Nuclear

Feel free to join the following public Zoom meeting, organised by No Nuclear Subs SA.

Date and time: Wednesday, February 11, 2026. 6pm to 7.15pm SA time (6.30-7.45pm eastern)

Speakers:

* Dr. Margie Beavis (Medical Association for Prevention of War, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) on the broader military context of AUKUS nuclear submarines

* Adjunct Prof. Al Rainnie (Adelaide University) on AUKUS costs, opportunity costs and jobs claims.

* David Noonan (independent environmental campaigner) on AUKUS nuclear waste issues.

* A speaker from Stop AUKUS WA on the shared threats faced in WA and SA

* Dr. Jim Green (Friends of the Earth Australia)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89590599831?pwd=unThfUNwHliieRESgCiH7tYNaJXLHM.1

Meeting ID: 895 9059 9831

Passcode: 056755

Please share our facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/2299752357158550/

Friends of the Earth Adelaide has lodged a submission to a Commonwealth Government environmental review into the proposed desalination plant at Mullaquana Station near Whyalla. The submission related to the referral of the ‘Northern Water Desalination Plant and Water Transfer System Infrastructure Project’ under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Number: 2025/10397, closing date for submissions 21/01/2026).

According to the Northern Water Project web site,

“Northern Water aims to deliver a secure, climate-resilient water source to meet the growing needs of existing and emerging industries in South Australia’s Upper Spencer Gulf and Far North. It will unlock the economic growth potential of the region … and will reduce reliance on precious water resources including the Great Artesian Basin and the River Murray.

“This would be achieved by constructing a seawater desalination plant and a transfer pipeline to supply industry in the Upper Spencer Gulf and Far North.”

We certainly support reducing reliance on precious water resources of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) and the River Murray, but we want stronger assurances that the mound springs (formed by pressurised water from the GAB forcing its way to the surface) will be protected. The vast quantities of water drawn from the GAB by BHP to mine copper, uranium, etc. have caused many mound springs to dry up and threaten those that remain.

We also question whether the Giant Australian Cuttlefish will be adequately protected and wonder why Mullaquana Station was chosen over Cape Hardy, which is further south and was originally the preferred site. 

Our submission focused on two issues:

1. Giant Australian Cuttlefish, and
2. Mound Springs (Great Artesian Basin).

We made the following three recommendations:

• An independent comparative environmental analysis of the Mullaquana Station and Cape Hardy sites should be published before a final decision is made.
• The positive and negative impacts of the project on the Great Artesian Basin, the Mound Springs and the River Murray should be included in the assessment.
• Water extractions for Olympic Dam from BHP’s Wellfield A should be stopped immediately and extractions from Wellfield B should be progressively shutdown as soon as possible.

Click the following link to read our full submission.

260120FoEAdelaideDesalSubmission  

During the 2025 federal election FoE Adelaide ran a successful campaign opposing the Coalition’s plan to build nuclear power plants at 7 sites around Australia, including Port Augusta.

We are now following up with a campaign focusing on the forthcoming SA state election (March 2026). We are conducting a letter-writing campaign targeting politicians in South Australia asking them to declare their position on AUKUS nuclear waste. We have sent letters to the responsible ministers (Premier Peter Malinauskas, Minister for Climate, Environment & Water Lucy Hood, and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Kyam Maher), all other state and federal Labor MPs, and other Labor candidates for the forthcoming state election.

We encourage you to send letters to MINISTERS, SENATORS and to your LOCAL MPs and CANDIDATES. You don’t have to restrict yourself to Labor MPs and candidates. 

Contact details for Labor members and candidates can be found here.

Contact details for Liberal members and candidates can be found here.

PLEASE TELL US ANY RESPONSES YOU RECEIVE. We would like to publish any useful comments from politicians.

Our letters asked politicians to declare their positions on the following questions:

1. Will you oppose or accept an AUKUS high-level nuclear waste dump being imposed on South Australia by the Federal Government?

2. Will you call for full and prompt disclosure from the Federal Government on an AUKUS nuclear waste storage and siting process?

3. Do you respect and support Indigenous Peoples’ right to say “No” to storage and disposal of AUKUS nuclear waste on their country in South Australia, and agree that Australia should uphold the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People?

“Article 29, part 2. States shall take effective measures to ensure that no storage or disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or territories of indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed consent.”

4. Will you oppose the decommissioning of AUKUS nuclear powered submarines and nuclear reactors at Osborne / Port Adelaide, or at Whyalla or elsewhere in SA?

Click here to read the full text of our letter.

Use your own words, or feel free to copy our letter. Let’s make sure our politicians know that this is an issue that matters to South Australian voters.

More background is contained in briefing paper by David Noonan.

Arabana Traditional Owners, elders and rangers, and environmentalist David Noonan got strong ABC media coverage about BHP’s water extraction for its Olympic Dam copper–uranium mine. Long term water extraction has had severe impacts on the unique and fragile Mound Springs of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB).

1. The second of two ABC stories, ‘Call to protect the Springs now’, was broadcast on ABC SA Ch.2 TV News on Monday 24^th Nov 2025 and is available on IVIEW. See Intro “Under pressure, how fresh water extraction is taking a toll on an ancient underground reserve” at 30 sec in, and story “Water concerns” at 4 minutes 55 sec in:

https://iview.abc.net.au/video/NU2506S328S00

(ABC IVIEW may ask you to free sign in.)

See also related article on ABC News website, Calls to end water extraction from Great Artesian Basin before culturally significant springs are lost – ABC News, published Monday 24^th Nov.

2. The first of two ABC stories with Arabana Elders and Rangers on Mound Springs of GAB was broadcast on ABC SA TV News on Sunday 23rd November 2025. It is also available on IVIEW. Coverage starts about 11 min 25 secs in, and runs 4.5 mins:

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/abc-news-sa/series/0/video/NU2506S327S00

See also related article on ABC News website Water is under pressure in the Great Artesian Basin – ABC News, published Sunday 23^rd Nov.

3. You can read a more detailed article by David Noonan published in Friends of the Earth Australia’s national magazine Chain Reaction, #149, April 2025, p.36-37:

The SA government and BHP need to protect the Great Artesian Basin Mound Springs