To August 18 – nuclear and climate news – Australia and International

Abrupt thaw’ of permafrost beneath Arctic lakes is irreversible – could accelerate climate change. Climate change is starting to pack an economic punch.

Nothing dramatically new in the nuclear news. Nuclear waste problems are still intractable around the world, while governments continue to promote “new nuclear” – in what looks like a sad act of religious faith.

AUSTRALIA

Julian Assange may have to leave the Ecuadorian embassy, due to his poor health. BBC wants to place cameras in apartments opposite Julian Assange’s refuge at Ecuadorian embassy. Julian Assange should be assured of immunity before taking risk of testifying to U.S. Senate.

CLIMATE.  Climate change is increasing Australia’s heat and drought.   At least 75 bushfires raging across New South Wales and Queensland. But hey!   Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull, desperate to hang on to his job, is about to further weaken the emissions reduction target – trying to placate the climate deniers in his party.

NUCLEAR.

• Barngarla Aboriginal people win injunction to halt nuclear waste dump vote.
• Several federally-owned land parcels, including Woomera could be assessed as nuclear dump site.
• Resources Minister Matt Canavan is deceptive in his statements about “Low Level “nuclear waste. Canavan deplores delay in decision on nuclear waste dump.
•  Inadequate report from Senate Committee on selection process for nuclear waste dump. South Australians reject proposed nuclear waste dump. Peter Malinauskas, South Australia’s Labor leader says the nuclear waste selection process is wrong.
• Nuclear waste transport port; Port Lincoln? there will be no discussion – says Dept of Industry Innovation and Science.
• Recommendations of Senate Report on Selection Process for Nuclear Waste Facility in South Australia.          Greens Dissenting Report on selection process for nuclear waste dump.   Senator Rex Patrick: Additional Comments on Senate Report re selection process for siting nuclear waste dump.
• Submission from Azark, Leonora, Western Australia: wants the nuclear dump, scathing about the Kimba wastes plan. Leonora W.A. site geologically, environmentally better suited to waste dump than is Kimba S.A.
• Extracts from Webinar about Managing Australia’s Nuclear Wastes.
• Dave Sweeney urges Federal government to pause and consider, rather than rushing into nuclear waste dumping in Kimba.
• Nuclear waste being shipped to Australia by company with a terrible safety record. The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) Says No To Nuclear Ports In South Australia .

Despite weather extremes the grand Walkatjurra Walkabout against uranium mining presses on.

Australian mining companies get federal funding to promote coal, uranium etc to schoolkids?

Radioactive sheep in Australia add evidence about Israeli nuclear bomb test.

RENEWABLE ENERGY. Chief scientist pushes for a hydrogen export industry. South Australia will be at 100% renewables by 2025 – market operator. Coalition votes to kill renewables, encourage new coal generation. Bodangora wind farm connects to the grid in NSW.

INTERNATIONAL

Climate change brings risks of more devastating tsunamis. Questions about viability of nuclear power in a warming world.  Climate change threats to coastal nuclear power plants.

Asbestos fibres contain radium: lodged in a person’s lungs, this radioactivity causes mesothelioma.

NORTH KOREA. A new Summit between South and North Korea. North Korea Now in Standoff With U.S.A. on nuclear negotiations.

JAPAN.  Tens of thousands rally for removal of US base off Okinawa.  Fukushima clean-up workers, including homeless, at grave risk of exploitation, say UN experts. For the first time, scientists can reliably estimate highly radioactive cesium-rich microparticles released by Fukushima nuclear disaster .

USA.

• California’s Wildfires and Nuclear Radiation –  A Personal Story.    Wildfires in USA increased due to climate change.
•  Space is to become Donald Trump’s new theatre of nuclear war. Trump administration is fulfilling the National Rifle Association’s wildest dreams. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ indictment of the Trump administration’s position on nuclear arms. Arrests of USA activists protesting against nuclear weapons.
• US Government’s own Energy Information Administration (EIA) says renewable energy is surging while nuclear is declining.
•   USA nuclear bailouts: Led by Secretary Perry, the administration continues to make false and misleading arguments.
•   $2.2 billion jump – costs soar at Georgia’s Vogtle nuclear power project.
• Senators deplore Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s plan to weaken protections on decommissioning reactors, and on wastes.
•  In less than 20 years – signs of nuclear waste cask breakdown! A ‘Fukushima waiting to happen’ – the San Onofre nuclear power station. Former NRC Chief Says San Onofre’s Nuclear Waste May Never Be Moved.
• Potential for a catastrophic nuclear tunnel collapse at Hanford, warn Tri-City mayors.
• Nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and nuclear submarines: the dilemma about dismantling them.
•  Danger in transporting nuclear materials through Michigan. New Mexico State could still block Holtec‘s nuclear waste dump plan, despite federal approval.
•  Low power prices add to nuclear industry’s woes: more reactors headed for shut-down.  “Unwelcome” step towards nuclear plant closures.
• St Louis residents near radioactive wastes – high cancer risks – says Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

UK. With the unsolved wastes problem, the threats from climate change, why build new nuclear?    Mud from Hinkley Point nuclear sites may contain Uranium, Plutonium,- to be dumped on South Wales coast. UK’s “new nuclear” commitment not OK by all MPs. Waste disposal problem is the killer factor. Immediate safety changes are needed at UK Atomic Weapons Establishment.  UK compensation for nuclear workers with radiation induced cancers.  The growing costs of Scotland’s police protecting nuclear waste shipments.

CHINA. To the dismay of the global nuclear industry, China’s nuclear expansion has stalled. China aims to lead the world exporting its own nuclear reactor design

RUSSIA. Russia and China pushing to create their economic nuclear empires. Russia’s removal of radioactive barge is helped by Italian floating dock.

SWEDEN. Sweden’s Nuclear Code of Conduct under threat from populist political party.

CANADA. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) dismisses concerns about the  aging Pickering Nuclear Station.  Cleaner, cheaper, safer, more practical – cyclotrons for medical isotopes.

SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia’s push for nuclear power and nuclear weapons ability has met an obstacle.

EGYPT. Egypt going into a huge debt to Russia for building Dabaa nuclear plant.

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Australia’s nuclear top gun Adi Paterson has free rein and unlimited funds to promote the industry?

Dr Adi Paterson is the man behind the nuclear push by secretive taxpayer-funded agency Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).

Australians are not privy to information on how much ANSTO spends, particularly on this latest frenzy to convince rural South Australians  that they have a moral duty to public health to host radioactive trash, – further encouraged by generous bribes.

Adi Paterson seems to have not only an open cheque to spend on this, but also carte blanche to do whatever he likes regarding nuclear decisions.

In 2016, he signed Australia up, all on his own, to the Framework Agreement for Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems, committing Australia to work towards the establishment of new nuclear reactors. The government was informed of this afterwards. A month later, a Senate Committee simply ratified Adi Paterson’s action. No Parliamentary discussion, no public discussion.  How long will Australians let this man make nuclear decisions for us, and pull the wool over the eyes of poorly informed farmers?

ANSTO CEO, Dr Adi Paterson, is part of a delegation who are visiting the communities of Kimba, Hawker and Quorn on 6 and 7 August, for Community Information Sessions being led by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.

Three sites in South Australia, two in Kimba and one at Wallerberdina Station near Quorn and Hawker, are considering whether to host Australia’s National Radioactive Waste Management Facility.

The Community Information Sessions are an opportunity for those communities to ask any remaining questions ahead of a five-week community ballot that begins on 20 August.

Dr Paterson will join the CEO of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) Dr Carl-Magnus Larsson, and representatives from the Department.

“In particular, I will be focused on talking about the partnerships that are possible between nuclear organisations and their neighbouring communities.

Australian and beyond- latest nuclear and climate news

6th August Hiroshima 9th August Nagasaki  – so far these anniversaries are being ignored by the media. But not in Japan.   Japanese children will pass on the history of Nagasaki’s horror nuclear bombing on 9 Aug 1945

The heatwave continues in the Northern hemisphere, but rarely is that awful left-wing term “climate change”mentioned in news reports. It’s affecting all the Northern countries, though there is more news coverage about USA and Europe. Human-caused climate change made heat wave five times more likely.

Much nuclear news about the heatwave, too. The nuclear lobby’s poster boy, France, is copping it, with nuclear reactors having further cuts to their production, their cooling systems being unable to cope. Other countries’ reactors are similarly affected.

AUSTRALIA

Investigative journalism greatly threatened by Nine-Fairfax merger.

NUCLEAR

• Exposing the lies about planned Kimba or Hawker nuclear waste dump.
• Australian govt names Whyalla, Port Pirie, South Australian Ports to impose nuclear waste shipments.
• Senator Matt Canavan wants a nuclear waste site chosen by November. Is Minister Canavan lying about nuclear wastes, or is he just uninformed?
• Here we go again: nuclear lobby wants more submissions, but it’s worth doing.
• Aboriginal landowners not allowed to vote on planned nuclear waste dump.
• Petition to South Australian Premier to block nuclear waste dump, in line with South Australian law.
• In South Australia pro nuclear people have been seeded into positions of power.
• Catholic Religious Australia: temporary nuclear waste dump will cause serious future problems.
• Spent nuclear fuel moved by road from ANSTO to Port Kembla in late-night operation
• Processing of radioactive wastes at Woomera to take 5 to 10 years.

ANSTO has the luxury of its commercial follies being funded by the tax-payer.

CLIMATE Aboriginal landowners Wangan and Jagalingou take land rights fight to the UN.

ENERGY   National Energy Guarantee (NEG) discriminates against rooftop solar, makes emissions task more expensive. Australia’s 2017 solar PV installation tally already eclipsed – in July.  Lots more news at reneweconomy.com.au

INTERNATIONAL

Large retrospective study shows the connection between low level radiation and leukemia.

Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) now recognised as unviable: governments still pouring money into them.

The insidious toll of climate change heat on workers, and on the economy.

EUROPE.  Centre for Security Studies explains NATO Nuclear Sharing. Nordic nuclear power plants hit by unprecedented heat wave. Europe’s nuclear reactors affected by heat waves.

JAPAN.   Ahead of Olympic Games, Fukushima nuclear power plant gets an extreme makeover. Japan’s NRA plans nuclear wastes burial at least 70 meters deep for about 100,000 years. Fukushima Unit 2 Refueling Floor Work Poses Risks. TEPCO’s Plan For Some Of The More Dangerous Work At Daiichi.  No Long Term Storage Location for Fukushima Daiichi Spent Fuel.

UK. £10bn Moorside nuclear power plant plunged into further doubt. Wylfa nuclear power to be very expensive for both taxpayers and consumers. Sorry history of UK’s Moorside nuclear project, and why it might well be abandoned.  Climate change will bring sea level rise – bringing danger to Hinkley Point C nuclear site.

USA.

• Asteroid explosion near a US early warning radar base – could have triggered a nuclear war.
• Pentagon had a plan for “dirty nuclear bombs”.
• Nevada National Security Site experiencing huge wildfire,
• Trump attorney Michael Cohen was offered $10 Million to push for a nuclear project.
• An honest accountant – had to leave SCANA nuclear project rather than tell lies.
• USA’s bailout for coal and nuclear industries could cost over $34 billion. Legal repercussions continue after two South Carolina nuclear fiascos.
• Climate change fears add urgency to environmental fight over Florida nuclear power plant.
• U.S. Navy’s $1 Billion Plan for Breaking Down Old Nuclear-Powered Carrier.
•  State of New Mexico not able to stop Holtec’s nuclear waste plans.  Las Cruces city – resolution opposing transport and storage of nuclear wastes. Wolf Creek, Kansas, to be stuck with stranded nuclear wastes for 60 years or more.

CANADA. Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) of Canada bribing struggling towns to have nuclear waste dump. Secret transport of nuclear wastes from Illinois to Port Huron?  Canadian university develops new particle accelerator to supply medical isotopes. University of Alberta’s Medical Isotope Cyclotron Facility – medical radioisotopes without nuclear reactor.

SOUTH AMERICA. Latin American and Caribbean nations lead the way towards nuclear disarmament.

Australian government prepared to impose nuclear waste shipments on Whyalla and Port Pirie, South Australia

Federal gov. names SA Ports to impose nuclear waste shipments Nuclear Brief (1st August 2018) by David Noonan, Independent Environment Campaigner

Amidst rising controversy, the Federal Industry Department (DIIS) has named proposed Ports in SA that may have to take shipments of irradiated nuclear fuel wastes to go on to a Federal dump site.

DIIS reports (p.179) two intended shipments of reprocessed nuclear fuel wastes into SA within the first 2 years of operations of a proposed National Radioactive Waste Management Facility (NRWMF).

A shipment of nuclear waste is due from Sellafield in UK and a shipment out of Port Kembla is planned from the ANSTO Lucas Heights reactor of nuclear waste received from France in 2015.

After years of secrecy over intended nuclear waste shipments to an SA Port, DIIS has now named Whyalla, Port Pirie, a new Eyre Peninsula commodities port (if built) and even Port Lincoln, as potential nuclear waste ports, in three “Site Characterisation, Technical Reports” released in July.

However, all of these ill-considered plans for nuclear waste ports face an array of serious obstacles

These targeted port communities are denied a say in Minister Canavan’s pending decision on siting a Federal dump in SA, they haven’t been consulted on use of their ports, and are excluded from ‘votes’ in the Hawker & Kimba districts over Aug-Sept on whether or not to locate a NRWMF in those areas.

The Federal gov. is in continued breach of advice of the Nuclear Safety Committee (NSC) to the nuclear regulator ARPANSA (Nov 2016) on the NRWMF, on transparency in decisions, and for:

“The ongoing requirement to clearly and effectively engage all stakeholders, including those along transport routes.” With the NSC stating that: “Such engagement is essential…”

Proposed indefinite above ground storage of nuclear fuel wastes compromises safety, is illegal in SA, and must not be allowed now. ARPANSA states these wastes require isolation for 10 000 years.

This was recognised by the previous SA State Liberal gov. that prohibited the import, transport, storage and disposal of nuclear fuel wastes under the Nuclear Waste Storage (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.”

The new SA State Liberal gov. under the leadership of Premier Marshall has a key responsibility to protect the public interest and to uphold the law in our State. These are fundamentally State issues.

The Howard Federal gov. targeted SA for nuclear dumping over 1998 – 2004 but had to abandon that “National Store Project” & associated shipping and transport of nuclear waste across SA.

This Federal dump plan poses reputational risks and material impacts to the Kimba & Eyre Peninsula agricultural region, to the iconic Flinders Ranges tourism region, and now to targeted Ports in SA.

Nuclear waste can pose serious Accident & Security Risks and Impacts:

“In the event of a major nuclear accident, adverse impacts on the tourism, agriculture and property sectors could potentially be profound.”

SA Nuclear Royal Commission: Tentative Findings, Risks and Challenges, Impacts on other Sectors (Feb 2016, p.28)

Key questions on safety & security in nuclear fuel waste transport and storage remain unanswered (see D Noonan submission to Senate Inquiry, p.10). Nuclear fuel wastes must not be allowed into SA

The UK Nuclear Free Local Authorities “Briefing: Nuclear security concerns – how secure is the UK civil nuclear sector?” (NFLA, May 2016) highlights key security threats including the risks from potential malicious attack on a nuclear waste transport or on a nuclear waste storage site.

NFLA (p.8) cites the views of nuclear engineer Dr John Large on safety as at the heart of its concerns:

“Movement of nuclear materials is inherently risky both in terms of severe accident and terrorist attack. Not all accident scenarios and accident severities can be foreseen; it is only possible to maintain a limited security cordon around the flask and its consignment; … terrorists are able to seek out and exploit vulnerabilities in the transport arrangements and localities on the route; and emergency planning is difficult to maintain over the entire route.”

NFLA Recommendations (p.15) call for real discussion on the aftermath of a nuclear security incident given the major emergency response issues that arise. SA is unprepared for any such consequences.

Any use of SA Ports for nuclear waste poses significant logistical & other constraints:

The DIIS “Site Characterisation, Technical Report – Wallerberdina” for a proposed Federal nuclear dump site near Hawker, Section 4.1 Transport (p.174-186), at “Proximity to Ports” (p.177) states:

“There is potential to have waste shipped from Port Kembla, NSW to key port locations such as Whyalla and Port Pirie. From here waste would either be shipped via road or rail to the site.”

Hundreds of Police were required for security at July nuclear waste shipment out of Port Kembla.

Use of Port Pirie to road would lock down the National Highway to Port Augusta with 130 tonne Nuclear Canisters on over dimension & over-mass special vehicles. To rail would require waste transfer onto national gauge alongside Port Pirie and a second transfer on to State gauge in Port Augusta, with rehabilitation of the disused Cotabena Railway (p.177 & 186), to go on to the Flinders.

Use of the Port of Whyalla to road would require upgrade of Yorkeys Crossing to bypass the Port Augusta Bridge and to try “to avoid occurrences of complete shutdown” (p.181) in Port Augusta.

The Iron Triangle cities of Whyalla, Port Augusta and Port Pirie are now openly targeted for nuclear fuel waste transport and should have a right to refuse these untenable Federal gov. nuclear plans.

Influential Port Lincoln may be able to defend itself: other Port communities shouldn’t have to do so.

The Marshall gov must protect all SA regional communities and reject a Federal nuclear dump in SA

Climate news, nuclear news, to 29 July

On the Australian telly news, I saw English people having a lovely time on Brighton beach, because the weather is so warm.  But I think that there’s more to the story of warm days in the Northern hemisphere. Some of the heatwave effects are not so jolly. Could it possibly have something to do with climate change?

And, by the way, Japan’s heatwave is a problem, now, in 2018. The Tokyo Olympics are planned for exactly the same time of the year, in 2020.

AUSTRALIA

The death of Australia’s quality news media? – Fairfax gobbled up by Nine.

NUCLEAR.

Wastes. South Australia sleeps on. Australia sleeps on, apparently quite unaware of the machinations of the nuclear lobby. Led by the secretive and highly tax-payer funded Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), the aim has never wavered – to establish  the full nuclear fuel cycle in Australia. They tried in 2016, and failed. Now, using the deceitful story of “medical necessity”, they’re trying to set up a nuclear waste dump in Kimba, or in Hawker, South Australia, and putting it over the locals, big-time. Bribery helps.

The Senate Inquiry into this will report on 14 August. Read summaries of Submissions-.  The dilemma facing the towns of Kimba and Hawker.  99% of South Australians are excluded from vote on nuclear waste dump for South Australia. Nuclear waste dump opposed by Aboriginals, and will stigmatise the whole State of South Australia. Sham of ‘Broad Community Support’ for Kimba or Hawker for nuclear waste dump – Senator Rex Patrick.

Scrutiny on Hansard reveals the Australian government’s confusion about nuclear wastes. Kimba’s nuclear waste dump is planned to facilitate DOUBLING of nuclear wastes in Australia.

Scotland could help Australia deal with its nuclear waste.

Nuclear industry bigwig Jim McDowell now boss of South Australia’s public sector.

Safety problems at Lucas Heights nuclear reactor.

CLIMATE CHANGE. Australian governments finally admitting the dire fate of the Great Barrier Reef.

RENEWABLE ENERGY   South Australia’s Liberal government now happy with progress towards 75% renewables target.   AEMC gives huge boost to solar PV and batteries.  Victoria’s biggest solar farm reaches financial close, to power steel works. Beryl solar farm to power NSW trains, may add battery storage.   WSU students win major US solar car race – a first for Australia.

INTERNATIONAL

We Are Exceeding Earth’s Carrying Capacity.

Acidification could drastically change marine ecosystems

Global warming means all sorts of trouble for the nuclear industry.

Is nuclear power REALLY a worthwhile method of dealing with climate change?

Small Modular Nuclear Reactors – no commercial future? But they make the nuclear industry LOOK viable.

Women of child-bearing age are safer to not work in the nuclear industry.

Electromagnetic radiation from smartphones could be affecting memory performance in teenagers.

ARCTIC CIRCLE COUNTRIES Brutal heat wave brings wildfires across Arctic circle countries.

JAPAN. Japan to deploy large patrol boats to guard nuclear plants.  Japan has amassed enough plutonium to make 6,000 nuclear bombs. Japan’s biggest utility, Tokyo Electric Power Company moving from nuclear power to renewables.

NORTH KOREA. Public opinion being influenced by biased and inaccurate reporting on North Korea.

UK.

•  Impact of global warming is upon us – now!
•  National Infrastructure Commission’s landmark report calls for drastic cut in UK’s nuclear power plans. Electricite de France wants pension funds to cough up for building Sizewell nuclear project. British tax-payers’ liability in the event of a nuclear accident at Wylfa. UK’s nuclear plans mean taxpayers take on unlimited costs for any accidents, and for longterm wastes
• The Small Modular Nuclear Reactor dream could be over for Rolls Royce.
•  Bradwell Nuclear Power Station closed 16 years ago, now ready for decades of “interim” wastes.
• Scandal of radioactive particles on Britain’s beaches.
•   Renewable energy headed to be 50% of total UK electricity generation by 2025.  Optimistic report on Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon– tidal renewable energy for Britain?

CHINA. China’s plan for global nuclear dominance depends on Britain.

USA.

• Prosecuting Julian Assange – a dangerous precedent threatening journalists’ rights.
• Renewable energy ballot in Arizona may spell the end for Palo Verde nuclear station.
• South Carolina Nuclear Plant leaking radioactive uranium into ground below. St. Lucie nuclear power plant is protected against flooding—unless a flood happens.
• More US NRC Safety Related Exemptions for Holtec: Increase Risk of a Criticality Accident and are Illegal (Comment Deadline July 30th, 11:59 pm).
• Tactical nuclear weapons for U.S. submarines: why this is a bad idea.
• Protestors break into US air base housing nuclear weapons.
• Fukushima radioactive cesium particles detected in California wine.

RUSSIA. Russia’s new “doomsday” weapon works by dispersing killer nuclear radiation.

FRANCE. France’s nuclear power stations affected by extreme heat – causing restricted output. Creusot nuclear safety scandal continues with many more anomalies revealed. Further delays, costs escalations, at EDF’s Flamanville European Pressurized Reactor (EPR).

FINLAND. Warming sea water affecting cooling systems in Finland’s nuclear power station

SWITZERLAND.  Switzerland’s Mühleberg Nuclear Power Plant cuts    production because of hot weather.

VIETNAM. Why Vietnam dumped its plans for commercial nuclear power.

South Australians unaware of nuclear waste dump planned for Flinders Ranges

Susan Craig Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA, 24 July 18 

A national radioactive nuclear waste dump is proposed by the Federal Government for Flinders Ranges and Kimba and 99% of South Australian’s are not allowed to vote in the ballot being held next month – 20th August! Only people within a 50km radius of these sites are allowed.

Many South Australian’s do not know this is happening and we are being blindsided. Speak now before it’s too late. You may not have been given an official vote, but you do have a powerful voice. Voice your opinion now and make a noise by contacting your local government representative. Australia has a burgeoning nuclear waste problem and ANSTO at Lucas Heights has the capacity (500 hectares) and the expertise to continue to store Australia’s national nuclear waste for another three decades. This time frame should be used to develop a cohesive and intelligent permanent underground solution and currently our Federal Government has no plans in place to address this. Moving radioactive nuclear waste from one location to another doesn’t make any sense.

• The proposed site is for an ABOVE GROUND temporary facility, stored in above ground bins, 40kms from Wilpena Pound and in our wheat farming land at Kimba.
• Both low level and INTERMEDIATE radioactive waste will be stored.
• INTERMEDIATE level is classified HIGH GRADE in France and has a half- life of TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS. The containers proposed for storage only last for a few hundred years.
• ANSTO have the capacity (500 hectares) and the expertise to continue storage at Lucas Heights for another three decades.
• We should use this time to prepare a PERMANENT UNDERGROUND intelligent and cohesive solution to Australia’s burgeoning nuclear waste.
• Not just move it from one site to another.
• Mr. Canavan said and I quote: “It’s perfectly safe”. So why move it?
• ANSTO currently store 10 tonne of intermediate level nuclear waste at Lucas Heights NSW.
• Another similar quantity of intermediate level nuclear waste is arriving from Britain in a few years and proposed for South Australia.
• Current nuclear medicine using isotopes can be replaced with new technology using Cyclotrons which have a half-life of just hours rendering the waste benign. Awesome!
• Many countries around the world are moving to Cyclotrons for nuclear medicine and Australia should investigate this!
*ANSTO are developing a nuclear waste storage system called SYNROC it’s a synthetic casing for nuclear waste. However, this will only be used at LUCAS HEIGHTS and there is no intention of using SYNROC for the storage of nuclear waste proposed for South Australia.
The Federal Government is showing total disregard, disrespect and contempt for the people of South Australia, including the Adnyamathanha community of the Flinders Ranges. https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/

Holtec canisters for spent nuclear fuel do not meet safety requirements

The Holtec spent fuel casks are huge, as can be seen in the photo above, but only one half (1/2) inch thick. And, yet, Kris Pal Singh’s Holtec spent fuel canister-casks lack the continuous monitoring of pressure, temperature and radiation which its thicker German competitor CASTOR has. Holtec’s canisters are welded shut and lack removable lids, so that spent nuclear fuel cannot be checked or removed without destruction of the canister.

Welded shut and with no monitoring systems, India born and raised Kris Singh’s Holtec and France’s Areva spent fuel canisters stand in stark contrast to the German CASTOR which have two removable lids and where a “pressure sensor continuously measures pressure in the gap between the primary and secondary lid“, and the “system is wired to [the] Main Dosimetry Control Room“. There is a temperature sensor for continuous surface temperature monitoring, too. See “Operational Experience of Castor 440/84 Casks in Dukovany NPP” by Stanislav Kuba, 14th International Symposium on the Packaging and Paper # 022 Transportation of Radioactive Materials (PATRAM 2004), Berlin, Germany, September 20-24,

Not only is Holtec NOT the best standard available, but it fails to follow the requirements of the US Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board – that is, it is substandard (below the NWTRB standard, as well as below any  common sense standard).

Nuclear waste dump for Kimba, South Australia, -economic salvation or sacrifice zone?

Coalition’s Kimba nuclear dump exploits local area and puts nation at risk https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/coalitions-kimba-nuclear-dump-exploits-local-area-and-puts-nation-at-risk,11717 Noel Wauchope 23 July 2018,

How is a small rural town to cope with a proposition that may transform the community by providing an economic boon or be a long-term curse?

This is the dilemma facing the towns of Kimba and Hawker, both in the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia.

Individual landowners offered their land to the Turnbull Government for a radioactive waste storage site and the Government’s National RadioactiveWaste Management Facility (NRWMF) team swung into action.

There’s quite a hurry on, about this. Resources Minister Matt Canavan announced that, on 20 August, there will be a local ballot to gauge community support for a nuclear waste dump.

Following that, said Canavan:

“The decision will be made in the second half of this year … We do not want this overlapping with a Federal election.”

Much can be said about this plan, not least that it contravenes South Australian law. One might ask, too, why the inquiry stipulates South Australia when the waste to be stored would have to travel 1,700 km from the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney? However, the most notable immediate ramifications concern its impact on Eyre Peninsula rural communities. 

As one local resident put it:

‘Stress levels are through the roof for a lot of people within our communities. People are getting sick, and some are just sick and tired of hearing about it, with many wanting the dump to just go away!’

And in the words of another resident:

‘Before a nuclear waste dump came into our lives, people enjoyed cultural activities together … Today it isn’t like that, a once close family ruined and torn apart all because of a proposed nuclear waste dump that could be put on Adnyamathanha traditional lands, which will destroy our culture and … cause cultural genocide.’

Community division is obvious when one reads the submissions that local and Eyre Peninsula residents have sent to a Senate Committee of Inquiry. The Inquiry called for submissions, stipulating fairly narrow Terms of Reference (TOR), about the ‘Selection process for a national radioactive waste management facility in South Australia’.

Among the 40 supporters of the plan, most are local residents, enthusiastic about hosting the waste dump.

Repeatedly, their submissions include phrases like ‘no negative impacts’ and ‘comfortable and satisfied with the prospect of hosting the proposed nuclear waste facility’ 

 Numbers below in brackets refer to the submission numbers listed on the Senate website.

John Hennessy( No 7), is   “bubbling with enthusiasm” for nuclear waste dump in Hawker. “Hawker has “ a once in a lifetime opportunity”

Jessica Morgan, (no.37) ” I have stood [at ANSTO] next to and touched the canister containing the intermediate level waste with my 9 month old baby in a carrier on my chest, feeling totally confident of my own safety and that of my child.”   

Annie Clements, (No 35) – happy to see nuclear waste dump “powering Kimba community into the future”.

And here we come to another aspect of their support for the waste dump plan. It’s not just that Kimba might be “powered into the future”. It’s the thought that Kimba might not have a future unless it hosts the dump.

Again and again this argument appears in the pro nuclear submissions:

This repository would ensure our towns survival   – Ian Carpenter.( No  3 )

Kimba is struggling, population is declining,… we are in need of a life line …. The possibilities this facility could provide a small failing community is endless  – Jodie Joyce (No 33)

this project  will ensure the long term viability of this small country town – Janice  McInnis, ( No 4 )

it will  save Kimba ” for many more generations to come– Melanie Orman (No 77)

A third, much repeated, theme in these submissions is that this matter concerns only the local community.

This is frequently expressed with the dismissal of the opinions of people outside the immediate area and also, at times, with downright hostility to those who oppose the dump:

‘People outside our area could be influenced by anti-nuclear scare campaigns and wild allegations that have no relevance to this facility.’ ~ Annie Clements (35)

‘Activists and politicians who have been using [this] project as a vehicle for their anti-nuclear stance should not be entitled to any say …’ ~ Heather Baldock (64)

Outsiders do not care if Hawker dies a slow death due to lack of employment etc – Chelsea Haywood (No. 2)

‘We disagree that we need “broader community views” and the need to stretch the boundaries outside of our District Council. What is happening in our Community is exactly that: our community.’  As residents of Kimba for the last 43 years, plus ++ We see no reason that the rest of SA has a right to tell us what we can and can’t have. It is our back yard, not theirs.  ….. . It’s a shame we have to have this inquiry. ~ Margaret and Charlie Milton (34)

These three themes – enthusiasm for the project, distrust of critics,  and resistance to the involvement of outsiders, merge into a kind of strong local patriotism allied to trusting loyalty to the federal government, which has run a huge informational campaign in the towns.

As to the 58 submissions opposing the plan, at least half come from residents of the Eyre Peninsula. As with the rest of the opponents, they do express a variety of arguments, but local submissions are most often concerned with the local area.

Above all, they are dissatisfied with the community consultation process, and the lack of clarity about what is meant by “broad community support”. They want the wider community, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, to be consulted, and, indeed they see the federal nuclear waste facility as a national issue.    They also do not believe that the project has Indigenous support.

Readers of all 98 submissions can’t fail to notice that, on the whole, these 55 opposing ones have more comprehensive, detailed, and referenced writing, as compared with the pro nuclear ones. And this is certainly true of the very thoughtful and measured arguments of the farmers from the local areas concerned.

These raise some issues which are rarely mentioned on the pro-nuclear side:

• concern about co-location of low and intermediate level wastes, especially the prospect of stranded “temporary” wastes, with no plan for final disposal;
• transport dangers; 
• seismic and flood dangers; 
• impacts on agricultural markets and tourism; and
• the fear that this waste dump would lead to a full-scale commercial importation of nuclear waste.

 Kay Fels,  a Flinders Ranges farmer.(No 63) ‘s submission is representative of the concerns of many others:

our stock (sheep and cattle) may also be stigmatised by the proximity of the waste dump and our organic status compromised  Agriculture and tourist industries will  be jeopardised as the clean, green image of the Flinders Ranges is tarnished  .    The sites are located in an area where the underground water table is almost at surface level. This could lead to contamination of the underground water source, so vital to the region. The location is also on a piedmont plain and prone to flooding

Given that the proposal is to store low level waste in an above ground facility, and temporarily store intermediate waste in that same facility, it seems ludicrous that this is even considered given the geological and environmental features and risks involved.

The consultation phase was a tokenism with ANSTO telling us what will be happening, how safe it is and pushing the affirmative – not a true reflection of the community’s views and concerns. The consultative committee is a rubber stamp

Many are strongly sceptical of the consultations held by the Department of Industry Innovation and Science (DIIS), and of the information campaign by Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) . There is strong criticism of the nomination of Wallerberdina property by non-resident former Liberal Senator Grant Chapman, with close links to the nuclear industry. They also claim hypocrisy of DIIS in biased and misleading information, and dismissal and indeed, exclusion of critics. 

‘

  I am not against having a LLW facility in Australia. I am against the way in which DIIS have gone about finding a quick fix for something that will affect all South Australians for centuries to come.  It should not be up to a small council area to overrule our Prohibition Act 2000, if we are to vote for something of such national importance.”  My problem is a complete lack of trust with DIIS in the way in which they have treated ordinary people from Quorn, Hawker and Kimba – Leon Ashton (No 73)

there are far too many discrepancies in the information, consultation process and long term impacts to have such a facility based at Kimba (or Hawker).  the consultation process has been an insult to the intelligence of rural people.  –  Leanne Lienert (No. 50)

Sue Tulloch (no 32) makes a scathing criticism of the federal nuclear waste dump process and “shambolic “Barndioota Consultative Committee.  

Aboriginal voices are passionate, at the same time as providing factual information and references:

The Senate took a long time to publish this one – perhaps because they recognised it as the most important one? Regina McKenzie  (No 107) , a very well informed traditional indigenous owner of the selected are at Barndioota, focuses on the cultural heritage rights and interests of identified traditional owners and the State/Federal obligations  regarding those rights. The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (DIIS) has ignored Australia’s commitment to United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. DIIS has poorly assessed Aboriginal cultural heritage, and engaged inappropriate consultants.  –

In this article, I have avoided the wider arguments expressed in the submissions, including the ones from organisations on both sides of the argument.  Through studying 98 submissions, I have tried to get to the feelings of the communities involved – to what it must be like, to be part of a community caught in this dilemma.

 Our biggest worry of this process is the detrimental effect it will have and is already having on the local community as a whole. Along with my family we have never seen an event in this area cause so much angst and division in a once very proud close knit community which was the envy of many other communities.  – Philip Fels (No 84)

The mental health and well-being of communities is completely ignored in this process and this is a serious issue that needs to be addressed in future frameworks and guidelines. This process makes communities feel powerless – no support is given to those with opposing views, it is a process that is heavily favoured towards those pro-nuclear and when the rules keep changing to suit those in favour it really gives people a sense of hopelessness. Chloe Hannan,  Kimba :  (No. 61)

As an outsider, I can’t really gauge this social situation. But, whatever the outcome of the federal government’s plan, Kimba and Hawker communities will never be quite the same again

Australia’s Lucas Heights nuclear reactor has safety problems

Nuclear radiation spills spur Lucas Heights review, THE AUSTRALIAN, SIAN POWELL, Higher Education & Science Writer, Sydney SEAN PARNELL-Health Editor, Brisbane @seanparnell

Australia’s nuclear safety agency has ordered a review of Sydney’s Lucas Heights nuclear medicine facility after two radiation spills, and a separate investigation is under way into a mechanical failure that has caused delays in diagnostic tests across the country.

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation has had four safety breaches in 10 months and in recent weeks has had to call on US…….

Distribution of the replacement nuclear medicine supplies was also disrupted this month after airline delays from the US prevented the medicine reaching clinics and hospitals for some days……….

The supply problems caused by the mechanical failure have come as a review was ordered by the independent regulator, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency and its chief executive Carl-Magnus Larsson, who issued the organisation with a direction under the Aus­tralian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act.

The agency said the independent review it had directed would focus on quality control of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), the radio­active agent used in diagnostic imaging.

After the first safety breach when a staff member’s hands were contaminated on August 22 last year, ARPANSA found ANSTO to be noncompliant with its licence conditions, according to a statement from the safety agency.

“Three further events including the latest event on 7 June, 2018, indicate ongoing safety issues at ANSTO Health,” ARPANSA said………

An internal review is being conducted into the conveyor failure on June 22 while the separate independent safety review into the ageing ANSTO facility is ­undertaken.

ANSTO will appoint an independent reviewer. “This appointment is the next step on a path of continuous improvement.

“Using recommendations from the review, we’ll identify what more can be done to make that facility safer,” a spokesman for ANSTO said.

…….The conveyor has been fixed but compliance checks and a thorough audit will keep the production of nuclear medicine at a standstill for some time.

Repairs were originally delayed because ANSTO staff members were forced to wait until radiation levels in the conveyor room fell to a safe level……..https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/nuclear-radiation-spills-spur-lucas-heights-review/news-story/7c5f0c09e7847d8c0265e86c28d1e796

Opinions against nuclear waste plan for Kimba and Hawker, South Australia

The 58 submissions to the Senate, opposing the plan for the process for selecting a nuclear waste dump site come from a variety of organisations and individuals, and include residents of Eyre Peninsula.

These are some points that came up as they answered the Term of Reference, especially  (f)– Any related matters. (These submissions also generally gave full answers to the other 5 more narrow Terms of Reference)

Comprehensive criticism of the entire process. (ENUFF  Submission no. 109)    No justification for dump   (Wakelin B No. 23)  Why the assumption it has to be  South Australia.?     (Wauchope N. No.  21)   Flawed process (Hughes No. 57)   (Mitchell No. 25) Opposed to process, not necessarily to dump (Lienert L No. 50)  End the process  (Noonan, D No 31)  Longterm negative effects (Sisters of St Joseph No. 68 )

Nuclear wastes. Wants re-examination of waste plans (CCSA 55 )  Intermediate wastes   (Mitchell 25,  Scott C 14 ) Prelude to commercial waste import? (Name Withheld 90 )  Dangers Waste types ( Noonan, D31  Wauchope N  21 )  Lucas Heights best site  (Taylor A 82 )  stranded wastes (Tulloch S 32)

Issues of dishonesty – lack of trust  (Ashton 73)  Hypocrisy of DIIS   (Bannon 85  Fergusson 106) Biased committees (Scott T 44)  Biased and misleading information given  (Thomas 36 Tiller J 9   Tulloch B 87)  Dishonest process   (Tulloch R 62 ) Conflicts of interest (Cushway  6   Fels P 84  Fergusson 106 )

Illegality of setting up nuclear dump – (Gaweda 54 Madigan 26 Scott T 44 Stokes B Tulloch S 32 Walker 20

Aboriginal  issues well beyond the Term of Reference about this. Strongly Aboriginal  In depth on Aboriginal interaction (ATLA No 42  MKenzie K 78  McKenzie R 107) History of Aboriginal interaction (Bangarla 56 )History. (Madigan 26   MKenzie K 78)

Seismic danger (Fels D 76  Thomas 36)
Floods groundwater (Fels K 63 Fels P 84  Thomas 36 )

Tourism   (Name withheld 92 Walker 20 )

Nuclear medicine not needing the dump (MAPW 74 )

Predicts legal action (AHRC 60)  

Mental health issues (Hannan 61)  

Wants a nuclear free world  (Keri 8 ) 

You can read more about these submissions, in the summaries at  https://antinuclear.net/submissions-to-senate-inquiry-18– and also find links to each full submission