Australia’s media sleeps as governments pander to uranium miner BHP Billiton
Today, October 19, the multinational mining giant BHP will get its own way, as a subserviant South Australian government rushes through a Bill – giving BHP open slather to set up the world’s biggest man made hole – a uranium mine.
While the Australian mainstream media remains silent, both National and State governments have swiftly given approval, including the continuance of BHP’s exemptions from laws.
- it will be an open-cut mine 4km long by 3km wide by 1km deep.
- The tailings are radioactive and carcinogenic.
- These tailings will be dumped in a gigantic slag heap the size of a mountain range, above ground.
- Around 70 million tonnes of finely pulverised tailings will be dumped on open ground every year The dump will eventually cover an area of 44 sq. km and soar 150 metres high.
Under the Roxby Downs Indenture Ratification Act 1982, BHP was given legal authority to override important state legislation, including the:
- Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988
- Development Act 1993
- Environmental Protection Act 1993
- Freedom of Information Act 1991
- Mining Act 1971
- Natural Resources Act 2004 (including the Water Resources Act 1997)…..
India’s Environment Ministry refuses coastal clearance for Kudankulam nuclear reactors
Kudankulam plant hits coastal wall, Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times,New Delhi, October 17, 2011 An environment ministry committee has declined coastal clearance for new nuclear reactors at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, on the grounds of its impact on marine life and overall safety aspects. Coastal clearance is mandatory to operationalise environment clearances granted to four new reactors for generating 4,000 MW of power, in addition to existing two at Kudankulam in 2008 and 2009……The committee was, however, not impressed with what the NPCIL said and sought documentary evidence for the same while declining to approve the project. “The documentary evidence shall be submitted in support of this statement, which has a wider ramification in the context of what is happening around the world on similar developments,” the EAC told NPCIL.
In another setback, the EAC rejected NPCIL’s proposal to construct an open channel for outfall of waste water taken from sea for the purpose of cooling the nuclear condensers.
The corporation had proposed that 12,000 cubic metres of water will be lifted from Indian Ocean for condenser cooling and discharged back into the sea. “Due to various environmental problems, including adverse impact on marine life, the present proposal is not acceptable,” the EAC said, while asking the corporation to consider a pipeline for disposal….http://www.hindustantimes.com/Kudankulam-plant-hits-coastal-wall/Article1-758467.aspx
Shanghai bans Japanese cargo with high levels of radiation
Cargo banned due to levels of radiation, English East Day, 18 Oct 11 EXCESSIVE levels of radiation have been discovered in cargo arriving in Shanghai from Japan, following the nuclear leak there in March, authorities said yesterday.
Goods with higher than permitted levels of radiation were either returned or destroyed, the Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau said. Officials said some ships from Japan also had radiation levels above national limits.
The bureau insisted that checks have remained stringent since an earthquake and tsunami crippled a nuclear power station in Fukushima in eastern Japan and led to radiation escaping. “Inspections cover travelers, ships, flights and cargo,” said Lu Zhongshan, deputy director of the bureau.”We can assure the public that no radiation-polluted goods are allowed to enter the country.”…. http://english.eastday.com/e/111018/u1a6157077.htm
Money talks louder than the public good, in the issue of uranium mining
Editorial: There’s green in that thar canyon The Daily Courier, 13 Oct 11, We smell something surrounding this week’s battle to open 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon for mining, and that something is political money.
Australia joins international initiatives to address climate change
The passage of this initiative is still hugely important, if for no other reason than that it shows Big Coal can be rolled. The coal industry is an even larger part of the Australian economy than it is of the American, and it has an enormous amount of political power. And just like here in the U.S., there are plenty of shrill politicians in Oz who claim that any new tax will lead to economic ruin.
Gillard told Members of Parliament that they would be judged on their vote by every Australian, “because the final test is not are you on the right side of the politics of the week, or the polls of the year.”
“The final test is this: are you on the right side of history?“
Australian Carbon Tax Vote: A Very Big Deal, ROLLING STONE, : OCTOBER 13, By JEFF GOODELL So maybe there is hope for us yet. After what one Aussie columnist calls“the dirtiest and most dishonest campaign ever waged before the Australian public,” with millions of dollars spent on media ads and climate skeptics flown in from around the world, Australia’s House of Representatives voted yesterday, 74 to 72,to levy a tax on carbon pollution. Continue reading
UK’s climate change secretary, Chris Huhne two faced on nuclear power
Huhne noted the UK has enough high-level nuclear waste to fill “three Olympic-sized swimming pools, and enough intermediate waste to fill a supertanker”. Because of the errors of the past, his department was spending £2bn a year “cleaning up” the “mess” of nuclear waste which he said would rise two thirds next year.
Chris Huhne: UK’s nuclear policy is most expensive postwar failure Climate change secretary, under pressure from fellow Lib Dems over nuclear power, says UK must learn from past mistakes Guardian Uk 13 Oct 11, The climate change secretary, Chris Huhne, has described the UK’s nuclear policy as the “most expensive failure of postwar British policy-making” in a “crowded and highly-contested field”.
Huhne set out five tests for how power plants would be adopted in a cautious new regime, but is under pressure from his party to ensure any new-builds do not receive public subsidy – something the coalition has pledged it will not allow…..
The energy secretary’s speech was emphatically critical of the industry in the UK, Continue reading
Japan’s government’s push to sell nuclear technology overseas
Shunning Nuclear Plants at Home, Japan Pursues Building Them Overseas, NYT, By HIROKO TABUCHI, October 10, 2011 TOKYO — Even as Japan plans to phase out nuclear power as too risky for domestic use, the government is supporting a new push by Japanese industry to sell nuclear power technology to other countries
Numerous renewable energy bills signed by California’s Governor Brown
The following bills have been signed by Governor Brown:: (A large number of bills listed )
For full text of the bills, visit: leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html.
Nuclear power and democracy in conflict in India
Safety record at Kalpakkam facility
*In 1987, a refuelling accident ruptured the reactor core.
*In 1991, workers were exposed to a radioactive heavy water leak.
*In 1999, another leak exposed 42 workers.
*In 2002, 100 kg of radioactive sodium leaked.
*In 2003, high-level radioactive waste was released into a work area, exposing six workers to nuclear radiation.
How pertinent is the nuclear option? Deccan Chronicle October 8, 2011 , By R. Mohan Democratic protests against nuclear plants are the flavour of the season.What began in Jaitapur has come down south to Koodankulam in Tamil Nadu and protests are bound to spread across the country to wherever nuclear power plants are being planned.
There is a fundamental conflict here between the aims of the government to arm the country with clean nuclear energy and the people’s fears over nuclear power plant catastrophes fanned further by the Fukushima experience. Continue reading
Rudy Giuliani the face of Indian Point nuclear reactor – for money of course
Rudy Giuliani to do ads promoting safety of nuclear power plant Digital Journal, 8 Oct 11
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/312452#ixzz1aDlRcPrm
India’s Prime Minister cannot be trusted about nuclear power
The disaster potential of nuclear power plants is of concern to the entire nation and not the people of Kudankulam or Jaitapur alone. The Prime Minister disallowed the demand for a national debate when he slyly negotiated the India-US civil nuclear cooperation agreement …
India,…, must reassess its policy.
Discard this secrecy, THE PIONEER , 08 OCTOBER 2011 PM can’t be trusted on N-power plants The Prime Minister’s response to the protest against the 1000 MWe nuclear power plant which is being set up at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu is typically that of a file-pushing babu: Unimaginative, bureaucratic and non-committal. It is understandable that having single-mindedly pursued the opening up of India’s civil nuclear sector to foreign collaboration, Mr Manmohan Singh should continue to insist that the nation’s deliverance lies in boosting the generation of atomic power. … Continue reading
Liberal Party re-election in Canada renews hope for renewable energy
Green energy sector cheers Ontario election result, (Reuters) by Nicole Mordant in Vancouver 8 Oct 11, – Ontario’s renewable energy industry breathed a sigh of relief on Friday and manufacturers looked forward to a surge in demand after voters in the province returned the Liberal Party to power, albeit without a majority.
Shares in renewable energy companies rose on expectations of an end to an industry slowdown caused by months of uncertainty over the future of the Liberal-sponsored green energy plan and its generous feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme for renewable power developers.
The opposition Progressive Conservative Party, which had been well ahead in the polls for much of the campaign, had threatened to abolish the FIT program, which pays well above-market rates to developers of green power.
India’s nuclear power plans derailed by safety fears
“What you see in Koodankulam and Jaitapur will be repeated in other nuclear parks earmarked for reactors from US suppliers,”
India’s nuclear future put on hold, Safety fears derail plan to import reactors., Nature News, 8 Oct 11K. S. Jayaraman An increase in anti-nuclear sentiment after the Fukushima disaster in Japan in March has stalled India’s ambitious plan for nuclear expansion.
The plan, pushed forward by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, aims to use reactors imported from the United States, France and Russia to increase the country’s nuclear-power capacity from the present 4,780 megawatts to 60,000 megawatts by 2035, and to provide one-quarter of the country’s energy by 2050. But now there are doubts that the targets will ever be met if safety fears persist….. Continue reading
Support of government and the people points to success for Germany’s nuclear phaseout
Germany will be able to make the nuclear phase-out without any serious risks, as 80% of the people back up the government and even themselves massively invest in renewable energies. At the same time the economy profits from 100,000 new jobs and enterprising tasks.
“Germany’s Nuclear Phase-out Will Be Successful and Without Serious Risks” The Energy Collective, 6 Oct 11, Germany has made one of the most radical policy changes in the wake of Fukushima. Like Japan, it decided to phase out nuclear power by 2022. Furthermore, by the middle of the century, fossil fuels shall only play a minor role in the energy supply of the country….
How can Germany succeed in phasing out nuclear energy while also decarbonising its energy supply? Continue reading
Japan’s auditors call for cut in nuclear subsidies
Auditors Call for Large Cut in Funds for Nuclear Subsidies, Chem Info TOKYO, Oct. 6 (Kyodo) — Government auditors said Wednesday funds set aside for subsidies to municipalities that would host nuclear reactors can be slashed by about 65.7 billion yen as construction projects of reactors have been stalled. Continue reading
1 This Month
23-25 October – on Zoom – World BEYOND War’s annual global conferenc
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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