Articles

Rally Against the Dump: Dec 2nd

roman November 16, 2017

DATE: Saturday December 2,

TIME: 11am

WHERE: Parliament House Adelaide, Kaurna Land.

RALLY TIME! Join us on the steps of Parliament House to call on politicians to say no to a radioactive waste dump in SA.

FB RSVP: HERE

WEB: www.dontdumponsa.net

In its effort to find a site to house Australia’s radioactive waste, the Federal Government’s National Radioactive Waste Management Project (NRWMP) has three sites currently under consideration in South Australia – one at Barndioota in the Flinders Ranges and two in Kimba on the Eyre Peninsula. Some of this nuclear waste is a hazard for hundreds of years and some for thousands of years.

Radioactive Nuclear waste dumps for non-SA wastes are illegal in SA. In response to earlier moves to dump waste in SA, Parliament passed a law to say No: the Nuclear Waste Facility (Prohibition) Act 2000. The objects of this Act are “to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people of South Australia and to protect the environment in which they live by prohibiting the establishment of certain nuclear waste storage facilities in this state.”

We’ve said no to radioactive waste in SA before and won and we’ll do it again!

Articles, Nuclear, Old_Notes

Nuclear fuel waste: Extended Storage at Lucas Heights or target SA?

roman November 12, 2017

David Noonan has summarised the situation with the proposal to locate the federal nuclear waste dump in SA in a recent briefing document.

**Nuclear fuel waste: Extended Storage at Lucas Heights or target SA?**

Briefer (Nov 2017) by David Noonan, Independent Environment Campaigner

The Federal government has divided Australian community and is compromising safety in proposed import and indefinite above ground storage of ANSTO nuclear wastes in South Australia.

Since April 2016 the Federal government has solely targeted regional communities in SA for a proposed above ground Store to take irradiated Nuclear Fuel Waste (NFW) and long lived Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) from the ANSTO Lucas Heights reactor facility in NSW.

The ARPANSA CEO formally considered this proposed NRWMF Store and stated in May 2015:
“This plan will have the provision for ILW storage above ground for approximately 100 years.”

This nuclear waste storage plan compromises safety by importing long lived reactor waste to SA without any waste disposal capacity or even a program or plan for potential disposal of NFW and ILW. Safety requires these nuclear wastes are isolated from the environment for over 10,000 years.

The proposed 100 year Store in SA for 10,000 year nuclear wastes is a divisive, unsafe and unnecessary plan – given ANSTO’s capacity to retain these nuclear wastes at Lucas Heights.

Articles, FoE, Nuclear, Transport

Nuclear Royal commission is a snow job

robyn April 29, 2016

An excellent article in Renew Economy by Friends of the Earth Australia’s anti-nuclear campaigner Dr Jim Green.

SA nuclear Royal Commission is a snow job

“Nuclear Royal Commission is a Snow Job

The South Australian Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission (RC) will release its final report on May 6. It was established to investigate opportunities for SA to expand its role in the nuclear industry beyond uranium mining.

Before his appointment as the Royal Commissioner, Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce said little about nuclear issues but what he did say should have excluded him from consideration. Speaking in November 2014 at a Flinders University guest lecture, Scarce acknowledged being an “an advocate for a nuclear industry”. Just four months later, after his appointment as the Royal Commissioner, he said the exact opposite: “I have not been an advocate and never have been an advocate of the nuclear industry.”

Other than generalisations, and his acknowledgement that he is a nuclear advocate, Scarce’s only comment of substance on nuclear issues in his 2014 lecture was to claim that work is “well underway” on a compact fusion reactor “small enough to fit in a truck”, that it “may be less than a decade away” and could produce power “without the risk of Fukushima-style meltdowns.” Had he done just a little research, Scarce would have learnt that Lockheed Martin’s claims about its proposed compact fusion reactor were met with universal scepticism and ridicule by scientists and even by nuclear industry bodies.

So the SA government appointed Scarce as Royal Commissioner despite knowing that he is a nuclear advocate who has uncritically promoted discredited claims by the nuclear industry. Scarce appointed an Expert Advisory Committee. Despite claiming that he was conducting a “balanced” RC, he appointed three nuclear advocates to the Committee and just one critic. The bias is all too apparent and Scarce’s claim to be conducting a balanced inquiry is demonstrably false.… Read more >>

Articles, Clean Futures, FoE, Nuclear, Old_Notes

anti-nuclear, friends of the earth

Busting nuclear myths – flyer

robyn December 26, 2015

Our campaigner Nectaria has created a flyer busting nuclear myths:

1. The new generation (Gen IV) of nuclear reactors supposedly designed to recycle nuclear waste don’t exist!

2. Nuclear is not the only alternative to coal for baseload power – a mix of renewable energy and demand management can provide continuous power.

3. There is no nuclear renaissance – nuclear power is in decline world wide.

4. An expansion of the nuclear industry would not be good for the economy – see flyer for reasons.

5. Nuclear energy is not zero carbon when it comes to climate change.

6. We can’t guarantee isolation of high level radioactive waste from the environment for 200,000 years – there is no operating dump for high level waste anywhere in the world.

Links to the PDF:

Nuclear Mythbuster Flyer

Nuclear Mythbuster Flyer with References

Nectaria has finished with us now and we would like to thank her for all her hard work and wish her all the best in the future especially with the Lizard’s Revenge Protestival next July.

Articles, Nuclear

anti-nuclear, clean futures collective

Historic Progress Towards Binding Treaty on Business and Human Rights

roman July 26, 2015

Notes from Cam Walker

GENEVA, July 10 — The first session of UN negotiations on legally binding rules for transnational corporations (TNCs)[1] concluded today, with hopes high for the process towards a treaty that could finally bring justice and protection to millions.

Talks convened in Geneva on July 6th to begin elaborating a treaty on business and human rights. Civil society organizations from all over the world took part, demonstrating coordinated work, a wealth of proposals and thorough analyses of the urgent need for an international legally binding instrument to prevent TNCs’ human rights abuses and provide justice and remedy for affected people.

Preparatory work of civil society at national and international level was strong. Movements from Indonesia and Brazil, for example, combined proposals for the treaty built on the voices of affected peoples, on concrete cases of human rights violations by TNCs and on advocacy work to push national governments to engage in a proactive way.

TNCs are often responsible for human rights violations. These crimes frequently go unpunished due to glaring gaps in the international legal system, the absence or weakness of enforceable national policies, or judicial corruption in TNC host and/ or home countries. Many corporations are also richer and more powerful than the states seeking to regulate them. Corporate campaign financing for political candidates also creates a layer of impunity for TNCs.

“UN member States and expert panelists made great progress tackling this difficult but vital work. We also applaud the formidable mobilization of civil society organizations, whose presence really spurred the talks forward,” said Lucia Ortiz, Economic Justice International Program Coordinator, Friends of the Earth International.

The EU and several other, mostly rich, countries were largely absent from the talks, allegedly claiming that negotiation of a legally binding treaty would distract from the implementation of the existing UN Guiding Principles — a set of voluntary guidelines for businesses.… Read more >>

Articles, FoE, Old_Notes