
Australian govt’s new trick to benefit nuclear industry
The NT intervention is clearly racist and is not motivated by concern for Aboriginal children but to enable government control of Aboriginal land…..Many Aboriginal communities have been forced to sign over their land on five-year leases to the federal government — land that contains gold, iron ore, uranium as well as areas that have been slated as potential nuclear waste dumps.
We are all in this together, Green Left Weekly, Ruth Ratcliffe June 20, 2010“…….The Rudd government plans to extend the paternalistic policy of welfare quarantining, which the Howard government initiated in remote Aboriginal communities, to other areas of disadvantage. Continue reading
Radioactive waste problem at London’s Olympic Games site
Tonnes of radioactive waste casts doubt over London’s Olympic stadium legacy• Presence of waste on site could complicate redevelopment after 2012 Games | UK news | The Guardian, Ian Griffiths 20 June 2010,
The development of the Olympic site in east London after the Games have finished could be in jeopardy because of radioactive waste buried beneath the site, experts have warned. Continue reading
Escalating mass and escalating costs of nuclear wastes
There is no national disposal spot for the spent fuel, and for 32 states, no place to send their low-level wastes. Around the country, the inventory of low-level wastes with no place to go is growing by about 10,000 cubic feet a year……...as much as $1,625 per cubic foot of waste. Even with waste reduction technologies, the amount of waste per year amounts to thousands of cubic feet…………
(USA) Nuclear Dumps Argue Over Diluting Waste for Burial – NYTimes.com, By MATTHEW L. WALD June 17, 2010 Even low-level radioactive waste is a growing problem, with few licensed repositories to dispose of it. The problem dates from the early 1980s, when Congress said that the federal government would take care of high-level waste, like spent fuel from nuclear power plants, but that the states would have to find sites for low-level material, like the radiation sources used in cancer treatments and industrial X-rays, and filters used in nuclear plants.In reality, both the federal and state efforts mostly failed. There is no national disposal spot for the spent fuel, and for 32 states, no place to send their low-level wastes. Around the country, the inventory of low-level wastes with no place to go is growing by about 10,000 cubic feet a year……… Continue reading
Review: Resources tax, GNEP to IFNEC, Renewables
Australia: Mainstream media continues to publicise the billionaires’ revolt against Resources Super Profit Tax – as though it’s going to end Australia’s resources industries. (At the same time, China signing up for long term resources buying). Uranium market remains in the doldrums. ERA’s annual profit halved. Moves in Parliament to get REAL renewable energy legislation. Victorian Labor opposing uranium sales to Russia. Senator Scott Ludlam keeps asking those awkward nuclear questions.
International: USA gets new renewable energy coalition. GNEP rises up again under a new name – International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation (IFNEC). South Africa abandoning Pebble Bed Nuclear Reactor project. China selling nuclear reactors to Pakistan, seeing that USA is selling them to India. USA’s proposed Climate Bill is in fact a massive bailout for nuclear industry. Punjab children retarded due to uranium contamination. Anti nuclear protest at APEC. – the week that has been.
Victorian Labor Party opposes sale of uranium to Russia
The Victorian ALP State Conference on Saturday 19th June passed a Motion opposing export of uranium to Russia.
This is a strong position and an important challenge to the Federal ALP government’s stated support for the Howard – Putin uranium deal that was cut by the preceding Liberal government before the last federal election.
The Motion calls on Federal ALP to accept the findings of a Federal Parliamentary Inquiry by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties that recommended the Russian uranium sales deal should not proceed and placed a set of strong preconditions in its path – conditions that the Federal Labor government are not honouring to date.
Political moves in New Zealand to prevent passage of uranium shipments
Moves to stop uranium shipment Herald Sun: AAP * June 21, 2010 NEW Zealand politicians say they are looking for ways to update anti-nuclear legislation in a bid to block uranium shipments from South Australia passing through New Zealand ports. Continue reading
Tim Flannery goes anti nuclear?
Time Flannery, previous darling of the Australian nuclear lobby – seems to have got off his pro nuclear horse – well – to some degree anyway. He’s just against it for Australia.
But – that’s incurred the wrath of quite a few pro-nuclear columnists – he seems to be out of favour now
Flannery, quoted 20 June 2010, “Why should we take the most expensive option in this country, which has always been recognized as having the most expensive and difficult option.
We are going to see a whole lot of other technologies and innovations which are now well under way which we could use instead of nuclear power……. Such as concentrated PV technology, geothermal technology, wave power, wind power.”
1 This month
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
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