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The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Australia’s Northern Territory asks new Prime Minister to stop nuclear waste dump plan

Former Prime Minister John Howard planned to build the dump on Muckaty Station, in Central Australia, because the Northern Territory did not have the constitutional strength to block the move.

Hendo urges Gillard to dump Muckaty, Northern Territory News, NICK CALACOURAS  June 26th, 2010 AUSTRALIA’S new Prime Minister Julia Gillard should rethink her predecessor’s decision to build a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory, Chief Minister Paul Henderson said. Continue reading →

June 26, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, wastes | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Australia’s new Prime Minister urged to focus on Climate Change

New Australian PM ‘should focus on cutting emissions’, Low Carbon Economy, 6/25/2010 There are hopes that Australia’s new prime minister could help improve the country’s environmental record………..In her first speech as prime minister Ms Gillard said she believes in climate change and that humans are contributing to the problem……Greenpeace Australia Pacific said that the first steps Ms Gillard should take would be to move subsidies from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, introduce a carbon levy and limit emissions from new power stations.

New Australian PM ‘should focus on cutting emissions’ – Low Carbon Economy

June 26, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, climate change | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Renewable energy – the numbers add up

The global financial crisis is partly to blame, but political will would seem to be the resource in shortest supply. BP’s Gulf of Mexico disaster may have changed that.

Do renewable energy by the numbers, and it all adds up, Sydney Morning Herald,  MIKE SANDIFORD June 24, 2010 “……..Each year, we are increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 1 per cent. The effect of this increase is to trap a tiny extra bit of the incoming solar energy, so we are heating not only the atmosphere, but also the oceans and land, and at a phenomenal rate.The scary thing is we have only just begun. Continue reading →

June 24, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, climate change | , , , , | Leave a comment

Australian govt’s welfare measures push Aboriginals off homelands

The NT intervention is clearly racist and is not motivated by concern for Aboriginal children but to enable government control of Aboriginal land.

Many Aboriginal communities have been forced to sign over their land on five-year leases to the federal government — land that contains gold, iron ore, uranium as well as areas that have been slated as potential nuclear waste dumps.

We are all in this together, Green Left Weekly, Ruth Ratcliffe June 20, 2010“…….The Rudd government plans to extend the paternalistic policy of welfare quarantining, which the Howard government initiated in remote Aboriginal communities, to other areas of disadvantage. Instead the government should adequately fund appropriate services and empower communities. Continue reading →

June 23, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, indigenous issues | , , , , | Leave a comment

Research shows Australia’s potential for all-renewable energy sources

Solar, wind power may meet 2020 energy use, Sydney Morning Herald, TOM ARUP,  June 22, 2010 A MASSIVE introduction of solar-thermal power plants and wind farms would allow Australia to generate all its energy needs from renewable technologies by 2020, research shows. Continue reading →

June 22, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, renewable | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Video: Australia imposing nuclear waste dump on Aboriginal land

VIDEO Australia nuclear waste dump row – Asia-Pacific – Al Jazeera English Australia nuclear waste dump row – Asia-Pacific – Al Jazeera 17 June 2010, Australia’s government is pushing its plans for a nuclear waste dump in a remote part of the country’s Northern Territory.It has signed an agreement with the traditional owners of the land who will receive $10m in compensation, most of it in cash.But the proposed nuclear dump has divided local people while and environmentalists warn it could one day be used to store waste from overseas.Al Jazeera’s Azhar Sukri reports.

June 17, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, wastes | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rio Tinto’s Australian uranium mine radioactively pollutes national park

The Green Gauge: Rio Tinto takes a hit , Reuters, 7 June 2010, “……..Global miner Rio Tinto enters the spotlight this week as one of its uranium mines in Australia leaks toxins into a river leading to the wetlands of the Kakadu National Park,…..Rio Tinto PLC has recently faced controversies concerning the impacts of two of its subsidiaries on their surrounding communities. Reports have emerged that a uranium mine operated by Energy Resources of Australia, which is owned by Rio Tinto, has been leaking high levels of uranium, sulphate and radium into a river flowing into the world-heritage wetlands of the Kakadu National Park in Northern Australia….”

The Green Gauge: Rio Tinto takes a hit | Analysis & Opinion |

June 16, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, water | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Uranium company’s poor prospects

Tax gains from bad apples: reduce your tax bill | The Australian, 16 June 2010, “… Guadagnuolo sees little prospect of a sustained recovery for uranium miner Energy Resources Australia ………”Further, we think the market has overestimated the scarcity of uranium, while advances in reactor technology will limit demand as reprocessing becomes increasingly effective, with the added benefit of limiting the proliferation of nuclear materials,” he says…..PRIME CANDIDATE FOR TAX LOSS SELLING……Energy Resources of Australia (ERA): Down 43 per cent since June 30.

June 16, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, business and costs | , , , | Leave a comment

BHP’s (World’s soon to be Biggest) Uranium Mine ‘manipulating’ records

Roxby’s radioactive risk,  The Independent Weekly. HENDRIK GOUT04 Jun, 2010 Mining giant BHP Billiton is risking the lives of its staff and employees at Olympic Dam in South Australia by exposing them to unsafe levels of radiation, according to a company whistleblower.Documents received by The Independent Weekly say BHP Billiton has been warned about the risks, and has chosen to take no action. The documents show BHP Billiton uses manipulated averages and distorted sampling to ensure its “official” figures slip under the maximum exposure levels set by government. Continue reading →

June 12, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

BHP Billiton’s deceptive recording of uranium radiation exposures

The whistleblower produced documents that show BHP uses manipulated averages and distorted sampling to ensure the figures are below the maximum exposure levels set by government,…to manipulate the sampling by transferring workers, whose exposures were escalating, to a different area

Radiation unsafe at BHP’s Olympic Dam: whistleblower, Sydney Morning Herald, June 4, 2010 Workers at BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam are being exposed to unsafe levels of radiation, according to a company whistleblower. Continue reading →

June 11, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, secrets,lies and civil liberties | , , , , | Leave a comment

Australia’s nuclear agency calls radiation leak whistleblower a “security risk”

Mr Reid made the safety allegations about the ARI facility on the ABC on May 4…The industry watchdog the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) found five safety and procedural concerns in its report released in January……………

Australian Nuclear Science and Technology  whistleblower now ”security risk” St George & Sutherland Shire Leader, BY ROSITA GALLASCH, 09 Jun, 2010 DAVID Reid, the whistleblower who raised safety concerns about ANSTO’s radiopharmaceuticals and industrials (ARI) facility last month, is now regarded as a security risk.ANSTO’s chief executive officer Adi Paterson said Mr Reid, who was a safety officer for six years and an employee for 28, now posed a security threat. Continue reading →

June 10, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, secrets,lies and civil liberties | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Australian Aboriginals’ legal challenge to planned nuclear waste dump

Aboriginal group challenges planned nuclear dump in court, Sydney Morning Herald LINDSAY MURDOCH DARWIN, June 4, 2010 ABORIGINAL traditional owners have initiated a Federal Court legal challenge to plans by the federal government to build Australia’s first national radioactive waste dump near Tennant Creek, in the Northern Territory. Continue reading →

June 5, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, Legal | Leave a comment

One Australian Aboriginal thwarts AREVA’s uranium mining plans

”Jeffrey Lee has put country and culture ahead of personal profit and his vision means this magnificent place will be protected for all people and all time,”

Owner wants uranium-rich land to be added to Kakadu, Sydney Morning Herald, LINDSAY MURDOCH IN KAKADUMay 29, 2010 The world heritage-listed Kakadu National Park will be expanded to include thousands of hectares of ecologically sensitive land that contains uranium worth billions of dollars. In a generous act, the Aboriginal traditional owner, Jeffrey Lee, has offered the land to the federal government so that it can become part of Kakadu, where he works as a ranger. Continue reading →

May 29, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, indigenous issues | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

World’s biggest uranium mine will be at risk from earthquakes

Edward Cranswick, a geophysicist and expert on earthquakes, has warned the South Australian and federal governments of the earthquake danger for the Olympic Dam uranium mine area.

This risk has been ignored in BHP Billiton’s Environmental Impact Statement for its proposed gigantic expansion which would form the world’s biggest mining hole.

The Kalgoorlie Earthquake and the Proposed Olympic Dam Mine Expansion. by Edward Cranswick, 25 May 2010,  BHP Billiton has proposed to dig the largest open pit mine on the Earth at Olympic Dam, 4.1 km long, 3.5 km wide, 1 km deep. As a geophysicist who investigated earthquakes for the US Geological Survey for 22 years [1], I strongly criticised BHP’s Olympic Dam Expansion Draft Environmental Impact Statement 2009 (ODXdEIS) [2] because it omitted consideration of seismicity, i.e., rockbursts or earthquakes, caused by open pit mining, despite the fact that seismic hazard is well-known in the Australian mining industry (Hudyma et al. 2003 [3], Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) [4]).

The recent Kalgoorlie Earthquake emphasises the probability and consequences of these seismic events as mines grow larger and deeper – the ODXdEIS needs to be re-evaluated because it does not address this issue at all. I discuss the connection between mining and seismicity and how it is obscured in Australia, particularly the seismic hazard of the Olympic Dam mine, and I make recommendations about these matters. Read on for the  complete submission. Continue reading →

May 28, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, safety | , , , | Leave a comment

Uranium mining’s radioactive pollution of World Heritage National Park

Mine fears grow as pollutants flow to Kakadu, Sydney Morning Herald, LINDSAY MURDOCHMay 24, 2010


MILLIONS of litres of radioactive water from the Ranger uranium mine have flowed into internationally acclaimed and World Heritage-listed wetlands in Kakadu National Park. Continue reading →

May 24, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, environment | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment