The week to 4 December – Climate and Nuclear News -Australia and beyond

The world is at the crossroads as U.N. Climate Change Conference takes place in Poland. Many experts think that we have passed the point of no return. UN Climate Conference faces the daunting need for the world to quit coal. World Bank funding for action on climate change, and for adaptation to climate change.  David Attenborough urges world leaders to LEAD .

Nuclear power, touted as the solution to climate change, is on fact, only a hindrance to action on climate change.

AUSTRALIA

With bushfires and floods, Australia now ranks in the top 10 world’s natural disaster counntries.

Bushfires, Climate Change, and Nuclear Sites – how the threats of climate and nuclear merge.

Release of Federal Inquiry Report into community contamination from toxic chemicals.

NUCLEAR. Nuclear authorities planning for NUCLEAR PROCESSING at Kimba or Hawker dump site!  Government Divides Hawker and Kimba Communities While Hiding Suitable Alternate Radioactive Waste Sites. Community excluded from Australia’s nuclear waste dump Community Consultation. Concerned citizens of Kimba petition the Senate to remove Kimba site from radioactive waste site shortlist. Woomera a more suitable site for a nuclear waste dump – Senator Rex Patrick. Was Woomera rejected as nuclear dump site, because the plan is to later IMPORT NUCLEAR WASTE?

Western Australia’s uranium promise: 10 years later it’s a complete flop. Report casts doubt over the viability of the Mulga Rock project.

CLIMATE.  Total fire ban South Australia -(including Flinders)  a dangerous place to put a nuclear waste dump? Multiple bushfires on Yorke Peninsula South Australia.  Queensland experiencing fires of unprecedented fury, similar to California’s wildfires.   Western Australia set for a scorching summer.

Schoolkids say -Climate change is the biggest threat to our futures, not striking from school.  Yes, Prime Minister, I’m striking from school: consider it a climate lesson.  School students who went on strike for climate action are more likely to have successful careers. Australia’s climate action schoolkids – more intelligent, better informed, than Australia’s government. Australia’s Resources Minister Matt Canavan scorns children who protest for climate action.  Weird responses of righteous fury, against students who protested about about climate change.

Michael West shows the obstacles to Adani actually starting the Carmichael coal project. Queensland Premier sceptical that Adani coal mine will ever eventuate.   Adani’s announcement they are ‘ready to go’ must be reality tested.

Climate change and the Great Barrier Reef. Research on Australia’s climate history. Al Gore to conduct climate leadership training in Brisbane.

Noongar traditional owners challenge settlement that will extinguish native title. Native title win for Nanda people in Western Australia.

False claims against Julian Assange pave the way for USA to imprison him (DOES AUSTRALIA NOT CARE?)

RENEWABLE ENERGY  South Australia now supplying electricity to Victoria, as wind power surges.  Renewables to be providing 80 per cent of electricity market by 2030. UK company chooses Sydney for Australian HQ . Why coal – and not renewables – is root cause of surging Australia power prices. Milestone – Australia renewables output hits 9GW for first time. Top solar postcodes of Australia – state by state. Clean Energy Council calls for NSW renewables target, as another state election looms.

INTERNATIONAL

World Meteorological Organization warns: world running out of time to combat climate change. World’s Worst Public Health Crisis  – Climate Change. The over-looked solution to climate change – equality for women. Flawed arguments in nuclear industry’s push to be seen as climate change solution.

The other big Trump-Putin story: Nuclear weapons treaty hangs in the balance as Russia-US tensions rise.

Molten salt nuclear reactors not commercially viable, but useful for military.

NORTH KOREA. A mistake to expect Kim Jong Un to give a full renunciation of nuclear weapons in advance.

FRANCE. Why France must shut down many nuclear reactors. Report shows how unprepared France is, in the event of a nuclear accident. Appeal lodged to stop commissioning of Flamanville EPR nuclear reactor vessel. France abandons plans for the Astrid (Advanced Sodium Technological Reactor for Industrial Demonstration).

TAIWAN. Taiwan Votes to Maintain Import Ban on Fukushima Food Imports. Taiwan doesn’t know what to do with radioactive trash, so decommissioning of 1st nuclear power plant is delayed.

UK.

• Will 1000s of Small Nuclear Reactors, built super-fast, save the world from climate change?
• “Marking your own homework” – Britain’s plan for inspecting its own nuclear safeguards – Brexatom !
• UK’s Defence Safety Authority (DSA) suppresses reports on safety of nuclear weapons. UK’s Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE)‘s failure to deal with its high level nuclear waste – now sending it to Sellafield.
• EDF plans to restart Hunterston nuclear reactors because – hey! some of the 350 cracks are only small!
• UK’s so-called “nuclear renaissance” is in crisis again.
• Radiation Free Lakeland investigates radioactive beach, while Cumbrian media doesn’t bother to.

USA.

•  Exposing The Pentagon’s Massive Accounting Fraud. The danger of nuclear war through irrational decision-making by Donald Trump. Trump may need Congress approval to withdraw from Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.  U.S. Congress could stop the endless wars.
• Massive problem of USA’s high level nuclear waste – scientists struggling for a solution. U.S. Energy Dept plans to reclassify Hanford nuclear sludge – from “high level”to “low level”. Holtec nuclear waste casks at San Onofre are too thin-walled and must be replaced.  San Onofre plant aims to resume transfers of nuclear waste in January.
• Delay in compensation for NUCLEAR LAB EMPLOYEES WITH RADIATION-LINKED CANCERS.
• Dark money, so-called “independent” Nuclear Matters, Georgia’s Public Service Commission and regulatory capture. Deal to purchase Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant is off.

JAPAN.  Japan to scrap Turkey nuclear project.     Thyroid cancer impact on children and teens following Fukushima nuclear accident. 2020 Olympics being used to put a nice gloss on nuclear industry, and Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. Fukushima evacuees forced back into unacceptably high radiation zones.

CANADA.  Saskatchewan sues federal government over cost to clean up abandoned uranium mine.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa’s Portfolio Committee on Energy (PCE) praises Nuclear power, glosses over cost, waste, problems.  Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (Necsa) embroiled in dodgy deals, conflicts of interest.

AUSTRALIA. Australian schoolchildren on strike for action on climate change.

INDIA. Political connections in Holtec’s plans for boosting nuclear power in India.

BELGIUM. Belgium re-authorised nuclear power without having an environmental assessment – EU Magistrate criticises.

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Australia’s bushfires, climate change, and nuclear site risk

Bushfires in Queensland have ushered in the “new normal”  of superfires in Australia. California has already experienced this new normal. It means that these fires are now catastrophic. They encroach on human habitation. Fire behaviour has changed.  Their intensity is greater. Their severity is greater: their flames are higher. Fires last longer, and come with increasing frequency. They spread at higher rates, and jump gaps such as roads, rivers and fire breaks. .

These fires now do long -term damage to the ecosystem. The earth underneath is affected, habitat destroyed, killing all the normal bacteria and inhabitants of the soil. Many are fires that are impossible to put out.

The background to these new superfires is climate change. Climate change has brought higher temperatures and  drought – resulting in drier trees and other vegetation – meaning that tinder-dry fuel is ready for ignition.

Australia is uniquely vulnerable, as the driest continent, with its prevailing eucalypt forests.

In California, the authorities are trying hard to cover up the reality that the wildfires started at an abandoned and still radioactively contaminated, nuclear facility . The fire would undoubtedly have caused radioactive ash to be blown about. (The fact that it’s not measured doesn’t mean that it is non existent) 

Australia is vulnerable to a similar radioactive threat. Last year, bushfires went uncomfortably close to the  Lucas Heights nuclear reactor. Plans to transport Lucas Height nuclear waste 1700 km across Australia to Flinders Ranges area mean that this radioactive trash would be at risk of accident, and one of the worst risks would be bushfires.

Australia must face up to the climate change threats – floods (as more water vapour, due to heat, will come down as flooding) , sea level rise, and super bushfires. Lucas Heights nuclear reactor should be closed, and ANSTO’s nuclear dream prevented from becoming Australia’s climate-nuclear nightmare.

This week’s nuclear and climate news

Anti-science got a boost this week, as the “leader of the free world” Donald Trump, visiting the catastrophic California wildfire sites, reaffirmed his rejection of climate science.    The Trump administration went on to deny its own government’s dire new report on climate change. It is disturbing and sad, to see so many people accepting the doctrine, which was named by Carl Sagan decades ago, – climate denial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gjuk2RcZ8uA. Even as the evidence mounts – of rising global average temperatures, arctic melting, sea level rise, and increasing extreme weather events,- politicians and much of the media promote the fossil fuel line of denial.

AUSTRALIA

Assange Lawyers Barred From Visiting Client Ahead Of US Court Hearing -(why does Australia not care?)

NUCLEAR. Australian Senate vote – a resounding NO to a nuclear power development Bill.

Moving Intermediate Level Waste from Lucas Heights to another Intermediate site – dubious and possibly illegal. Labor’s Kim Carr says nuclear waste should go to South Australia, because it’s “too dangerous for Lucas Heights”.

Government organising CLOSED GATHERINGS of nuclear waste dump supporters in South Australia. How to squash democracy – Australia’s National Radioactive Waste Management Facility shows the way, in Quorn, South Australia.  28 November: Anti-Nuclear Coalition (ANC) delegation to meet with Department of Industry Innovation and Science.

Earthquake close to Federal govt’s planned nuclear waste dump site – Kimba South Australia.

Victoria votes for solar, batteries and climate action, as Labor wins in a landslide.

CLIMATE. The UNSW climate dividend proposal to be launched by the Member for Wentworth Kerryn Phelps. Politicians move seamlessly from government to fossil fuel industries.

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison furiously against the Big School Walkout for Climate Action.   Friday November 30 – Australian students Strike For Climate Action.

RENEWABLE ENERGY. Australia’s transition to clean energy gets a boost with Victorian Labor’s whopping victory. Victorian elections – Greens helped Labor to a big victory.

Renewable energy boom – up to 60,000 new Australian jobs by 2030 . Queensland’s “solar capital” approves 15th large-scale PV project.  Australia’s biggest solar farm at Coleambally sets new production records .  South Australia launches $50m grid-scale storage fund.  Lack of network planning threatens Australia’s renewable electricity future, expert warns.

INTERNATIONAL

The world heads for Armageddon, as nuclear weapons control is wound back.

IAEA Director General Amano says Iran is abiding by nuclear deal, says North Korea should re-admit inspectors.

Study shows that women care more than men do, about climate change.(surprise, surprise)    Sir David Attenborough to speak for the people at UN climate summit.

Julian Assange at risk, as changes occur in Ecuadorian Embassy.

BANGLADESH. Climate change, rising sea levels, salty drinking water and increased miscarriages.

JAPAN.

• Powerful earthquake hits Fukushima, nuclear disaster city.
•  Olympics propaganda revs up to make Fukushima and nuclear power look good.
• Effects of suspected radiation exposure seen in Fukushima wild monkeys: researchers.
• Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority concerned about risks of radioactive leaks from facility near Tokyo.
•  Japan’s nuclear watchdog weighs giving children priority in distribution of iodine tablets.
•  Ken Watanabe to Star in Film About Fukushima Nuclear Disaster.
• Residents of nuclear crisis hit Namie to sue TEPCO, gov’t after settlement talks fail.

RUSSIA. Russia to give up its policy of ‘no first use’ of nuclear weapons.

USA. 

• Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman – wanting a nuclear bomb?  Donald Trump in convenient denial over Crown Prince Bin Salman’s role in the murder of Khashoggi.   USA’s endless cycle of weapons spending is set to get more extreme.
•  U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo orders South Korea to slow down on being friendly with North Korea.
• U.S. politicians want transparency about the radiation risks of the fire-afflicted Santa Susana nuclear site.
•  $2 billion settlement for electricity customers who were charged for failed nuclear project.
• Tourists and U.S. citizens unaware of the contamination and illness history of Hanford nuclear site.
• U.S.senator joins call from 75 organisations to scrutinise plan to reclassify some High Level Nuclear Wastes.
• Donald Trump’s climate denialism – in the face of California’s climate tragedies. California Wildfire Likely Spread Nuclear Contamination From Toxic Site.

UK. Frightening projections by UK’s Met Office on impacts of climate change, rising seas. UK’s environmental campaigners “Extinction Rebellion” block roads around London’s Parliament Square.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLHN1eBbhOs    Sellafield – a nuclear misuse of public funds – and Hinkley Point C will be the next. UK customers to pay in advance for Hinkley nuclear power, AND cop the financial risk?  Architects awarded contest prize for nuclear project that is now cancelled.  Calls for permanent shutdown of Hunterston nuclear reactor 3, with its 350 cracks.    Uncertainty and delay, as UK struggles with plans for dealing with radioactive trash.

VIETNAM. Vietnam government abandons costly nuclear power plans.  Taiwan to host Asian anti-nuclear forum in 2019 .

TAIWAN. Taiwan still on track to become nuclear-free, despite pro-nuclear referendum.

BULGARIA. Bulgaria’s Belene Nuclear Power Plant project unlikely to ever be built, now needs EU approval.

CZECH REPUBLIC. Czechs consider nuclear power options: would require tax-payer funding.

SOUTH AFRICA. Doubts on future of South Africa’s nuclear research reactors, with glut of medical isotopes, and with particle accelerator production.

FRANCE. France could shut down up to six nuclear reactors by 2028.

A very dodgy nuclear waste dump meeting to be held in Quorn, South Australia – today

The most recent information on the BCC meeting in Quorn Tue 27/11-
I believe the time frame is 2-2 30 until 4-4 30.
Held in The Function room at Emily’s Bistro, First St.
Entry may involve signing a non disclosure agreement. 
If you disagree with signing this agreement, and are denied entry, then a silent protest may occur.

There’s a lot more about this.  I hardly know where to start.

Supposedly a COMMUNITY CONSULTATION meeting –  it is in fact designed to deter all bed supporters of the dump plan from attending.

If they do manage to get in – well, they’d better mind their Ps and Qs.  They will surely be thrown out if they make any noises suggesting dissent.  The police will probably be there.

Attendees have to sign a “non disclosure” agreement.  There will be no “minutes” taken –  only “notes’ which will not be published for several months.

There’s  a lot more about this at    No Nuclear Waste Dump Anywhere in South Australia   https://www.facebook.com/groups/1314655315214929/

 

Aussie schoolkids on strike to save the environment from climate change

Why aren’t they doing anything?: Students strike to give climate lesson, https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/climate-change/why-aren-t-they-doing-anything-students-strike-to-give-climate-lesson-20181123-p50hvu.htmlBy Peter Hannam,  24 November 2018 This Friday, November 30, thousands of Australian students will go on strike, demanding their politicians start taking serious action on climate change.The movement, School Strike 4 Climate Action, has been inspired by a 15-year-old Swedish student, Greta Thunberg, who started boycotting classes before parliamentary elections in her nation on September 9, and continues to skip school every Friday. She also has a particular message for Australia.

Students in each state capital and across 20 regional Australian centres will walk out of their classrooms this week to tell politicians that more of the same climate inaction is not good enough.

Here are some of the lessons they hope to teach.

‘If we really want a better planet Earth’

Lucie Atkin-Bolton, 11, who will soon graduate as school captain at Sydney’s Forest Lodge Public School, says Australia should be sourcing 100 per cent of its electricity from solar power: “I can’t understand why it hasn’t been done yet.”

“Right now the political leaders aren’t doing very much at all,” Lucie says. “They’re more promoting coal-sourced energy when, if we really want to have a better planet Earth, we need renewable energy.”

Climate change “is a crisis”, she says. “It’s not going to happen in two or three decades – it’s happening now.”

Lucie says “whole islands will disappear” as warming lifts sea levels, and the time for thinking is running out.

“We can’t just talk about it, we have to act,” she says. “We have to make a change.”

While Lucie hopes to attend the main strike event at NSW Parliament, school principal Stephen Reed has been supportive, she says. Students remaining behind are expected to be involved in school-wide activities.

Fear’ is a motivator

Vivienne Paduch isn’t waiting for Friday’s gathering – where the Manly Selective school student will also be a speaker  – to get active. This Sunday, she’ll be busy at a “Crafternoon”, creating banners and honing her speech.

The 14-year-old says Australia needs to cut its carbon footprint “dramatically” and soon. The run of “crazy, extreme weather events” – from the NSW drought to destruction of the Great Barrier Reef and recent unusual fires within the Arctic Circle – are part of her motivation.

“Firstly it’s fear,” Vivienne says. “I’m really scared for me and for my generation and the generations that are going to come after me from the implications of what climate change will mean.

“It’s only going to get worse if we don’t take action now.

“Striking for climate action is more important [to me] than missing a day of school.

“With all the support we’ve got this year, I can see it happening again next year,” Vivienne says. “It’s very important to keep pressure on the politicians.”

‘Young people have to step up’

For Aisheeya Huq, a year 10 student at Auburn Girls High School, the School Strike is a natural extension of her volunteer work for the Australian Youth Climate Coalition.

The 16-year-old says her generation can’t ignore climate change and environmental destruction and the justice issues that flow from them.

“We’re going to have to face the consequences [from the work of] a lot of the policymakers and politicians … due to their lack of understanding and perhaps care for the future,” Aisheeya says.

“Young people have realised that because we are going to be affected, we have to step up, and we have to do something about it.”

Politicians talk about the importance of education and shouldn’t be surprised when students join the climate dots. “If you care so much about our education and what you’re teaching us, why aren’t you doing anything about it?” she says.

‘Massive emergency’

Students from Castlemaine, a town in the Victorian goldfields north-west of Melbourne, were the originators of the School Strike movement in Australia after reading about Greta Thunberg and also the special Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 1.5 degree report.

Tully Boyle, a 15-year-old at Castlemaine Secondary College, has already taken part in several school boycotts, and this week took a train into Melbourne with other students to deliver demands to politicians.

“It’s a massive emergency,” Tully says. “We want all governments to take it seriously.”

She says heatwaves, flooding and worsening bushfires are a portent of much worse to come if temperature rises reach 4-5 degrees – the course they are now on.

Tully would like to see support for renewable energy and greater promotion of electric vehicles given priority.

“Climate change matters more for us,” she says. “We need to fight for our future.”

Callum Neilson-Bridgefoot, an 11-year-old student at Castlemaine Primary School, has also taken part in four strike activities already.

“Sacrificing a little bit of my education will help in the long term,” Callum said. “I work really hard when I’m at school.

“Any political leader can really make a difference – they have much more power than we do,” he says. “Right now what they are doing is not enough.”

Greta’s actions were a key inspiration. “I was really moved,” Callum says. “It was really brave and very powerful.”

It was so easy’

Greta Thunberg has seen her Friday vigils for action on climate change copied in many parts of the world, including Finland, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway, Italy, Canada and Britain. “And Australia of course!” she says.

“The thing I think surprised me the most was that it was so easy,” she tells Fairfax Media, via email.

“I remember thinking before I started ‘why has no one ever done this before?’”

The solution, she says, is to keep climate change in front of the public’s attention.

“All we need to do is treat it like a crisis with headlines and news reporting all the time. And I mean A L L the time,” she writes. “As if there was a war going on.”

Greta wants her Australian acolytes to know she is aware of their actions: “I would tell them that they are making a huge difference. I read about them in newspapers up here in Europe and it’s hopeful beyond my imagination.

“And Australia is a huge climate villain, I am sorry to say. Your carbon footprint is way bigger than Sweden and we are among the worst in the world.”

Greta says leading by example is important, as is “saying the things that are too uncomfortable to say”.

“We may not like that we have to change some of our habits, like flying or eating meat and dairy. But we do have to. Because our carbon budget has been spent and there is nothing left for future generations or the ecosystems we rely on,” she says.

The Nuclear Lobby’s”Low Carbon” Deception

Time to just blow this “zero carbon” “low carbon” nonsense out of the water.

The nuclear fuel chain emits carbon all the way through, and I find it extraordinary that journalists mindlessly parrot these lies from the nuclear lobby. Makes you wonder – do the mainstream journalists actually compose the stuff that they write, about nuclear power, or do they just copy the handouts from the industry?

Quite simply, nuclear industry leaders want to get financial help – subsidies, tax credits, from governments that have been duped into believing that nuclear power is “low” or even “zero” carbon.

The also want the “respectability”, public approval,  that comes from being seen as combatting climate change. (even though most were previously in the denying climate change camp).

Anyway – it’s common sense to see that nuclear power is quite a strong emitter of greenhouse gases.  Any thinking non-expert can see that. However, experts see it too. Only one step in that uranium-nuclear chain is low emission – though all nuclear lobbyists claim that this step is “no emission” – the reactor’s operation.

NUCLEAR POWER’S CARBON FOOTPRINT.  – an incomplete list  –  By Lisa Kasenow, quoted in Sayonara Nukes, by Dennis Riches

1.  MINING – Uranium (or thorium )
2. MILLING – Transportation to millworks, converting ore to “yellowcake” uranium
3. CONVERSION – Construction of the uranium (U) conversion facility, transportation of yellowcake, conversion to UF6
4. ENRICHMENT – Construction of the U enrichment facility, and the cylinders used to transportUF^, transportation of UF6 to the enrichment facility,enrichment. The Paducah, KY, plant uses 3040 megawatts of coal energy at peak power.
5. FUEL PELLETS – Formation and transportation of uranium fuel pellets
6. NUCLEAR POWER PLANT CONSTRUCTION (NPP) – Takes years and uses heavy construction equipment. Steel and concrete construction are carbon intensive.
7. SUPPORTING INFRASTRUCTURE NPPs – Construction of roads, transmission lines, barge canals.
8. GENERATORS – Heavy-duty diesel generators run the cooling system during routine maintenance, refuelling, other normal shutdowns, SCRAMs and power outages.
9. WASTE STORAGE – Building Radioactive Waste (radwaste) storage facilities and storage containers. Transportation of radwaste, sometimes across the country or the ocean.
10. WASTE PROCESSING – Building reprocessing plant, transportation of radwaste, reprocessing, building storage for then remaining radwaste.
11. WASTE INCINERATION. – Building radwaste incineration facilities, transporting the waste to the incineration facility, incineration.
12. WASTE VITRIFICATION – Building vitrification plants, transporting waste to theplant, vitrifyimng the waste (involves heating the materials to very high temperatures).
13. MONITORING OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE -Carbon pollution generated by monitoring and guarding the waste for eternity.
14. DECOMMISSIONING AND DECONTAMINATION – of NPPs, other reactors, enrichment facilities, and other support infrastructure.
15. ACCIDENTS – Mitigation and clean-up efforts have a huge carbon footprint.
16. DAMAGED REACTORS AND ACCIDENTS – Building sarcophagus structures, monitoring, securing and periodically re-entombing failed NPPs for eternity.

 

The past week in climate and nuclear news

Is the California fire spreading nuclear toxins

A reflection on the media, especially “social media”: some news media covered the radioactive danger of wildfire at the closed Santa Susana nuclear site, and the need for that site to be properly cleaned up. I covered it, too, on my websites – might have reached one or two thousand people, on a good day.  BUT – celebrity Kim Kardashian’s call for the clean-up would have reached 58 million people!

Public awareness of climate change just might be growing, as its impacts multipy.  Habitable areas of our planet are shrinking – as climate change exacerbates extreme weather. “Predatory delay” – how the fossil fuel industries created and maintained climate change denialism.  Nuclear power is touted as the solution to climate change. But, as well as the many other drawbacks to this ‘solution’, is the fact that nuclear is not ‘low carbon’ as claimed.

AUSTRALIA

Edward Snowden Condemns US Justice Department for Targeting Assange  (Why is Australian govt not helping Julian Assange?)

Labor’s Environment Action Network (Lean) determined that a Shorten Labor government must overhaul federal environment laws. Chifley Research Centre calls for a new and independent Australian environmental protection framework.

NUCLEAR. With the current issue of radiation risk in the California wildfires, it is timely to note that radiation monitoring showed spikes in the Lucas Heights nuclear area, at the time of the April bushfires.

The spent nuclear fuel rods at Lucas Heights can only sensibly be treated as high level waste. IAEA sees ‘Areas for Enhancement’ in Australia’s Nuclear and Radiation Safety.

Federal govt on nuclear waste dump: Minister has “absolute discretion”, dismisses Greens’ concerns. Nov 28 in Flinders and Kimba – ClOSED meetings on nuclear waste dump plan?

Australia-UK agreement on nuclear co-operation and development after UK leaves European Union.

British scientists secretly used Australian population to test for radiation contamination after nuclear tests at Maralinga. “Project Sunshine” tested dead babies for radioactive fallout.

CLIMATE. New Climate Council report links climate change with worsening droughts.     Labor to exploit Morrison’s coal obsessions in new energy policy.  Federal government’s water gift to Adani exposed.

RENEWABLE ENERGY. There are numerous news items.  The best site – reneweconomy.com.au is for some unknown reason, inaccessable tody. Headlines include WA’s Synergy says fossil fuel generators not coping with rooftop solar boom.  Third battery storage maker to set up factory in South Australia. Vestas wins largest project in Victoria’s Renewable Energy Auction with the first V150-4.2MW turbines in Australia. Greens establish Senate Inquiry into “fair dinkum power” .. and many more.

Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL) group calls on Malaysian govt to shut down Lynas rare earth refinery.

INTERNATIONAL

USA.

•  Independent testing of radiation levels in air- Woolsey Fire and Santa Susana Field Lab Site.   There were 3 radiation fallout releases at Santa Susana, not just one.
• The danger of San Onofre’s nuclear wastes – buried over a major fault line — and in a tsunami zone.
• USA’s next chairman of the House Armed Services Committee aims to scrap Trump’s nuclear weapons policy. Mike Pence: North Korea sanctions to remain until denuclearization.
• USA’s navy shipyards already threatened by climate change: storms, rising seas, and worse to come.
• USA. Watchdog and Advocacy Coalition Report Warns of Systemic Attacks on Science .
• “New Nuclear” lobbyists, Nuclear Alternative Project and USA’s CINTAC, target Puerto Rico.
•  Call to Texans to oppose nuclear waste transport and dumping.
•  Rocky Flats still radioactively polluted.
• Contrary to U.S. Energy Department’s report, there WAS nuclear waste near New Mexico nuclear site rockfall.
•  USA’s nuclear safety agreement with Ukraine is a nuclear marketing exercise.
• Two Hanford whistleblowers take legal action. Court order. USA Veterans Affairs must reveal numbers of troops exposed to radiation after 1966 Spanish nuclear disaster.  SCE and G electric utility aims to discredit the testimony of two former employees.
• Attorneys Implore Judge to Keep Sailors’ Fukushima Case in U.S.
• How the USA gave up on protecting its citizens against nuclear attack, and settled for just elite shelters.
• The Christian Vacation Camp Where Kids Are Taught by Notorious Climate Science Deniers.

UK.

• Moorside project collapses, but UK’s Conservative government is Socialist when it comes to nuclear power projects. UK’s Moorside nuclear project will not go ahead unless the taxpayer pays for it.
• UK’s nuclear industry will suffer, in withdrawing from the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom).  Nuclear material stored in UK, but owned by EU – poses a Brexit problem,  Because of Brexit, the clean-up of UKs radioactive Dalgety Bay is stalled.
• UK’s THORP nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield was a dud – never met its operational targets.
• Reactor 3 at Hunterston B remains offline, due to cracks in the graphite core.
• The East Yorkshire village almost wiped out by a nuclear bomb.
• Britain’s nuclear bomb test legacy of early deaths and deformed children.

JAPAN. IAEA urges Japan to reach decision soon on handling of radioactive water at crippled Fukushima nuke plant.  Abe, IOC chief to visit Fukushima venue for 2020 Olympics. High court rejects bid to shut down Shikoku Electric reactor.

NORTH KOREA. North Korea tests new ‘ultramodern tactical weapon’ amid stalled nuclear diplomacy.

RUSSIA. Vladimir Putin considers his response to US exit from nuclear pact. Russia boasting of a spaceship to Mars ‘in very near future’.

TURKEY. Turkish environmentalists go to the Supreme Court to stop construction of nuclear power station.

SPAIN. Spain will close the last of its nuclear reactors and coal power plants before 2030.

IRAN. Iran hopeful that Europe can salvage nuclear deal – foreign ministry .

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa’s Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan’s evidence at the State Capture Commission.

FRANCE. France’s Environment Minister questions viability of EPR nuclear. France to cut back on nuclear power.

POLYNESIA. President of French Polynesia admits that leaders lied, over 3 decades, about dangerous radioactivity from French nuclear tests.

to 14 November – climate and nuclear news Australia

Again, there’s a collision between the twin threats of nuclear power and of climate change, as California’s wildfires ravage the once-secret Santa Susana Field Lab (Rocketdyne), site of a partial nuclear meltdown in 1959, and still radioactively polluted.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVhtygifsuE.   Physicians for Social Responsibility refute media claims that wildfire ash poses no radiation health problem. ( No monitoring , no assessment: the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.)

California Fires Could Be The ‘New Abnormal’ If Climate Change Continues. Scientists have identified 10 ways in which climate change makes wildfires worse.

Investigative journalism. Again, journalists cover the situation of America’s sick and dying nuclear workers. This is a 2018 story, which was covered magnificently by McClatchy News in 2015.

AUSTRALIA

NUCLEAR. Environmentalists are urging people to contact Labor MPs on two issues:

1. Labor needs to support the movement against a federal nuclear waste dump at Kimba or Hawker, South Australia, a dump which would contravene South Australian law.
2. National Conference in December in Adelaide: Federal Labor to hold firm to its strong anti-nuclear policy

Federal government nuclear waste compromises safety and security in South Australia.  Protestors rally at South Australian Parliament against nuclear waste dump plan. Aboriginal landowners say delay in nuclear waste dump vote may bring more opposition to the plan.   Kimba property values plunge, following plans for nuclear waste dump there.

Northern Territory: Mirrar people at last gain some control over their traditional land, as uranium miners leave.  Rio Tinto offloads Northern Territory uranium resources to Canadian company.

Australia already has cyclotrons, producing medical isotopes with no need for nuclear power.

Mining industry and union get together to prevent mining clean-up legislation.

CLIMATE CHANGE. Mike Cannon-Brookes, Atlassian billionaire, calls on Government to reinstate carbon price. Energy Minister Angus Taylor confirms race is on to get new coal or gas finalised before federal election.  Call to Melissa Price, Minister For Coal, (sorry, I meant Environment) to explain why Adani project ‘s massive water use is OK.

RENEWABLE ENERGY.  Small scale solar surge continues to reshape Australia’s grid.   NSW government unveils plan to bring grid into age of renewables. Northern Territory unveils first grid-scale battery in “solar capital” Alice Springs . Plan to shift Kimberley to renewables could save $15m a year.   Huge solar farm planned for Murray Bridge, South Australia.    Victoria’s first big battery charges up on state grid.  Victorian Labor dials up its renewable energy target to 50 per cent by 2030.

INTERNATIONAL

Nuclear reactors “are a bad bet for a climate strategy” – former NRC chairman.

The digital danger to nuclear weapons.

Tell Ft.com that solar air-conditioning is the answer to air-conditioning’s greenhouse gas problem.

Within 50 years, ozone layer hole is predicted to be completely healed.

IRAN. Iran is keeping to the conditions of nuclear deal: latest U.N. report.

NORTH KOREA. North Korea: its nuclear weapons “complete”, but not planning to get rid of them (why should they?)

JAPAN. Tepco to temporarily stop injecting water at Fukushima reactor . Local opposition to restart of Tokai nuclear station, but it is cleared to start by Japan’s nuclear watchdog.

USA.

• Woolsey Fire Burns Nuclear Meltdown Site that State Toxics Agency Failed to Clean Up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVhtygifsuE&t=418s  Nuclear meltdown at Santa Susana Lab and the government cover-up.  High fire warning continues including area of Santa Susana (Rocketdyne) nuclear irradiated area.
• USA non proliferation experts, both Democrat and Republican Urge Trump to save nuclear treaty with Russia.  With Democrat majority in U.S. Congress, Trump’s plans for nuclear arsenal, space weapons, will meet with opposition. New Bill in U.S. Congress would block a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia. In USA 100 women elected to Congress– could they challenge the nuclear status quo?
• Beyond Nuclear questions Union of Concerned Scientists’ support for bailouts for “top ranked” nuclear plants.
• U.S. sailors in nuclear reactor part of USS Ronald Reagan allegedly used drug LSD.
•  Explanation of near-miss at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).
• Holtec nuclear waste dry storage system (Hi-STORM UMAX) is a lemon and must be recalled. Radioactive groundwater found at Westingouse SC nuclear fuel factory.
• For USA the cost of not funding a nuclear waste solution is becoming greater than the cost of funding it.

UK. 

• The collapse of Britain’s Moorside project shows that nuclear power has no real future.   Doomed Moorside nuclear project might have provided 2% of UK energy needs, NOT 7%.   Consultant WYG takes £3m loss on business it bought for Moorside nuclear development.
• For Britain’s next nuclear boondoggle – Wylfa project, households might have to pay upfront for the construction.   Britain’s Wyfa nuclear power project will be one hell of a cost to the taxpayer.
• Britain’s Bradwell nuclear project under scrutiny- risks of flooding, water overuse, environmental degradation.   
• Cumbria Trust questions the independence of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM).
•  Frazer Nash nuclear helps nuclear lobby to infiltrate academia.

RUSSIA.  Putin claims that Russia is developing an “invincible” nuclear weapon.  Russia now offering to help Norway to deal with the inappropriate storage of  radioactive waste.

TAIWAN. Hundreds of Taiwanese academics urge public to vote for nuclear power shut-down.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa: leaked report shows Zuma government’s secret plans for nuclear power.

CANADA.  Small Modular Reactors not commercially viable, but nuclear companies want the government handouts.   NuScale and Ontario Power Generation (OPG) trying to make Small Nuclear Reactors happen in Canada. Canada’s nuclear regulator wants Small Nuclear Reactors exempted from full Environmental Assessment.

SAUDI ARABIA. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launches nuclear project in Saudi Arabia.

 

 

 

This week – Nuclear and Climate News – Australia and Beyond

Some good news this week. A case of positive international co-operation!  – the healing of the ozone layer. The rest of the climate news – not so good. Climate scientists have underestimated the rapid warming of the oceans.  Climate change disruption of the jet stream is causing more extreme weather.     A warning not to forget the message of UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)  –  Climate Change: The Real World War.

International nuclear politics muddles along, – closer to the brink? North Korea warns it might return to developing nuclear weapons, if USA does not end sanctions.  Donald Trump ready to reimpose all nuclear sanctions on Iran.  A world on nuclear hair-trigger, if USA withdraws from the  Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia?

Looking for expert information on nuclear matters? Go to the Nuclear Consulting Group.

AUSTRALIA

NUCLEAR.  Australia’s Liberal Coalition government is frightened that nuclear waste dump would become an election issue.   Labor must keep to its strong nuclear-free policy.   A warning about the privatisation of the Federal government’s planned nuclear waste dump for South Australia. Despite South Australia’s renewable energy success, are the Liberals targetting S.A. again for an international nuclear trash dump?   City of Sydney calls on Australian govt to sign up to the UN Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty.

CLIMATE.   Kerryn Phelps confirmed as new independent MP: makes climate change action her first priority.  Australian Conservation Foundation encourages all voters to recognise the coming CLIMATE ELECTION.    Is this the Coalition swansong? Just one more coal plant for the road.   The Adani coal mine doesn’t stack up environmentally, economically, or politically. The world does not need Australia’s ‘toxic’ coal –Christiana Figueres.  Severe fire danger as heat hits New South Wales East coast.

RENEWABLE ENERGY.  Nuclear and Coal Lobbyists be warned – Fair Dinkum Power is here!    Clean Energy Finance Corporation marks year of record investment, as industry embraces clean energy.  New South Wales government is preparing for a surge in renewable energy. NSW launches $20m battery round, to shift hospitals and schools to solar and storage. Queensland solar is booming and pushing down daytime electricity prices.   Crookwell 2 wind farm opens, in win for local farmers and ACT power prices .

Aboriginal National Congress Criticises Indigenous Affairs Minister,  Seeks Answers For Redirecting Funds.

INTERNATIONAL

The global nuclear industry sneaks into international governments’ “clean” energy movement.

Far from fixing climate change – the nuclear power industry is being stalled by climate change.

Pro nuclear expert urges the nuclear industry to drop its “climate change” argument !

Electromagnetic radiation from cell-phones is a cancer causer to rats.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report DOES show that there is scope for positive progress.

IRAN. Iran is not likely to restart its nuclear weapons programme any time soon.

EUROPE.  Europe has set up a mechanism to sidestep U.S. sanctions against Iran.

NORTH KOREA. Preparation for nuclear international inspections – North Korea.

JAPAN. 2020 Olympics as PR for the global nuclear industry? Fukushima to start the events.  Fukushima’s fishing industry threatened by plans to dump radioactive water. Eastern Japan cities sign nuclear accident evacuation accord.  Shikoku Electric restarts Ikata nuclear reactor following failed court challenges.

CANADA.  Canada’s glaciers are retreating – and fast!    “Clean Energy Ministerial”: despite Canada’s Liberal claims, nuclear power will not save the environment. Non nuclear production of medical isotopes .

HUNGARY. Did Hungarian nuclear authorities fudge the measurement of water heating at Paks nuclear plant ?

UK.  NuGen nuclear power project in Moorside, Cumbria, UK, soon to bite the dust?  UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) reprimanded for nuclear safety breaches.    Fylde Fracking Near Nuclear Fuel Site – “No Problem” says Government.   Spiralling costs of Britain’s Sellafield nuclear site.    One veteran’s story of radiation effects of participating in nuclear bomb testing.   UK could be running solely on zero carbon renewables in summer months 2050.

SWEDEN. Swedish Environmental Court has concerns about speed of corrosion of copper nuclear waste canisters.

USA.

• End nuclear energy talks with Saudi Arabia – 5 Republican senators tell Trump.
• U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to resume nuclear talks with North Korea this week.
• Trump’s Energy Secretary Rick Perry accidentally told the truth about Yucca Mt, contradicting Trump.
• DOE plans reclassifying nuclear wastes as “Low Level”.  Trump administration heads for the dodgy science of the radiation sceptics.
• Former SCANA accountant tells how nuclear financial document was “doctored”.
• U.S. Supreme Court upholds right of 21 young people to sue federal government about climate change inaction.

UKRAINE. Radioactivity induced mutations in the animals of Chernobyl.

INDIA. Prime Minister Modi’s doublespeak on India’s first nuclear submarine.

SOUTH KOREA. South Korean firm KEPCO keen to get $20 billion by selling nuclear reactors to Saudi Arabia.

FRANCE. Hackers accessed confidential documents about nuclear. Nuclear company AREVA rebranded itself (Orano, Framatome) – but legal troubles linger.

Nuclear Consulting Group – a new source of expert information

Nuclear Consulting Group https://www.nuclearconsult.com/about/– 1Nov 18,  Nuclear Consulting Group (ncg) comprises leading academics and experts in the fields of environmental risk, radiation waste, energy policy, environmental sustainability, renewable energy technology, energy economics, political science, nuclear weapons proliferation, science and technology studies, environmental justice, environmental philosophy, particle physics, energy efficiency, environmental planning, and participatory involvement. The group members are listed below.

Dr Abhishek Agarwal

Senior Lecturer, Energy Strategy
Aberdeen Business School

Prof Frank Barnaby

Nuclear Issues Consultant
Oxford Research Group

Prof Keith Barnham

Emeritus Professor of Physics
Imperial College London
Co-Founder and CTO QuantaSol Ltd

Duncan Bayliss MRTPI

Senior Lecturer in Geography
University of the West of England

Dr Margaret Beavis MBBS, FRACGP

Secretary, Medical Association for the Prevention of War
Member, ICAN

Oda Becker

Independent Nuclear Consultant
Germany

Dr Katherine G Begg

Research Institute for Geography and the Lived Environment
School of Geosciences
University of Edinburgh

Craig Bennett

Chief Executive Officer
Friends of the Earth (FoE)
England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Prof Andy Blowers

Emeritus Professor
The Open University

Prof Stefan Bouzarovski

School of Environment and Development
University of Manchester

Prof Peter Bradford

Adjunct Professor, Vermont Law School
Member of the China Sustainable Energy Policy Council
Vice Chair of the Board of the Union of Concerned Scientists
Former Member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Paul Brown

Co-Editor, Climate News Network
Author, ‘Global Warning: The Last Chance for Change’

Prof Tom Burke

Founding Director of E3G
Chairman of the Editorial Board of ENDS
Visiting Professor at Imperial and University Colleges

Shaun Burnie

Independent Nuclear Consultant

Prof Roy Butterfield

Professor (Emeritus) Civil Engineering
University of Southampton

Dr Noel Cass

Lancaster Environment Centre
Lancaster University

Dr Jason Chilvers

Lecturer, School of Environmental Sciences
University of East Anglia

Dr Carl Iwan Clowes FFPH

Board Member, Public Health Wales

Dr Steve Connelly

Department of Town and Regional Planning
University of Sheffield

Dr Matthew Cotton

Sustainability Research Institute
School of Earth and Environment
University of Leeds

Dr Richard Cowell

Senior Lecturer in Environmental Policy and Planning
Cardiff School of City and Regional Planning
University of Cardiff

Emily Cox

Research Associate, Sussex Energy Group
Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU)

Dr Sarah J Darby

Senior Researcher
Lower Carbon Futures
Environmental Change Institute
Oxford University

Prof Jonathan Davies

Professor of Critical Policy Studies
Faculty of Business and Law
De Montfort University

Tim Deere-Jones

Marine Environment and Pollution Consultant

Dr Mark Diesendorf

Associate Professor and Deputy Director
Institute of Environmental Studies
UNSW Australia

Prof Andrew Dobson

Professor of Politics
University of Keele

Dr Charles W Donovan

Director, Centre for Climate Finance and Investment
Principal Teaching Fellow, Department of Management
Imperial College Business School

Dr Paul Dorfman

Founder, Nuclear Consulting Group
The Energy Institute, University College London
JRCT Nuclear Policy Research Fellow

Dr John Downer

Lecturer in Risk and Resilience
Global Insecurities Centre
University of Bristol

Prof David Elliott

Emeritus Professor of Technology Policy
The Open University

Herbert Eppel CEng CEnv

HE German Technical Translations
Founder member of Pro Wind Alliance

Dr Nick Eyre

Senior Research Fellow
Programme Leader, Lower Carbon Futures
Environmental Change Institute
University of Oxford

Dr Ian Fairlie

Independent Nuclear Consultant

Dr Ben Fairweather

Senior Research Fellow
Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility
De Montfort University
Editor, Journal of Information, Communication & Ethics in Society

Prof Frank Fischer

Professor of Political Science
Rutgers University

Dr Jim Green

Editor, Nuclear Monitor (World Information Service on Energy and Nuclear Information & Resource Service)
National Nuclear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth, Australia

Rika Haga MSc

PhD Student
St Andrews University

Marcin Harembski

Civil Nuclear Monitor, Poland

Prof Gabrielle Hecht

Frank Stanton Foundation Professor of Nuclear Security
Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC)
Stanford University

Prof Jeffrey Henderson

Professor of International Development
University of Bristol

Dr Richard Hindmarsh

Associate Professor, Griffith School of Environment
Griffith University
Editor, Nuclear Disaster at Fukushima Daiichi: Social, Political and Environmental Issues

Pascal Hingcamp

Université de la Méditerranée, Bioinformatique et Génomique
Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)

Dr Dan der Horst

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Birmingham

Dr Kate Hudson

Chair, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)

Charly Hulten

World Information Service on Energy (WISE)
Sweden

Tetsunari Iida

Executive Director
Institute of Sustainable Energy Policies (ISEP)

Dr Phil Johnstone

Research Fellow
Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU)
University of Sussex

Dr Aled Jones FRSA

Director
Global Sustainability Institute
Anglia Ruskin University

Dr Dominic Kelly

Lecturer in International Political Economy
Department of Politics and International Studies
University of Warwick

Tom Kelsey BA MA

PhD Candidate
Centre for Science, Technology and Medicine in History
King’s College London

Bruce Kent

Vice President CND

Dr Peter Wynn Kirby

Research Fellow
School of Geography and the Environment
University of Oxford

Prof Nic Lampkin

Executive Director
UK Organic Research Centre

Dr Peter Lee

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Birmingham

Michel Lee

Senior Policy Analyst, Promoting Health and Sustainable Energy
Chair, Council on Intelligent Energy & Conservation Policy

Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen

Independent Consultant, Energy Systems

Jeremy Leggett

Founder and Chairman of Solarcentury and SolarAid
Author of The Carbon War and Half Gone

Dr Markku Lehtonen

Research Fellow, Sussex Energy Group
Science and Technology Policy Research (SPRU)
University of Sussex

Dr Mark Lemon

Principal Lecturer
Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development
De Montfort University

Dr David Lowry

Independent research consultant
Specialist in UK and EU nuclear & environment policy

Senator Scott Ludlam

Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia
Spokesperson for Nuclear Issues, Infrastructure and Sustainable Cities
Spokesperson Assisting on Defence, Resources and Energy

Yves Marignac

Director, WISE, Paris

Dr Darren McCauley

Department of Geography and Sustainable Development
School of Geography & Geosciences
University of St. Andrews

Jean McSorley

Former Head, Nuclear & Energy Campaign Asia, Greenpeace International
Author, Living in the Shadow, the Story of the People of Sellafield

Prof Ian Miles

Professor of Technological Innovation and Social Change
Manchester Institute of Innovation Research
Manchester Business School, University of Manchester

Craig Morris

Coauthor Energy Democracy, the first history of Germany’s Energiewende

Prof Maggie Mort

Professor of the Sociology of Science, Technology & Medicine
Dept of Sociology
Lancaster University, UK

Prof Carmel Mothersill

Department of Medical Physics and Applied Radiation Sciences
McMaster University, USA

Prof Hideki Murai

Professor of Environmental Accounting
Nihon University, Tokyo

Prof Majia Holmer Nadesan

Arizona State University
Author, Fukushima and the Privatization of Risk

Dr Jari Natunen

Independent Nuclear Consultant
Helsinki, Finland

Prof Jenny Nelson

Professor of Physics, Imperial College London
Fellow of the Royal Society, Faraday Medal and Prize

Dr Peter North

School of Environmental Sciences
Department of Geography
University of Liverpool

Prof Monica Oliphant AO

Adj A/Prof University of South Australia
Fellow Charles Darwin University
Former President, International Solar Energy Society

Andrey Ozharovskiy

Independent Nuclear Consultant
Bellona Russia

V T Padmanabhan

Independent Nuclear Consultant
India

Jinyoung Park

PhD student at School of Law
Member of Center for Energy & Environmental Law and Policy
Seoul National University, South Korea

Dr Stuart Parkinson

Executive Director
Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR)

Dr Mark Pelling

Reader in Geography
Department of Geography
King’s College London

Jonathon Porritt

Founder, Director and Trustee, Forum for the Future
Co-Director of the Prince of Wales’s Business & Sustainability Programme

Dr Jerome Ravetz

Institute for Science, Innovation and Society
Oxford University

Prof Susan Roaf

Emeritus Professor, Architectural Engineering, Heriot-Watt University
Author, Adapting Buildings and Cities for Climate Change

Pete Roche

Energy Consultant
Editor of No2NuclearPower
Policy Adviser to the Nuclear Free Local Authorities

Dr Alex Rosen MD

Pediatrician
Vice-President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) Germany
Scientific Council of the German Nuclear Waste Report
Environmental Health Committee of the German Medical Association

Prof Harry Rothman

Institute of Innovation Research
Manchester Business School
University of Manchester

Dr Gabor Sarlos

Senior Lecturer
School of Media
University of Wolverhampton
Author, Risk and Benefit Perceptions in the Discourse on Nuclear Energy

Prof Ingmar Schumacher

Professor in Environmental Economics
IPAG Business School, Paris

Dr Jonathan Scurlock

Chief Adviser, Renewable Energy and Climate Change
National Farmers’ Union (NFU)

Prof Benjamin K Sovacool

Professor of Energy Policy, University of Sussex
Professor of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University

Prof Andy Stirling

Director of Science for SPRU
Co-director Centre on Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability
University of Sussex

Prof Peter A Strachan

Group Lead, Strategy and Policy Unit
The Robert Gordon University
Aberdeen Business School

Dr Johan Swahn

Director, MKG
Swedish NGO Office for Nuclear Waste Review

Prof Donald Swift-Hook FRSA

Visiting Professor, Kingston University
Director & Secretary to the Board of the World Renewable Energy Network

Prof Erik Swyngedouw

Professor of Geography
School of Environment and Development
Manchester University

Dr Joseph Szarka

Author on energy and climate policy in France and EU

N A J Taylor

Lecturer, Australian Indigenous Studies, The University of Melbourne
Honorary Associate, Environmental Humanities Collaboratory, Linköping University

Dr Alan Terry

Senior Lecturer in Geography
Geography and Environmental Management
Geography Research Unit, UWE

Prof Stephen Thomas

Professor of Energy Policy
Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU)
University of Greenwich

David Thorpe

Patron, One Planet Life
Sustainability Consultant and Author

Oliver Tickell

Editor, The Ecologist

Dr Youri Timsit

Director of Research
Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée
French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)

Dr David Toke

Reader in Energy Politics
Department of Politics and International Relations
University of Aberdeen

Prof Toshihide Tsuda MD, PhD

Graduate School of Environmental Life Science
Okayama University

Prof Scott Valentine

Associate Professor
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
National University of Singapore
Co-author, The National Politics of Nuclear Power

Prof Gordon Walker

Chair of Environment, Risk and Social Justice
Department of Geography
Lancaster University

Dr John Walls

School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences
University of Birmingham

Andrew Warren

Chairman, British Energy Efficiency Federation
Honorary President, Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE)

Dr Matt Watson

Lecturer in Social and Cultural Geography
Department of Geography
University of Sheffield

Prof Dave Webb

Chair of CND
Emeritus Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies
Leeds Metropolitan University

Dr Philip Webber

Chair of Scientists for Global responsibility (SGR)
Non-Executive Director, YES Energy Solutions
Research Fellow, Leeds University

Prof Stuart Weir

Visiting Professor, Government Department
University of Essex

Dr Ian Welsh

Emeritus Reader in Sociology
University of Cardiff
Author, Mobilising Modernity: The Nuclear Moment

Prof Brian Wynne

Associate Director of CESAGen
Professor of Science Studies and Research Director of the Centre for the Study of Environmental Change (CSEC)

Dr Natasha Zaretsky

Associate Professor SIU, USA

Author Radiation Nation