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Australia, Environmental & Energy, Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Bill 2008 – Clayton Utz – 12/02/2009, Environmental Law, Oil, Gas & Electricity

Australia: Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Bill 2008 mondaq.com  12 February 2009Article by Dan Howard and Martin AylwardKey Point * The MRET scheme will increase to ensure that 20 percent of Australia’s electricity is sourced from Renewable Energy by 2020The Commonwealth Government’s commitment to expand renewable energy to 20 percent of Australia’s electricity supply is in the process of being implemented through the release of the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Bill 2008 exposure draft. The increase in the national target will coincide with the phase-out of a number of state-based schemes also designed to increase renewable energy capacity.The Bill will amend the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target of 2001 (MRET) by significantly increasing the renewable energy target (RET), starting from the year 2010. The scheme aims to increase the new renewable energy supply from a target of 9,500 GWh to 45,000 GWh in 2020. The expanded scheme will now expire in 2030 rather than the previous date of 2020. The RET scheme sets annual interim targets that ramp up to 45,000 GWh in 2020, the initial ramp up is slower between 2009 and 2014 and then accelerates to 2020. From 2024 to 2030 the scheme targets reduce to 23,000 GWh when the scheme terminates.

Australia, Environmental & Energy, Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Bill 2008 – Clayton Utz – 12/02/2009, Environmental Law, Oil, Gas & Electricity

February 13, 2009 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Fears Rio Tinto will sell-off Territory interests: Union – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Fears Rio Tinto will sell-off Territory interests: Union

The Northern Territory mining union says workers are worried that Rio Tinto’s expected plans to sell off Northern Territory interests will mean more job losses and worse pay and conditions.

Rio Tinto is expected to announce today it will sell its 68 per cent stake in the Energy Resources Australia (ERA) uranium mine at Jabiru, and part of its bauxite mine and aluminium refinery at Gove, to pay off a 37 billion dollar debt.

Fears Rio Tinto will sell-off Territory interests: Union – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

February 13, 2009 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Bill would limit future Utah nuclear power plants

Bill would limit future Utah nuclear power plants

Associated Press – February 11, 2009 1:15 PM ET SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Lawmakers have introduced a bill in the Utah House that would effectively stop any nuclear power plant from setting up in the state. The measure introduced on Wednesday would prevent nuclear power plants from operating in Utah unless there is a federally licensed facility with adequate capacity available to dispose of any high-level radioactive waste. The proposed Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada has a capacity limit that is already too low to handle the material expected to be generated by the country’s 104 commercial reactors before they are shut down. Unless Congress removes the 77,000-ton limit on Yucca Mountain, it would have to approve a search for a second repository to handle future waste. A companion bill also has been introduced in the Utah Senate.

February 11, 2009 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

US using British atomic weapons factory for its nuclear programme

US using British atomic weapons factory for its nuclear programme guardian.co.uk 9 feb 09  Joint warhead research carried out at Aldermaston• Work breaches nuclear treaty, campaigners warn

The US military has been using Britain’s atomic weapons factory to carry out research into its own nuclear warhead programme, according to evidence seen by the Guardian.

US defence officials said that “very valuable” warhead research has taken place at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston in Berkshire as part of an ongoing and secretive deal between the British and American governments.

The Ministry of Defence admitted it is working with the US on the UK’s “existing nuclear warhead stockpile and the range of replacement options that might be available” but declined to give any further information.

Last night, opposition MPs called for a full parliamentary inquiry into the extent of the collaboration at Aldermaston and campaign groups warned any such deal was in breach of international law. They added that it also undermined Britain’s claim to have an independent nuclear weapons programme and meant British taxpayers were effectively subsidising America’s nuclear programme…………………………….

Congress has stopped funding research into RRW but campaigners believe the US military may have used facilities in the UK to get around the restrictions at home.

“Billions of pounds have been poured into the Atomic Weapons Establishment over recent years to build new research facilities,” said Hudson. “If these are being used to support US programmes outside Congress’s controls on spending, it raises even more serious questions about why the British taxpayer is paying for a so-called ‘independent deterrent’.”

US using British atomic weapons factory for its nuclear programme | World news | The Guardian

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February 11, 2009 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

Nuclear waste issue remains unaddressed

Nuclear waste issue remains unaddressed
APP.com Paula Gotsch February 10, 2009 If the Nuclear Regulatory Commission chooses to ignore the flashing red lights of unresolved safety problems at the Oyster Creek generating station by relicensing the facility to run for another 20 years, there still remains another unresolved problem no one has found a permanent answer for: What do you do with nuclear waste?

The problem is playing out all over the world as countries scramble to get rid of their poisonous legacy. Italy has entered into agreements to send theirs to the U.S. for temporary storage in places like Texas. The United Kingdom and France are trying to figure out what to do with their failed and leaking reprocessing plants that have contaminated rivers and land areas. Germany is concerned about childrens’ health problems around some of its storage facilities. And everywhere, the cost to even begin clean up is astronomical.

The tons of nuclear waste generated by Oyster Creek will continue to pile up in the spent fuel pool on top of the reactor and in cask storage on the ground………………….At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Toms River Library auditorium, the League of Women Voters of Ocean County will hold a Community Dialogue on options for communities faced with the problem of neighborhood nuclear waste……………………………..The league also will announce a new program, Equal Protection for Women and Children, that will address the problem of low-level radiation and how the most vulnerable are, with the current standard used by federal agencies, the least protected.

Nuclear waste issue remains unaddressed | APP.com | Asbury Park Press

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February 11, 2009 Posted by | wastes | Leave a comment

Nuclear test case on hold…months before judge’s ruling

Nuclear test case on hold…months before judge’s rulingB
TS23 Billingham  by Evening Gazette on Feb 10, 09
 A TEESSIDE widow and more than 1,000 atom bomb test veterans and their families will have to wait until after Easter to discover if their compensation claims can go ahead.The ex-servicemen, their widows and families claim that the men were made ill by radiation exposure following nuclear tests in the Pacific and mainland Australia in the 1950s.The claims, if successful, could potentially cost the Ministry of Defence hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation payments for a wide range of health problems………………. The judge has now opted to go away to read and consider the evidence and submissions before giving a decision.

Nuclear test case on hold…months before judge’s ruling – Billingham – TS23

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February 11, 2009 Posted by | environment, UK | Leave a comment

Global Wind Energy Capacity Grew by 28.8 percent in 2008

Global Wind Energy Capacity Grew by 28.8 percent in 2008S energy bangla 02.07.2009, 11:56am (GMT)Global wind energy capacity grew by 28.8 percent last year to reach total global installations of more than 120.8 GW at the end of 2008, according to Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).Over 27 GW of new wind power generation capacity came online in 2008, 36 percent more than in 2007.”These figures speak for themselves: there is huge and growing global demand for emissions-free wind power, which can be installed quickly, virtually everywhere in the world. Wind energy is the only power generation technology that can deliver the necessary cuts in CO2 in the critical period up to 2020, when greenhouse cases must peak and begin to decline to avoid dangerous climate change,” said Steve Sawyer, Secretary General of GWEC. “The 120 GW of global wind capacity in place at the end of 2008 will produce 260 TWh and save 158 million tons of CO2 every year.”

Energy Bangla – Global Wind Energy Capacity Grew by 28.8 percent in 2008

February 11, 2009 Posted by | 2 WORLD, ENERGY | Leave a comment

Centrica faces investor revolt on British Energy

rom The Times February 11, 2009Centrica faces investor revolt on British EnergyShareholders voice anger at the utility’s proposed £3.1bn nuclear deal and call on it to buy gas assets instead

Centrica is facing a shareholder rebellion over its plan to spend £3.1billion buying a stake in Britain’s nuclear industry.

A leading institutional shareholder in Centrica, the owner of British Gas, is urging the company to scrap its plan to acquire 25 per cent of British Energy from EDF of France and use the money to buy more gas assets instead.

The investor, which asked not to be named, is the latest in a growing chorus of City objectors to the deal.


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February 11, 2009 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Salazar: Renewable energy offers ‘huge potential’ along Atlantic Coast

Salazar: Renewable energy offers ‘huge potential’ along Atlantic Coast

capecodtoday By James Kinsella 10 Frb 09

When it comes to wind projects built off the coast of Massachusetts, the proposed Cape Wind project south of Cape Cod might just be the start.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said renewable energy offers “huge potential” along the nation’s Atlantic Coast.

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Salazar: Renewable energy offers ‘huge potential’ along Atlantic Coast

February 11, 2009 Posted by | ENERGY, USA | Leave a comment

Salmond: “nuclear will take billions from renewables”

Salmond: “nuclear will take billions from renewables New Energy Focus 09-02-09

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has claimed that the UK government’s commitment to nuclear power will rob the renewables industry of billions of pounds’ worth of investment.

Mr Salmond, whose SNP minority government is opposed to nuclear, was speaking to the Scottish Parliament during First Minister’s question time on Thursday, where he warned that nuclear power and renewable technologies could not share resources.

“Anything you invest -and it will be billions – in nuclear power is billions taken away from clean technology and in renewable technology,” he said.

He went on to emphasise Scotland’s “great prospects” in the renewables sector, which he described as the government’s “top priority”.

“I do not believe that the case for nuclear power is made,” he added. “Nuclear power is not the answer to tackling climate change or security of supply”.

New Energy Focus – Salmond: “nuclear will take billions from renewables”

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February 10, 2009 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Gulfnews: Cleaner solutions lead to murky problems

Cleaner solutions lead to murky problems By Leah Bower, Special to Gulf News  February 09, 2009, 23:11Everybody is going nuclear – or at least everyone seems to be thinking about it as a shortcut to cheap plentiful electricity.I don’t know that I buy into it being an alternative energy source. ……………it certainly isn’t green………………………..everyone is going to have to find storage facilities for the radioactive waste produced by these plants.

Already it is almost impossible to build a waste site in the US or Europe without encountering incredibly hostile opposition from nearby residents. While China might not have that problem, most other nations are going to be hard-pressed to find dump sites inside their borders.

If everyone starts building reactors, who’s going to take the waste from nations desperate for safe storage?

Here in lies the problem with a band-aid energy solution like nuclear power: Everyone could end up with enough energy, but also with a load of radioactive waste that no one will touch.

Gulfnews: Cleaner solutions lead to murky problems

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February 10, 2009 Posted by | MIDDLE EAST, wastes | Leave a comment

‘A Hard Rain’ exposes hidden agendas behind latest push to go nuclear

‘A Hard Rain’ exposes hidden agendas behind latest push to go nuclear SOUTHSHORENOW 
10 feb 09 A film not to be missed will be presented at Movie Night at the Centre by the South Shore Chapter of the Council of Canadians on February 20. Entitled “A Hard Rain,” the documentary explores the “other side” of the nuclear debate. An Australian film directed by David Bradbury, it was twice nominated for an Academy Award.
Governments and most mainstream media are promoting nuclear power as an attractive alternative to fossil fuels – the magic fix that will save us from global warming. Nuclear power has taken on a clean and green spin from the low point 20 years ago of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.
Traversing five countries – China, France, UK, Japan and Australia – Mr. Bradbury takes a close look at the global nuclear industry in its entirety. From the mining of uranium to the nuclear power plant to the radioactive waste and weapons manufacturing, “A Hard Rain” exposes the hidden agendas behind this latest push to go nuclear. Included are interviews with some of the world’s top scientists and environmentalists.
Also, by looking at the experience of various countries that have gone nuclear, “A Hard Rain” debunks some of the myths of the nuclear industry – that nuclear is safe, cheap, healthy and green with little chance of another Chernobyl happening.

If you want vital and factual information to debate intelligently the issue of going nuclear and counter the myths that the nuclear and pro-uranium mining lobby has so successfully implanted in the media and our governments, then this documentary is definitely a must-see.

‘A Hard Rain’ exposes hidden agendas behind latest push to go nuclear

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February 10, 2009 Posted by | spinbuster | Leave a comment

U.S. seeks assurances from Pakistan over A.Q. Khan

U.S. seeks assurances from Pakistan over A.Q. Khan By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) – The United States has sought “solid” assurances from Pakistan it will take steps to prevent freed nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan from nuclear proliferation in the future, a senior U.S. official said on Monday.

U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson met Pakistani government officials on Sunday to express U.S. concern over the Pakistani High Court ruling on Friday that declared Khan a free citizen, said a senior State Department official.

Khan, revered by many Pakistanis as the father of the country’s atomic bomb, confessed to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya in 2004 but was immediately pardoned by the government. His movements were restricted to effective house arrest before last week’s court ruling.

U.S. seeks assurances from Pakistan over A.Q. Khan | Reuters

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February 10, 2009 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Should atomic energy be part of the Obama plan?

OpEd News 9 Feb 09
Should atomic energy be part of the Obama plan? A coalition of environmentalists state that nuclear power has no place in the economic stimulous bill. However, in Obama’s bill much will be spent on nuclear power.Some of the main arguments such energy include that (1) no new reactor could go online for over a decade and (2) they often have cost over runs. Moreover, (3) waste is still a problem and (4) and reusing after reprocessing nuclear waste is still a pie-in-the sky dangerous technology.On the other hand, those for other alternative energy powerplants being more supported the stimulus bill include: (1) the wind, tidal, solar and other new technologies don’t cause nuclear fallout if attacked by terrorists or an accident, (2) essentially only socialist countries, like France, can hide the overall costs of nuclear production, i.e. cost overruns–and Americans don’t want to have socialist owned energy firms and nuclear fall-out damage insurance.Check out the rambunction debate on this website on the topic by a former Greenpeace member turned nuclear lobbyist and an environmental journalist.

OpEdNews » Poll: Should atomic energy be part of the Obama plan?

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February 10, 2009 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Chernobyl children say thank-you for your help –

Chernobyl children say thank-you for your help

Peterborough Today 09 February 2009
By Stephen Briggs

YOUNG victims of one of the worst ever nuclear disasters have said a big thank-you to kind-hearted Peterborough residents.

Hundreds of city folk donated gifts for the children, who still suffer from the fallout of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster 24 years ago…………………..“Every time we visit Ukraine, we find more people who need support. The Chernobyl disaster may have happened 23 years ago, but the dreadful legacy is still being felt today.

“Nine out of ten children have three or more medical problems as a result of the disaster…………………………….Hundreds of people were killed when a huge explosion occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Thousands of people were killed as a result of the blast and radiation poisoning, while millions are still suffering from health problems as a result of the catastrophe.

Chernobyl children say thank-you for your help – Peterborough Today

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February 10, 2009 Posted by | environment, Russia | Leave a comment

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