“The fission reactor produces both energy and radioactive waste; we want to use the energy now and leave the radioactive waste for our children and grandchildren to take care of. This is against the ecological imperative: Thou shalt not leave a polluted and poisoned world to future generations.”
Hannes Alfven, 1970 Nobel Laureate in Physics
Renewable energy is abundant in Australia. The economic resource is estimated at over 5,000 exajoules – enough to power the world for ten years. This economic resource includes only solar and wind resources within close proximity to the transmission grid and able to generate power at a price competitive with other new power stations. This is 75 per cent more than the energy content of all Australia’s fossil energy resources.
Media Release — 29 April 2016
The federal government has announced that the Flinders Ranges has been selected as the preferred site for a national nuclear waste dump. The land was nominated by former Liberal Party Senator Grant Chapman and his nomination has been endorsed by the Liberal government in Canberra.
Adnyamathanha Traditional Owner Regina McKenzie, who lives at Yappala Station near the proposed dump site and is a member of Viliwarinha Yura Aboriginal Corporation, said:
… Read more >>“Adnyamathanha Traditional Owners weren’t consulted about the nomination. Even Traditional Owners who live next to the proposed dump site at Yappala Station weren’t consulted. The proposed dump site is adjacent to the Yappala Indigenous Protected Area. On the land with the proposed dump site, we have been working for many years to register heritage sites with the SA government. The area is Adnyamathanha land. It is Arngurla Yarta (spiritual land). The proposed dump site has countless thousands of Aboriginal artifacts. Our ancestors are buried there. The nominated site is a significant women’s site. Throughout the area are registered cultural heritage sites and places of huge importance to our people.
“There are frequent yarta ngurra-ngurrandha (earthquakes and tremors). At least half a dozen times each year, we see and feel the ground move. It is flood land. The water comes from the hills and floods the plains, including the proposed dump site. Sometimes there are massive floods, the last one in 2006.
“We don’t want a nuclear waste dump here on our country and worry that if the waste comes here it will harm our environment and muda (our lore, our creation). We call on the federal government to withdraw the nomination of the site and to show more respect in future. We call on all South Australians ? all Australians ? to support us in our struggle.
A new report from FoE International looks at what it would cost to power the world with renewables. The report, An Energy Revolution Is Possible, released on Tuesday, estimates that it would take $5,148 billion of extra investment to generate half the world’s electricity with 100 per cent renewables by 2030.
To put it in perspective, FoE points out that this is an investment equal to the wealth currently held by 0.00001% of the global population, or 782 people.
“We recognise that many parts of the developing world may, and should, leapfrog transmission grids altogether, opting for energy independence with local renewable generation and storage in microgrids, particularly in rural areas and on small islands.”
A summary of the report is in Sophie Vorrath’s report on RenewEconomy.
We’ve been having a few problems with hackers attacking our website; you may even have received a duplicate Adelaide FoE Notes last month.
Hopefully, the site will be back to normal shortly.