Secrecy about nuclear wastes, and Australia’s hypocrisy
This website might well give the impression that it is anti-American, anti-British etc, – especially on the subject of nuclear wastes.
But – spare a thought for those two countries. At least the nuclear waste subject is RAISED there. (That’s how we can publish it)
Very hard to get a few lines about Russia’s nuclear wastes.
As for China, France and also a few other countries (India, Korea, European states , Israel...) – well there’s nary a word about their nuclear wastes! What do they do with radioactive wastes? It’s a worry. And it seems to me to be complete lunacy for countries like Australia to piously claim safety policy, while selling uranium to such countries.
Britain’s multibillion black hole in nuclear waste costs
Chris Huhne warns of £4bn black hole in nuclear power budget, guardian.co.uk, Patrick Wintour, 1 June 2010
“………Britain is facing a £4bn black hole in unavoidable nuclear decommissioning and waste costs, Chris Huhne, the energy and climate change secretary disclosed tonight. The decommissioning costs over the next four years revealed by officials to Huhne are so serious that he has already flagged the crisis up to the cabinet. Continue reading
Gulf oil disaster is bad news for uranium industry
One virtually certain outcome of the environmental disaster currently blackening the Gulf of Mexico is that federal regulators will take a harder line on enforcement of environmental regulations. Uranium miners are likely to be particularly hard hit because there isn’t a person in the US who doesn’t fear the consequences of radiation exposure….Playing fast and loose with the environment is no longer a winning strategy.
Uranium Miners Get Some Good News and Some Bad 24/7 Wall St., Paul Ausick, June 1, 2010 “….The first installment of the investment will help USEC to continue its deployment of its American Centrifuge Plant which produces enriched uranium for use in nuclear power generation. The cash will also help support USEC’s $2 billion loan guarantee application with the US Department of Energy.
The not-so-good news for uranium companies was delivered Continue reading
Review: hypocrisy on uranium and nuclear industry
Australia: what a load of hypocrisy is going on. about the Resources Tax! BHP saying that Olympic Dam uranium mine’s expansion is threatened. Of course it is! – By the collapse of the uranium market ! ANSTO forced to admit its safety failures. And, we wait to see if Peter Garrett will be able to promote AREVA’s uranium mining in Koongarra, while he still poses as Minister for Environment
International: hypocrisy as the closing Nuclear Non Proliferation conference promotes the nuclear industry, as pro-nukes suggest nuke bombing the oil spill, as the industry touts new, little, thorium reactors. All in a desperate bid to keep the “peaceful” nuclear industry afloat, as nuclear reactors age and close down, while new ones just aren’t getting built, except in secretive totalitarian states, such as China
Uranium a cancer risk like asbestos, says union
“Corporate interests, and their political supporters in the Labor and Coalition parties, are also trying to buy working families off with high wages, while denying the true short-term and long-term health risks of such jobs.”
‘Uranium is the new asbestos’: union ban on nuclear work, Brisbane Times, May 31, 2010 –
The Electrical Trades Union has banned its members from working in uranium mines, nuclear power stations or any other part of the nuclear fuel cycle.
The union says uranium is the new asbestos in the workplace. Continue reading
Uranium oversupply, and prices way down
Nuclear giants stockpile fuel while price is cheap Times Online, June 1, 2010 Some of the world’s biggest energy companies are stockpiling the nuclear fuel used to power reactors as they try to capitalise on rock-bottom uranium prices.An oversupply of nuclear fuel on international commodity markets has followed five successive years of rapid growth in uranium ore production in Kazakhstan, which has nearly quadrupled its output since 2004.
Raw uranium prices have tumbled to around $40 per pound — almost one quarter of the levels of $140 in 2007……About one third of the world’s total supply of nuclear fuel comes from Russian nuclear weapons that have been decommissioned as part of a disarmament agreement struck with the United States at the end of the Cold War. Nuclear giants stockpile fuel while price is cheap – Times Online
Oil, Gold And Uranium prospects analysed | Uranium Investing News, 1 June 2010, Turning to the uranium market, BA Merrill Lynch suggests the combination of ample supply, aggressive sales from new market entrants and well-covered utility requirements means there is little chance of any spot market tension (upside) this year without any major disruption to production…….buying and holding material becomes attractive at this level when compared to term-escalated contracts. Oil, Gold And Uranium prospects analysed | Uranium Investing News
Uranium Remains Weak FNArena News – June 01 2010 By Chris Shaw Spot uranium has given up some recent gains, leading industry consultant TradeTech to reduce its indicative spot market price another US25c last week to at US$40.50 per pound. The fall reflects aggressive attempts by sellers to motivate buying interest, which is coming via material being offered at lower prices.
ANSTO admits safety failures at Lucas Heights: whistleblower still suspended
Mr Reid remains suspended…..The Greens say he should be reinstated immediately.
Chief vindicates Lucas Heights whistleblower – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) 1 June 2010, “………….In August 2008, a worker at the ARI facility dropped a vial of highly radioactive material in a containment cell, which went unreported for several hours.”We started investigating and the more we investigated the more we couldn’t understand because it was such a massive dose,” Mr Reid said.”None of our instruments could measure it – it was way off scale. Continue reading
Iraq: legal action over depleted uranium babies
Atomic radiation has increased the number of babies born with defects in the southern provinces of Iraq.
VIDEO
Fallujah babies born with birth defects as a result of Depleted Uranium WMD contaminated dust. 1 June 2010, Iraq WILL sue US and Britain over depleted uranium bombs (FULL story here- http://www.presstv.ir) Ministry for Human Rights will file a lawsuit against Britain and the US over their use of depleted uranium bombs in Iraq, an Iraqi minister says. Continue reading
The declining status of nuclear energy
Ockham’s Razor – 30 May 2010 – Nuclear energy: a panacea for climate change?
Nuclear energy: a panacea for climate change?. ABC Radio National, Ockham’s Razor, Dr Adam Lucas – 30 May 2010 “………..What is the status of nuclear energy in the world at the moment? And do the arguments of its proponents stand up to scrutiny?Nuclear energy is currently responsible for generating around 14% of the world’s electricity. And although nuclear contributes anything from 2% to 6% of the world’s total energy needs, it has been steadily losing out to renewables over the last decade or so, which now contribute between 7% and 20% of total global energy. Continue reading
Obama to visit Australia, nuclear issues to be discussed
Australia, U.S. to discuss nuclear, economy issues next month English News, CANBERRA, May 28 (Xinhua) — Nuclear weapons and economic recovery will top the agenda when U.S. President Barack Obama visits Australia in mid-June, U.S. ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich said on Friday.Bleich said there would be “a lot to talk about” when Obama meets Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Canberra…… Australia, U.S. to discuss nuclear, economy issues next month
Australian union (AMWU)’s call for 100% renewable energy
WA metal workers call for 100% renewable energy by 2020 Green Left Weekly May 29, 2010 – from a motion passed at the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union state conference in Western Australia on May 27. “……The delay in the uptake of renewable energy is historically due to the fact that the fossil fuel lobby has been able to dominate energy. A “business as usual” model will not address the urgency of climate change.100% renewable energy by 2020 is achievable. It is also necessary to combat climate change in such a manner as to negate the pro-uranium lobby. The demand for 100% renewable energy by 2020 is an international campaign that we need to not only support but be prepared to take action in support of, thereby attaining a nuclear-free future…” WA metal workers call for 100% renewable energy by 2020 | Green Left Weekly
Escalating and long term costs of nuclear wastes
The equipment and reactors cannot easily or cheaply be dismantled and will remain radioactive for hundreds of years
Nuclear and radioactive waste disposal – by Patrick Boniface -Helium, 30 May 2010, Nuclear waste is dangerously toxic, its environmental impact if released would be devastating, as was witnessed during both the Chernobyl explosion, the American Three Mile Island scare and the Windscale fire of 1957.In these cases radioactive material was released into the atmosphere. With the Windscale fire some 15,000 terabequerels (TBq) of radioactive material (notably Iodine-131) were released (3). Continue reading
Garrett’s chance to support environment rather than AREVA
“The Federal Government needs to chose which is more important – the long-term national interest of Australia or the corporate interest of a French nuclear company.”
Garrett keen to see Kakadu expansion ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) 30 May 2010 Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett says he would like to seize the opportunity to expand Kakadu National Park, following a request from traditional owners. Continue reading
Koongarra land to be saved from uranium mining
Mr Lee, the sole member of the Djok clan and senior custodian of the land known as Koongarra, could have become one of Australia’s richest men if he had allowed the French energy giant Areva to extract 14,000 tonnes of uranium from its mineral lease in the area……….
Land of riches given over to Kakadu, The Age, LINDSAY MURDOCH, KAKADUMay 29, 2010 T HE World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park will be expanded to include thousands of hectares of ecologically sensitive land that has uranium worth billions of dollars.
Aboriginal traditional owner Jeffrey Lee has offered the land to the federal government so it can become part of Kakadu, where he works as a ranger. Continue reading
Navajo oppose new uranium mining
Navajo Activists Protest Uranium Mining Plans May 28, 2010 , warresisters . By Bruce FinleyThe Denver Post Uranium-mining leaders and fed
eral regulators poised to fuel a resurgent nuclear power industry gathered in Denver on Wednesday, ….outside the conference Wednesday, American Indian demonstrators with drums and signs demanded a halt to all new uranium mining on Navajo land, where federal regulators have permitted several projects.“Our Navajo communities rely on the groundwater for everything. These new projects could contaminate the source of drinking water for 15,000 Navajo community members,” said Nadine Padilla of the Multicultural Alliance for Safe Environments. “Our communities are still living with the legacy of contamination from past uranium mining.” Navajo Activists Protest Uranium Mining Plans « The War Resisters League Blog
1 This month
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
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