Lynas ordered to relocate its proposed radioactive waste site
Malaysia Upholds Decision on Lynas; but Wants Relocation of Residue Disposal Facility, International Business Times, By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | March 5, 2012 The Malaysian government continues to uphold Australian miner Lynas Corp., and its beleaguered Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) after it directed the Australian company to relocate its earlier proposed residue disposal facility to a site that is far from the LAMP location in Gebeng, Kuantan province.
Malaysian news agencies reported over the weekend it was Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who specifically ordered the rare earths miner to locate an alternative location for its residue disposal facility that is away from Gebeng and its residential communities.
Suffice to say, this could mean Lynas Corp.’s assurance of a winning edge over its detractors who have turned the business investment into a political mill. The Lynas plant would remain at its present location, Mr Najib was quoted as saying by www.asiaone.com. The new location of the residue disposal facility would be announced later……
On Feb. 17, Gebeng residents filed a case against Lynas Corp., as well as an application for leave for judicial review, over the temporary operating licence it received from the AELB and the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti) issued end January.
The High Court Apellate and Special Powers Judge Justice Rohana Yusuf had scheduled Mar. 20 as initial hearing.
Hackers break into Lynas’ website, while Malaysian court case continues
Australian miner hacked, WA Today, Rania Spooner February 27, 2012 In a show of opposition to a near-complete rare earths processing plant in Malaysia, the website of Australian miner Lynas Corporation has been hacked. WAtoday.com.au understands the miner’s website was brought down on Sunday as reports emerged of more than 5000 protestors converging on the seaside city of Kuantan, near the site of the controversial facility.
The Lynas website was still down at 7.30pm (EST) Monday, with a message from the company advising: “We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties at the moment. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
A hacker, using the name “4z1″ and claiming to be a Malaysian citizen, has taken credit for bringing the site down in a statement on a personal blog.
In a rough translation of 4z1′s statement from Chinese into English, internal Malaysian race issues and fear of radiation from the plant was the explanation for the hacking….
A group of Kuantan residents have launched court proceedings against Malaysia’s Atomic Energy Licensing Board, the Malaysian Department of Environment and Lynas Malaysia over the plant, the company reported on Thursday. The group has sought a review of the plant’s temporary operating license granted by the AELB early this month and a halt to the commencement of operations, due in the coming weeks, while such a review is undertaken….
The plant would be used to process concentrate from the Mount Weld deposit in Western Australia’s Goldfields region, believed to be the largest of its kind in the world. The company previously announced plans to transport the concentrate from Mount Weld to Malaysia via road and sea. http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/australian-miner-hacked-20120227-1tyn0.html#ixzz1o5i4ZS2d
Giant uranium miner BHP challenged by Aboriginal elder
‘Tiny voice’ of elder takes on Olympic Dam BY: SARAH MARTIN, SA POLITICAL REPORTER The Australian February 22, 2012 BHP Billiton’s proposed $20 billion Olympic Dam mine expansion, to create the world’s largest open-cut mine, will be challenged in the Federal Court after an application was lodged by Aboriginal elder Kevin Buzzacott.
Mr Buzzacott, who is known as Uncle Kevin, is being represented by the Adelaide-based Environmental Defenders Office. The office claims the mine expansion has been approved unlawfully under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act by federal 
Environment Minister Tony Burke.
Among the claims are that much of the environmental assessment and decision-making was based on plans and studies that have not yet been prepared and that the minister did not properly consider impacts from the above-ground storage of radioactive tailings waste, the export of uranium and on groundwater resources, including the Great Artesian Basin.
Mr Buzzacott, an elder from Arabunna land in South Australia’s remote north, is known for his anti-uranium campaigning, and in 2007 was awarded an Australian Conservation Foundation award recognising his protest work. The EDO filed an application on his behalf in the Federal Court yesterday, saying his “tiny voice” was prepared to take on the giant……
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/tiny-voice-of-elder-takes-on-olympic-dam/story-e6frgczx-1226277611443
Australian government’s special laws for the benefit of uranium mining company
Olympic Dam mine is a dam designed to leak an average of three million litres of liquid radioactive waste a day from the tailings storage facility through decades of mining up to 2050.
The federal and SA governments agreed to surface dumping of the tailings rather than to require best practice disposal into the pit.
Our uranium fuelled Fukushima, David Noonan, The Guardian, 22 Feb 12, Australian uranium fuelled the Fukushima nuclear disaster yet our governments have just approved the world’s largest uranium project in BHP Billiton’s proposed new pen pit mine at Roxby Downs. “We can confirm that Australian obligated nuclear material was at the Fukushima Daiichi site and in each of the reactors – maybe five out of six, or it could have been all of them; almost all of them”.
This frank smoking gun admission by Dr Floyd, the Director-General of the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office (ASNO) in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade came some seven months after the Fukushima crisis had started to unfold. It is quite likely this Australian uranium came from Roxby Downs in SA.
Denial runs deep in the nuclear industry Continue reading
Energy efficiency program by Australian government
New Australian government energy efficiency programs opened Eco Business, February 9th, 2012 By : Energy Matters The Gillard Government has just announced the opening of series of energy efficiency initiatives and assistance targeted towards business, local government, households and communities.
A joint statement from Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Greg Combet, Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government Simon Crean; and Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Mark Dreyfus states these programs will make it easier for regional communities and smaller councils to access assistance and support in the transition to a low carbon future.
The programs include:
Community Energy Efficiency Program – $200 million
To assist local government, not-for-profit and community organisations to undertake energy efficiency upgrades to community infrastructure, including council buildings, stadiums, education facilities, town halls and nursing homes. Continue reading
Astroturf in Australia – fake citizen action by fossil fuel lobby
Faked “citizen action” was the brainchild of PR heavyweight Burson Marsteller, whose leaked email “Doubt is our Product” laid bare the ruse behind tobacco’s denial campaign during the tobacco wars.
The same ruse has been used for the last decade by the mining industry to create doubt about global warming….
a cynical campaign run by ideological advocates Americans for Prosperity, funded by “free marketeer” mining billionaires — the Koch Brothers.
Deception is our product Independent Australia 9 Feb 2012, Environment editor Sandi Keane exposes the shadowy world of PR, where astroturfing and propaganda is used to coerce the public into sacrificing their own interests for those of big corporations.
Deceiving the public these days is a lucrative industry. Experienced PR practitioners now coerce you through astroturfing and other socially engineered forms of brainwashing to sacrifice your interests for those of their clients – especially those with the biggest war chest – the fossil fuel industry…. Continue reading
Australia’s ailing uranium industry
In short, the deal with India is seen by some as little more than a short term means to prop up an industry breathing its last gasp……
[For uranium explorers] the 52 week highs and lows paints the same picture as we saw for the producers – market participants doubt the viability of exploring for a product whose demand may be in jeopardy.
Share market participants have spoken and they clearly doubt the future of nuclear energy.
URANIUM STOCKS HIT HARD BUT BULLS ARE BELLOWING, The Bull, By Bob Kohut | 30.01.2012 As the dismal trading in 2011 global share markets ground down to its agonising year-end finish, some Australian investors were heartened by the news that our government was about to lift the ban on uranium sales to India.. Continue reading
Conflict of interest? Just where does the climate denialists’ money come from?
Bid to out the money behind the voice against climate change, SMH Graham Readfearn January 27, 2012 – A British journalist’s court bid to unmask the financial backers of a group of climate change sceptics is being used to raise questions about how think-tanks are funded in Australia and whether they deserve tax exemptions.
The UK’s Charity Commission, which regulates charities in the UK, is being asked to release a document that would show the start-up funders of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, chaired by former UK chancellor Lord Nigel Lawson.
Launched in November 2009, the foundation has consistently challenged the mainstream scientific view that human emissions of greenhouse gases represent a significant risk to the planet and societies.
Later today, freelance journalist Brendan Montague will appeal to the UK’s Information Rights Tribunal for the release of a bank statement provided to the Charity Commission by Lord Lawson, which Mr Montague believes will identify the source of a $50,000 seed donation.
The case has raised the issue of how think-tanks engaged in public policy debates are funded and whether potential conflicts of interest should be declared. None are required by law to publicly disclose their funders. Continue reading
“The stars are aligning for rooftop solar energy”
Solar guru receives Australia Day honour , 26 January 2012, Anna Salleh ABC Science, http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/01/26/3415244.htm Australia needs to look to Germany if it is to realise the potential of solar cell technology, says an expert who is being honoured today. Professor Martin Green of the University of New South Wales has been made a Member of the Order of Australia(AM) for his work on photovoltaics.
“Germany has been the only country that’s had a sensible long-term program in place to promote the use of renewables,” says Green.
Some argue solar cells are not a competitive option for reducing carbon emissions, and are limited by the fact that they don’t generate energy unless the Sun is shining.
But according to Green, the “stars are aligning for conventional roof mounted solar” and it is ripe for a new kick start from governments. Continue reading
Australian Senator taking up the cause for Julian Assange’s human rights
Senator on mission for Assange Andrew Drummond The Age, December 26, 2011 SWEDISH officials have met an Australian senator to discuss the future of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. As extradition proceedings against the 40-year-old Australian continue in London, West Australian Greens senator Scott Ludlam has embarked on a European mission to secure guarantees about Assange’s human rights, should he be extradited to Sweden.
Swedish prosecutors want Assange in Stockholm for questioning over allegations that he sexually assaulted two women in the capital in August 2010. Assange denies the claims and is refusing to return to Sweden, fearing that the country will hand him over to the United States, where his secret-leaking website is the subject of an investigation. During the time he spent in Sweden, Senator Ludlam met justice officials and discussed the process faced by people being
extradited to Sweden…..Assange still wore an electronic tracking device and had to report daily to police as part of his bail conditions.
From February 1, Assange will face a panel of seven British Supreme Court judges for a two-day hearing during which he will appeal against the rulings of lower courts that he should be extradited to Stockholm. Senator Ludlam plans to take the information he has gathered in
Stockholm to the Australian Parliament and seek cross-party support to do ”everything possible to prevent this extradition”. http://www.theage.com.au/national/senator-on-mission-for-assange-20111225-1p9ko.html#ixzz1hgmWKON5
Disappearance of secret files on Australia’s nuclear weapons plans
Treasures of Australia’s past lost from the National Archives by:Herald Sun Patrick Lion From:The Daily Telegraph December 13, 2011 HUNDREDS of rare files – including secret plans for nuclear weapons and personal files of prime ministers – have gone missing from the library responsible for preserving Australia’s history.
Over the past two decades the National Archives has lost at least 748 historic items, some dating back more than 150 years, from its official collection of documents, government files, letters, recordings and photographs.
Among the missing files on nuclear weapons and uranium from the middle of last century is a 1956 report, The Clandestine Introduction Of Nuclear Weapons In Australia…… http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/treasures-of-australias-past-lost-rare-items-missing-from-the-national-archives/story-fn7x8me2-1226220439496
Australia wrong to sell uranium to India, says former conservative Prime Minister
A reason India wants access to nuclear trade including uranium is precisely to further its nuclear proliferation. Senior Indian military leaders have publicly said so…..
India reserves the right to classify future reactors as civilian or military. It was not required in return to commit to significant positive measures – indeed, it has made no nuclear disarmament commitments, it has not ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
Why Gillard’s uranium-to-India policy is dangerously wrong, SMH Malcolm Fraser, December 12, 2011 Canberra’s abject submission to US pressure is shameful. ON SELLING uranium to India, Julia Gillard is wrong, dead wrong. Ramming the policy change through a deeply divided ALP national conference last weekend was not smart politics, but a failure of leadership.
The unequivocal longer-term consequences of this policy backflip are aggravating India’s nuclear arms race with Pakistan and eroding the already failing brakes on proliferation of nuclear weapons. A nuclear war between India and Pakistan is not some theoretical possibility, but a real and growing danger. …. Continue reading
Australia’s hypocrisy on uranium exporting and nuclear disarmament
states – the U.S., U.K., China, France, Russia – although not one of them takes seriously its obligation under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to pursue disarmament in good faith.
policy and binding Labor platform policy. That’s pretty low. Continue reading
Australian Labor Party trashes Nuclear Non Proliferation in rush to make uranium money out of India
Indeed, proponents of the platform change [to sell uranium to India] generally made no acknowledgment that India was the first and only state in the world to acquire nuclear weapons as a result of international cooperation on the basis of it being for peaceful purposes – nor her belligerent testing in the mid-1990s; her rather public nuclear arms race with Pakistan; her failure to fully comply with international safeguards and monitoring initiatives; her problems with the US despite a comparable bilateral agreement in place concerning technology and expertise. Nor the rather significant point that none of the cited measures are enforceable under international law – they are considerably difficult to monitor, verify and enforce.
Australian Labor Party downplay arms control considerations, Crikey.com, December 5, 2011 , by NAJ Taylor On Sunday, the Australian Labor Party voted 206 to 185 in favour of changing one part of the party’s longstanding and non-negotiable platform on uranium exports: that recipient states must be members of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
The express intention of the change in policy platform is to lift the ban on uranium sales to India, who are among those three states globally that remain outside – and have no intention of joining – the NPT. With the opposition Coalition having been in support of such a move for some time, the vote is expected to have immediate policy ramifications.
Of little consequence now, the Greens do have a well-known policy position on uranium that clearly states: “The Australian Greens will […] prohibit the exploration for, and mining and export of, uranium”.
Misrepresenting India’s record – it is a grave error to cite India’s nuclear weapons record – which is sub-optimal, not “exemplary”, as is often recycled – as evidence in support of a policy change that is predominately driven by political, commercial and diplomatic pressures. Continue reading
Australia breaking international law if selling uranium to India
PLANS to sell uranium to India could hit a legal snag because of an anti-nuclear treaty Australia helped create. Herald Sun, 29 Nov 11Australian National University treaty law expert Don Rothwell says the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone treaty, known as the Rarotonga treaty, stops Australia trading the nuclear material with India.
Prof Rothwell, who questioned the legality of the Malaysian solution before it was rejected by the High Court, has provided advice to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
“If India does not agree to Article III.1 Non-Proliferation Treaty safeguards and Australia were to export uranium to India, Australia would be in violation of its Treaty of Rarotonga obligations,” the legal advice says.
This could lead to a challenge from other countries that are part of the treaty.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard wants the ALP to agree to change its platform to allow sales of uranium to India, which she has said would create jobs in Australia and would still have safeguards attached.
A vote will be put to members at the party’s national conference this weekend.
The Coalition already has a policy to allow uranium sales to India.
Tim Wright, the Australian director of ICAN, said the Prime Minister had failed to consult her lawyers. “Not only is the sale of uranium to India illegal, it is also highly dangerous given that India is rapidly bolstering its nuclear forces,” Mr Wright said….http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/rarotonga-treaty-may-prevent-sale-of-uranium-to-india/story-fn7x8me2-1226208772517
1 This Month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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