After the Apology: still keeping our distance – On Line Opinion – 26/2/2009
After the Apology: still keeping our distance
By Maggie Walter – ON LINE opinion 26 February 2009There is a casual disrespect of Aboriginal people in general that permeates everyday Australian life. This patter of casual and almost thoughtless denigration pervades our society’s conversations. You hear it in cabs, at the hairdressers, on the bus – everywhere. Not knowing anything much about Aboriginal people, or not knowing any Aboriginal people does not stop non-Aboriginal Australians having loud opinions about those people they don’t know……………………..I want an Australia where to be Australian, for all Australians, means understanding and being proud of our Indigenous heritage and our Indigenous present.
Where all Australians know and interact with Aboriginal people as part of the normal interactions of daily life; where your dentist, bus driver, teacher or neighbour or all of them are likely to be Aboriginal and this not be considered unusual.
Where Aboriginal culture is celebrated and where Aboriginal ways of being, doing and living have embedded social and political legitimacy and are a significant and inextricable aspect of “the” Australian culture. And where regardless of our own heritage, where we live, and our occupation, we all have plenty of Aboriginal friends. But there’s a long way to go.
After the Apology: still keeping our distance – On Line Opinion – 26/2/2009
Hospitals Become Major Source of Nuclear Waste
Hospitals Become Major Source of Nuclear Waste
Natural News.com February 24, 2009 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer Hospitals have become a major source of nuclear waste in the United States, producing and storing millions of radioactive materials each year with no long-term disposal plan. Experts increasingly fear that such waste could pose health hazards or be stolen by terrorists and used to build dirty bombs.“Instead of safely secured in one place, it’s stored in thousands of places in urban locations all over the United States,” said nuclear waste consultant Rick Jacobi.
Hospitals and other health facilities use radioactive material for a variety of functions, from examination to treatment. For example, radiation from cobalt and powdered cesium is used to sterilize blood and medical equipment, while cobalt is also used to kill diseased brain tissue. Capsules of cesium are implanted next to tumors to kill cancerous cells, and thin tubes of radioactive material are used to o
Future is bright and green in renewables energy sector
From Times OnlineFebruary 25, 2009
Future is bright and green in renewables energy sectorT
here are opportunities in this global business to suit all types The good news is that renewable energy is “no longer an option” and opportunities in the sector will multiply, according to Kristen Herde, the head of human resources at E.ON Climate & Renewables…………….
…….. With the UK bound under EU law to generate 15 per cent of energy from renewable sources by 2020, Fruzsina Kemenes, a skills and education policy officer for the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA), says that compared to other sectors, wind, wave and tidal industries are holding up well in these straitened times. “To achieve government targets for renewable energy generation, by 2020 the wind industry is set to provide jobs for at least 36,000 people directly.”
Future is bright and green in renewables energy sector – Times Online
IG Energy cannot account for nuclear materials at 15 locations
IG: Energy cannot account for nuclear materials at 15 locations GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE by Katherine McIntire Peters February 23, 2009 A number of institutions with licenses to hold nuclear material reported to the Energy Department in 2004 that the amount of material they held was less than agency records indicated. But rather than investigating the discrepancies, Energy officials wrote off significant quantities of nuclear material from the department’s inventory records.That’s just one of the findings of a report released on Monday by Energy Department Inspector General Gregory Friedman that concluded “the department cannot properly account for and effectively manage its nuclear materials maintained by domestic licensees and may be unable to detect lost or stolen material.”Auditors found that Energy could not accurately account for the quantities and locations of nuclear material at 15 out of 40, or 37 percent, of facilities reviewed. The materials written off included 20,580 grams of enriched uranium, 45 grams of plutonium, 5,001 kilograms of normal uranium and 189,139 kilograms of depleted uranium.
“Considering the potential health risks associated with these materials and the potential for misuse should they fall into the wrong hands, the quantities written off were significant,” the report stated. “Even in small quantities normally held by individual domestic licensees, special nuclear materials such as enriched uranium and plutonium, if not properly handled, potentially pose serious health hazards.”
Auditors also found that waste processing facilities could not locate or explain the whereabouts of significant quantities of uranium and other nuclear material that Energy Department records showed they held
: Bill would put uranium mining under microscope
Bill would put uranium mining under microscope 25 Feb 2009 Gallup Independent By Bill Donovan — The New Mexico House barely passed a bill Monday that calls for the creation of a task force to look into uranium mining in the state…………………….
State Rep. Patty Lundstrom, D-McKinley County, said the bill calls for the task force to prepare a report by October on the feasibility of bringing uranium mining back to the state. All of the Gallup area representatives, with the exception of Sandra Jeff, voted in favor of the bill, said Lundstrom.
The task force would also look into existing state laws, she said, to make sure that they are adequate in handling the problems that could arise out of uranium mining.
“The uranium industry fought to keep this resolution from passing,” Lundstrom said. “They don’t want this kind of scrutiny.”
Independent – February 24, 2009: Bill would put uranium mining under microscope
Iraq’s War Disfigured Babies
Iraq’s War Disfigured Babies iSLAMoNlINE.NET By Afif Sarhan, Feb. 23, 2009 BAGHDAD— In new Iraq, women like Leila Omar Wassin are heart-broken giving birth to babies born malformed because of the deadly substances years of war have sown in their bodies.
“My first baby died after he was born without legs and the second one died few days ago because his spinal cord was exposed and his head was too big,” the 36-old woman told IslamOnline.net.
Wassim is one of the victims of the massive bombing of Fallujah in 2004, when the US army admittedly used depleted uranium munitions, which contain low-level radioactive waste……………………………
After denying it at first, the Pentagon admitted in November 2005 that white phosphorous, a restricted incendiary weapon, was used in shelling Fallujah.
It also admitted to having used more than 1,200 tons of depleted uranium munitions in Iraq during the 2003 invasion.
The plight of babies’ birth defects has exacerbated over the years, becoming a common occurrence for doctors and nurses.
“Baghdad has shown a high level of contamination,” a doctor and a researcher at a Red Crescent Hospital in Baghdad told IOL, requesting anonymity.
“In 2005, we had about 600 cases reported at public hospitals and three years latter, this number has doubled.”
Anti-nuclear and ‘pro-life’ Philippines
Anti-nuclear and ‘pro-life’ By Rina Jimenez-David Philippine Daily InquirerFirst 02/24/2009 – “…………………if anyone has reason to fear the presence of an operational nuclear power plant, that would be the people living near it, who would arguably be the first to feel the effects — including being killed — as a result of any accident, mishap or neglect involved in running the plant.
Yesterday, residents of Bataan, among them members of the Catholic clergy and hierarchy, took part in a rally against the plant’s reopening. The march and rally drew various sectors from all corners of Bataan, among them youth and parish delegations and civil society groups, converging at the Balanga Cathedral…………………………..If the intent is to delay or reverse the effects of global warming
, then reviving the BNPP makes little sense, avers Green Peace. Said Baconguis: “Our congressmen must face the simple, indisputable facts: 1) Nuclear power is the most dangerous way to generate electricity, there is also no known scientific solution to safely storing plutonium and its deadly radioactive waste-product which remains radiotoxic for 200,000 years; 2) it is the most expensive source of power: aside from pricey construction costs, nuclear power involves expenses for decommissioning, as well as storage for nuclear waste, each of which can cost as much as a new power plant; 3) it cannot solve climate change — the contribution it can potentially make is negligible, especially if you consider that the processing of uranium as fuel uses so much electricity; and 4) importing more fuel, in this case uranium, is not the way to achieve energy security.”
Anti-nuclear and ‘pro-life’ – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
12 million Euro a year for high level radioactive waste
12 million Euro a year for high level radioactive waste typicallyspanish.com Feb 24 Residents of Yebra say they do not want a nuclear waste cemetery on their doorstep…………………..The Government has not announced any final decision for the site, but the Ministry for Industry has been looking for local town halls who would be prepared to host such a site, in exchange for extra funding, placed at as much as 12 million € a year.
Local farmers and other residents have now started to put up posters against the plan, after hearing from Ecologistas en Acción that the Mayor has shown interest in the deal.
The so called ATC, Temporary Centralised Warehouse, will be the first such site to accept high level radioactive waste.
Radiation in Ottawa waste may have come from patients
Radiation in Ottawa waste may have come from patients TIM WIECLAWSKI, METRO OTTAWAF ebruary 25, 2009 There is a strong possibility that the radiation detected in Ottawa biowaste last month came from the waste of medical patients, but the city’s director of Water and Wastewater Services said it’s impossible to know for sure……………………….
The radioactive material is very likely the medical isotope iodine-131, but an investigation of the facilities known to use it failed to produce a source.
Similar situation have occurred in other cities in North America and Weir said the research points to “normal excreta that comes from people undergoing medical treatments.”
“The situation is that what we have found, after much investigation, the biosolids here in Ottawa are consistent all over North America.
Metro – Radiation in Ottawa waste may have come from patients
Environmentalists fight planned nuclear plant
San Antonio Business Journal Feb 23
Environmental groups throughout Texas are lining up to oppose the South Texas Nuclear Operating Co.’s plans to build two additional reactors at its plant near Bay City, Texas.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has filed notice in the Federal Register giving citizens the ability to challenge the proposed reactors. Groups have 60 days to oppose the proposed expansion of the nuclear power plant. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must still grant a license to build the new reactors.
Environmental groups planning to formally oppose the project include the newly formed Bay City-based South Texas Association for Responsible Energy (STARE), the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition, and Public Citizen………………………..
“New reactors would saddle homeowners and taxpayers with additional debt for infrastructure, more radioactive waste that would sit in our community, and more risk of nuclear accidents, health impacts and radioactive exposure,” contends Susan Dancer, executive director of STARE. “These are among the many reasons we will intervene in opposition to more nuclear reactors.”
“There are cleaner, more affordable ways to generate electricity,” says Cindy Wheeler of the Consumers’ Energy Coalition in San Antonio. “With the economic downturn, we shouldn’t generate power that’s not needed. San Antonio has reduced energy use by 16 percent over the past two years.”
Explosion at Romania nuclear lab
BBC News 23 February 2009A Romanian officer has been killed in a blast at a military laboratory dealing with nuclear, biological and chemical research, Romanian officials say.
The defence ministry says the man, aged 37, died of his injuries after the explosion in Bucharest.
The cause of the blast was not immediately known
Nuclear power: The next bailout
Nuclear power: The next bailout
Central Penn Business Journal By Eric Epstein
2/23/2009 – “……………………
Jim Rubens, former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, observed, “My party, the Republican party, is too deep in bed with the coal, oil and electric utility industries to remember its free market principles.”
Turns out politicians from both parties know what’s best after all. Welcome to this century’s version of corporate socialism.
Since Wall Street deferred, Congress and former President Bush approved nuclear loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. In December 2007, $18.5 billion was set aside in federal loan guarantees. An additional $2 billion was allocated for new uranium enrichment. And nuclear power companies were guaranteed $2 billion in federal insurance to cover construction delays caused by court challenges or any other distraction outside “normal business risks.”
The Department of Energy actually admitted that $18.5 billion would build just two new reactors. The program is over subscribed with $75 billion in requests.
Is there exposure for Joe Q. Taxpayer?
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) considers the risk of default on government nuclear plant loan guarantees “to be very high – well above 50 percent.” In a report issued on May 7, the CBO concluded the risk of default by private companies comes from the expectation that a new nuclear plant “would be uneconomic to operate because of high construction costs, relative to other electricity generation sources.”
Florida trying to undo nuclear plant financing
Florida trying to undo nuclear plant financing Georgia lawmakers weigh similar bill this week
AJC February 23, 2009By MARGARET NEWKIRK The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Monday, February 23, 2009 As Georgia lawmakers push forward with a nuclear financing bill this week, their counterparts in Florida are scrambling to undo a similar measure approved three years ago. In the past two weeks, Florida Republicans, including the state Senate president pro tem, drafted two bills aimed at a 2006 law requiring power customers to pay early for new nuclear reactors………………..
SB 31 would let the utility begin collecting $1.6 billion in project financing charges six years earlier, when construction begins.
The charges include about $600,000 in debt interest and $1 billion in “return on equity” — roughly, profit — for Georgia Power shareholders.
Philippines Activists hold rally to oppose revival of mothballed nuke plant
Activists hold rally to oppose revival of mothballed nuke plant
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 02/22/2009Hundreds of protesters urged legislators on Sunday not to support a bill in Congress to revive the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).
Volunteers of environmental activist group Greenpeace and members of a network opposed to the BNPP also formed a human banner at the UP sunken garden forming the words – “NO TO BNPP.”
They called on members of the House of Representatives who indicated their support to the bill to withdraw their signatures and ensure it does not get past the House Committee on Appropriations……………………Protesters said reviving BNPP is not the answer to the country’s energy problem, adding neither will it solve climate change. Instead, they said government should expand the country’s renewable-energy capacity and promote energy-efficient technology.
Members of the Network Opposed to the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant revival also held a rally in front of UP Diliman’s Quezon Hall to call attention to the surcharge that would be imposed on power consumers if the bill is passed.
The group also called for the junking of House Bill (HB) 4631 which proposes the recommissioning of the BNPP. The group also said the BNPP revival will not address the expected energy crisis. They urged government to turn to indigenous energy sources instead.
Activists hold rally to oppose revival of mothballed nuke plant | ABS-CBN News Online Beta
Florida Green Party Files Petition Opposing New Nuclear Power Plant
Florida Green Party Files Petition Opposing New Nuclear Power PlantF Green Party Watch February 20th, 2009 by Ronald Hardy “……………………..
Gainesville, FL — On February 6, 2009 the Green Party of Florida (GPF, http://www.floridagreens.org) joined with the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS, http://www.nirs.org) and the Ecology Party to file a legal challenge to a new nuclear power plant proposed by Progress Energy Florida (PEF) for a site in Levy County, near Inglis, Florida.
The filing is a formal Petition to Intervene in the NRC’s licensing process for nuclear power plants, the latest in a series of such actions taken by NIRS and other groups nationwide to protect the health and safety of the public and the natural resources that are placed at risk by this industry. The interventions by parties with standing, which must follow rules established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), are intended to stop these nuclear boondoggles before construction work starts and millions of dollars are wasted.
Florida Green Party Files Petition Opposing New Nuclear Power Plant
1 This Month
10 June – Assessing Canada’s Investments in Small Modular Nuclear Reactors – https://zoom.us/meeting/register/IiqHA5feRhaEBycOLNTJlA#/registration
Cuba Is Not a Failed State – It Is a Besieged State
PETITION: “Global Appeal to Endorse Palestinian Right of Return of Refugees”
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