Nuclear

Apply for a chance to view the nuclear “Citizen’s Jury”

robyn June 17, 2016

The Nuclear Royal Commission has moved on to the so-called “community consultation” phase where 50 people have been chosen out of RSVPs from 25,000 invitations. See the link below inviting people to apply for the chance to view one of its sessions:

http://yoursay.sa.gov.au/citizens_jury_interest_forms/new

From their website:

“Citizens’ Jury Viewing

Want to know what happens inside a Citizens’ Jury? Now is your chance. Register below to be an “Observer” for the nuclear Citizens’ Jury. There are a number of sessions in which 10 randomly selected South Australians will be able to sit in and watch proceedings, hear what the Jury hears and observe how democracy works in this important discussion.

While sessions will be broadcast publicly via media organisations and live streaming on the YourSAy website, at any time the jury reserves the right to deliberate privately and can ask for the jury room to be cleared.

Please note that photographers will be present to take photographs and capture film at this event. This material will be published in both printed and electronic (including Internet-based) media used by the South Australian Government to promote the consultation process on the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission report. In some cases, the media in which this material is published may be administered by a third party.

Step 1

Register your interest below. Please provide your name and telephone number and select a session that you would like to attend – please nominate a date and a morning or afternoon session. More than one box can be ticked.

Step 2

Registration for the first two days of the Citizens’ Jury (Saturday 25 June and Sunday 26 June) will close at 5pm Wednesday 22 June, 2016. Registrations for the last two days (Saturday 9 July and Sunday 10 July) will close at 5pm on Wednesday 6th July. All applicants’ names will be sorted into a random stratification process which will be facilitated independently by newDemocracy Foundation. To allocate seats, a random number draw will be conducted.

Step 3

Successfully drawn applicants for the first weekend of the Citizens’ Jury will be notified by telephone or email on Thursday 23 June. Successfully drawn applicants for the second weekend will be notified by telephone on Thursday 7 July.”

Nuclear, Old_Notes, Publications

The Lizard Bites Back protest festival info night Tue 21 June

robyn June 15, 2016

The Lizard Bites Back protest festival info night
Adelaide Bike Kitchen
22 Gibson St Bowden
Tuesday 21 June
6-8pm

The lizard bites back protest festival will take place at the gates of the Olympic Dam uranium mine from the 1st – 3rd of July this year.

Join us at the Adelaide Bike Kitchen on Tuesday 21st for an informal discussion about the event, including what to expect, why we are going, logistics, legals and anything else people want to discuss. Feel free to forward any questions to us before the info session.

This will also be a great opportunity to organise car poolingface to face, so if you are looking for passengers, or you need a lift, come along and we can connect drivers with passengers.

The lizard bites back follows on from the lizard’s revenge in July 2012, which saw approximately 500 people converge near the gates of the mine for five days of workshops, actions and music.

With SA currently facing two nuclear waste dump proposals, and BHP Billiton projected to start a heap leach trial by the end of the year as part of an alternative expansion plan, this is an important time to mobilise and send the message that there is strong community opposition to any expansion of the nuclear fuel cycle in SA.

In July we will re-focus on the source of the problem, highlighting an absurd global situation where we keep mining a mineral we have no idea how to dispose of safely, whilst proposals are again being made to force nuclear waste dumps on communities that do not want them.

The Lizard Bites Back will be held on Kokatha country.

Facebook event page

Mining, Nuclear, Old_Notes, Publications

*events*, anti-nuclear, BHP Billiton; Olympic Dam, community, Mining

SPEAK OUT at the Gov: Traditional Owners tell their stories; No nuclear waste dump in the Flinders Ranges

robyn June 15, 2016

SPEAK OUT at the Gov: Traditional Owners tell their stories; No nuclear waste dump in the Flinders Ranges

Governor Hindmarsh Hotel
59 Port Rd Hindmarsh
22 June
6:30-10pm

“Storylines go through the area.. This is our place of learning.” Regina McKenzie, Adnyamathanha Elder.

Come and listen to the stories, fireside at the Gov. Learn about the fight to stop a nuclear waste dump in the Flinders Ranges and get inspired by Adnyamathanha Traditional Owners who have been speaking out strongly since the beginning and are certainly not about to stop!

There will be a short film, inspiring speakers and time to have a yarn.

We look forward to seeing you there.

GANG: Girls Against Nuclear Genocide

Facebook Event Page

FoE, Nuclear, Old_Notes, Publications

Adelaide, anti-nuclear

Donate to help Aboriginal people fight the Flinders nuclear dump

robyn June 9, 2016

You are invited to donate to a gofund me account set up by by Adnyamathanha woman Regina McKenzie of Yappala Station near Hawker in the Flinders Ranges – she lives right next to the nuclear waste dump proposed location.

The site is approximately 35 km from Hawker. Hawker is approximately 1.5 hours drive north of Pt Augusta on the highway to Leigh Creek. Total of 4.5 hours north of Adelaide.

Please feel invited to donate to Regina: GoFundMe

“There are old ancient stories set deep in the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. In a place called Barndioota, once part of a thriving trade route across Australia, archaeological evidence brings to life ancient stories, millennia old songlines that teach us about the land and its people.

“The first one to ever be registered in the South Australian Aboriginal Heritage AARD database is the story of Punga Pudinah.

“Using modern archaeological tools the story was verified as culturally important at the specific location of Barndioota.

“The South Australian Government plans to locate a nuclear waste dump at Barndioota – this will be devastating not only to this ancient culture but also to the vastly important ground water supply in the region. A region that sits at the edge of the desert in Australia’s Outback.

“The irony is South Australia’s Tourism Commission wants you to visit! It is indeed a beautiful place – check it out.

“We need to raise funds to stop the nuclear waste dump in the Flinders Ranges. The proposed site is near the beautiful Hookina waterhole, known by Aboriginal people as Punga Pudinah.

“Water is the most precious resource out here at the edge of the desert. A spill or leakage of nuclear waste into the ground water will devastate the are area.

“Please read: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/radwaste.html

“High-level wastes are hazardous because they produce fatal radiation doses during short periods of direct exposure. For example, 10 years after removal from a reactor, the surface dose rate for a typical spent fuel assembly exceeds 10,000 rem/hour – far greater than the fatal whole-body dose for humans of about 500 rem received all at once. If isotopes from these high-level wastes get into groundwater or rivers, they may enter food chains. The dose produced through this indirect exposure would be much smaller than a direct-exposure dose, but a much larger population could be exposed.”

“Please help us stop this terrible nuclear waste dump.

“Your support will go a long way to provide the resources to stop this from happening.

“Donate today. Please share widely!

Regina McKenzie

Actions, Climate, Nuclear, Old_Notes, Publications

anti-nuclear, clean futures collective, community

Frydenberg Fridays – let the Minister responsible for national nuclear waste dumps know how you feel

robyn June 6, 2016

Frydenberg Fridays – an initiative of the ACE Collective, Friends of the Earth Melbourne

Contact the Federal Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg to oppose the dumping of Australia’s radioactive waste on the Adnyamathanha people and support the local communities in opposition to a national radioactive waste dump in the Flinders Ranges.

South Australia is at risk of being turned into the nation’s nuclear waste dump.

The Turnbull Government is advancing plans to build a national nuclear waste dump in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges. The announcement in April 2016 named Barndioota – Wallerbidina as the site.

We need your support to protect this region from nuclear waste.

The Wallerbidina site is of great cultural, historical and spiritual significance to Adnyamathanha Traditional Owners, who are calling this decision a desecration of their culture. Regina McKenzie, who lives at Yappala Station near the dump site, says: “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.”

Friends of the Earth has been working closely with Adnyamathanha Traditional Owners who are united in their opposition to the proposed dump.

Regina McKenzie and her family are asking for support.

One way you can do this is by contacting Minister Frydenberg and expressing concern about the national dump plans. In the lead up to the final decision, your voice can be a powerful support to the Adnyamathanha people and will be appreciated for generations to come.

To contact Minister Frydenberg:

Call his Melbourne office – (03) 9882 3677

Send an email – josh.frydenberg.mp@aph.gov.au

Write a letter – 695 Burke Road, Camberwell VIC 3124

Some points to mention in your letter/email to Minister Frydenberg:

Impact on Aboriginal Traditional Owners

The Adnyamathanha community is unanimously opposed to the development of the proposed nuclear waste dump at Wallerbidina Station, and view this proposal as an attack on their cultural beliefs, history and heritage.

The Yappala Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) neighbours proposed site and contains the first registered aboriginal story/song line in Australia and a sacred women’s site. This area is rich in traditional foods and medicines used by the local Adnyamathnaha community to feed their families and pass on their culture and traditions.

There is an extraordinarily high density of unique archaeological sites which offer a wealth of knowledge to further archaeological studies. This area is part of an ancient trading route and contains thousands of aboringal artefacts and burial sites.

This site is environmentally unsuitable

The proposed site is in a geologically unstable area, which experiences frequent earthquakes and tremors.

The site is in an area prone to destructive seasonal flooding. The most recent of these floods caused significant environmental damage due to the ferocity of the water. Trees were uprooted and homes destroyed.

The nomination of this site puts local economies at risk

Tourism in the Flinders Ranges region provides the local community with over $100 million annually, any loss of earnings from a negative association with a nuclear waste dump could be devastating for the local economy. Investment in sustainable tourism initiatives could provide the community with long term employment opportunities, without poisoning the landscape. For any job created by a waste dump, many more will be lost.

The pastoralists and farming communities in the area are opposed and fear they will suffer. Farmers in the area pride themselves on a clean and green reputation that could be destroyed if a nuclear waste dump is built in the area.

This Federal Government can do better.

The storage of radioactive waste remains illegal under the South Australian Radioactive Waste Transport and Storage (Prohibition) Act (2000)

The Federal Government’s consultation process is fundamentally flawed. Traditional Owners were made aware of the nomination by a media announcement. This complete disregard of the importance of community consultation is completely contradictory to the federal Government’s commitment to a more open and transparent site selection process.

To find a practical and just solution to the management of Australia’s radioactive waste, there is a need for a public inquiry to explore all our options for the management of radioactive waste. Such an approach would provide enhanced community and procedural confidence and rigor and ensure greater stakeholder engagement.

http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au/frydenberg_fridays

Actions, Environmental Law, FoE, Nuclear, Old_Notes, Publications

anti-nuclear, friends of the earth, Sustainability