Philip White – Page 3 – Friends of the Earth Adelaide

Nuke Submarine ‘community consultation’

Philip White November 23, 2025

Australian Naval Infrastructure (ANI) is conducting a ‘community consultation’ about its plan to lodge a site licence application for the ‘Nuclear-Powered Submarine Construction Yard Project’. An application has to be lodged with the new Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Regulator before it can prepare a site for a Naval Nuclear Propulsion facility.

We wonder why they are in such a hurry to apply for a site licence when the Strategic Impact Assessment (SIA – Commonwealth process) and the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS – State government process) haven’t even been finalised. FoE Adelaide made submissions to both these processes (click to read our SIA submission & our EIS submission) in March 2025, but no public submissions and no follow-up report have been published. We also made a submission on the new nuclear powered submarine Regulations, which came into effect on 1 November 2025 without any response to the public comments received.

Click here (251123FoEAdelaideSubmission) to read our submission to ANI’s site licence ‘community consultation’.

And let us never forget that acquiring nuclear powered submarines is a bad idea in the first place.

Adelaide FoE Notes, FoE, Nuclear

FoE representatives critique AUKUS at Parliamentary hearing

Philip White October 7, 2025

On Thursday October 2, representatives of FoE Adelaide (Philip White) and FoE Australia (Jim Green) appeared at a public hearing into the agreement between Australia and the UK on nuclear powered submarines. The hearing was held by the Australian Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Treaties.

We were joined by David Sweeney of the Australian Conservation Foundation and Tim-Deere Jones, who wrote a report for FoE Australia on the UK nuclear submarine program. He tuned in from Wales — it was the middle of the night for him.

We pointed out some home truths about the nuclear powered submarines that the government proposes to acquire from the US and the UK. For example, nuclear-powered submarines entail serious safety and nuclear proliferation risks, the nuclear waste problem has not been solved, and these submarines will make Australians less safe, not more safe as proclaimed by the government. These are problems that will come back to bite us all eventually.

We demanded that the government conduct a broad-ranging public review into the whole AUKUS nuclear submarine project.

The full hearing can be viewed on the following link:

https://www.aph.gov.au/News_and_Events/Watch_Read_Listen/ParlView/video/3948797

Our session was up first, but some of the sessions which followed are well worth listening to as well.

Written submissions can be downloaded by clicking the ‘Submissions’ link on the following page:

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Treaties/AUKUSNuclearSubmarine

FoE Adelaide’s submission is submission number 6 and FoE Australia’s submission is number 5 (with Tim Deere-Jones’ report as an attachment).

Adelaide FoE Notes, Nuclear, Weapons proliferation

Joint Appeal for Nuclear Abolition Day, 26 September 2025

Philip White September 25, 2025

Friends of the Earth Adelaide has endorsed the Joint Appeal for Nuclear Abolition Day, September 26.

The Appeal has been endorsed by over 300 civil society organisations from around the world, including from peace, disarmament, human rights, youth, women’s rights, sustainable development and climate/environmental protection fields – and by over 500 individuals, including legislators, former high-level officials (such as foreign ministers and UN officials), religious leaders, medical practitioners, academics/teachers, youth leaders, private sector (corporate) leaders and others.

The Joint Appeal will be presented to the High-Level Meeting on September 26 by Dr. Deepshikha Kumari Vijh, Executive Director of Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy and Coordination Team Member for the September 26 Working Group. You can watch the High-Level meeting on UN Web TV. The civil society presentations will come at the end of the session.

You are invited to participate in a social media action ‘Stop Nuclear Weapons: Peace is in our Hands‘.

Adelaide FoE Notes, Nuclear, Weapons proliferation

Stagnant nuclear energy

Philip White September 25, 2025

Jim Green (national nuclear campaigner for Friends of the Earth Australia) has written an article for RenewEconomy introducing the latest edition of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report. He says the report “gives the lie to claims by the Coalition that Australia risks being ‘left behind’ and ‘stranded’ if we don’t jump on board”. He notes that “Nuclear power generation has been stagnant for 20 years.”

In 2024, the combined global capacity of solar and wind grew by over 100 times the net nuclear capacity additions.

The full article is available on the following link:

https://reneweconomy.com.au/global-report-confirms-and-details-nuclear-powers-stagnation-someone-needs-to-tell-the-coalition/

The World Nuclear Industry Status Report can be accessed from the following link:

https://www.worldnuclearreport.org/World-Nuclear-Industry-Status-Report-2025

Adelaide FoE Notes, Nuclear, Renewables

Say No to Nuclear Financing – World Bank and ADB

Philip White September 1, 2025

Until now the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have not provided finance for nuclear energy projects.

However, on June 10 the World Bank’s Board decided to lift its ban on financing nuclear projects. The ADB is currently reviewing its energy policy, and indications suggest it may also move to allow support for nuclear power.

This international petition, which is endorsed by a large number of organisations including Friends of the Earth Australia and the Australian Conservation Foundation, is now open for individual signatures.

https://chng.it/G9MCKn6Gpv

Please sign on.