nuclear-news

Writer: Nuclear ‘green’ claims false

 An energy wake-up call Dusiness Spectator Giles Parkinson 9 Apr 2009″……t is estimated that Australian energy costs for business amount to up to $40 billion a year, so efficiency improvements of 10 to 20 per cent could save business between $4 billion and $8 billion a year. ….Jutsen says, for this to occur, there needs to be a price incentive, along with other specific measures to support energy efficiency at a broad level in business.

At a conference in Sydney this week, he highlighted Australia’s inefficient model ………….The conference heard from Dian Grueneich, a commissioner from the California Utilities Commission, which regulates utilities in the state which has been on an efficiency drive for the last 30 years.

According to Grueneich, it began when surging fuel prices led to a campaign to install nuclear energy power plants along the coast, at a frequency of around one every 50 miles. The government decided that using less energy might be cheaper than building new plant.

The combination of clear policy, financial incentives, measurement and strict enforcement has meant that over that time, the energy use per capita in California has not increased. In the rest of the US, and in Australia, it has risen an average 50 per cent.

Energy efficiency is now one of the major pillars of the Obama Administration’s efforts to reduce emissions. Jutsen says Australia needs to do the same. “We have to take away the fear of acting alone.”

Govt to assess investment on merit The Age Xavier La Canna and Ben SharplesApril 9, 2009 – “……………………..our responsibility as a government is to do the right thing by Australia, not in the short term, but also in the medium to long term………………..Mr Ferguson earlier on Thursday told a Melbourne Mining Club luncheon he believed Queensland would one day have a uranium industry, contrary to current state government policy…………………….

Mr Ferguson took a swipe at Germany’s policy regarding nuclear power.

“I don’t call the debate in Germany about nuclear power a sensible debate. They are focused on solar PV (photovoltaic),” Mr Ferguson said.

“The current (German) government is absolutely opposed to fronting up on the hard issues with respect to nuclear power …he said

Australia, US to lay path for nuclear disarmament

Google News 9 April 09 WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States holds high-level security talks with Australia as the longtime allies find a new convergence of views on the need to abolish nuclear weapons.

Afghanistan and North Korea’s long-range missile test will also figure high on the agenda for the full-day annual meeting, which brings together the two countries’ foreign affairs and defense chiefs.

The session marks the first substantive talks between the Pacific nations since US President Barack Obama held a warm first summit with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at the White House two weeks ago…………………….The talks come days after Obama delivered a major speech in Prague where he laid out a vision for a world without nuclear weapons………………………..

Obama has sharply changed course, saying he will ask the Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which bars any nuclear explosions for any purpose around the world.

But a number of countries remain holdouts to the test ban treaty, among them China, India, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan.