Following a public outcry, Keswick Town Council voted 9 to 3 to say NO to going any further along in the plan for a nuclear dump. At a previous meeting Town Councillors had voted 6-5 on the casting vote of Chairman and Mayor Councillor Andrew Lysser not to oppose the plan.

See http://mariannewildart.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/keswick-says-no-to-nuke-dump/.

Hinkley nuclear power station delay deals blow to government hopes

Massive earthworks needed to prepare the ground for a new nuclear power station at Hinkley in Somerset have been delayed, dealing a further blow to the government’s energy plans.

See http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/14/hinkley-nuclear-power-station-delay.

International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility statement on nuclear energy

See http://www.inesglobal.com/nukes-statement.phtml.

Kick Nuclear and friends, dressed up as Nuclear Grim Reapers and Liquidators, joined hundreds of environmental and social justice activists at The Big Six Energy Bash in central London, targeting EDF and the other energy fat cat corporations at the UK Energy Summit.

See http://stopnuclearpoweruk.net/content/nuclear-grim-reapers-and-liquidators-join-big-six-energy-bash.

Japan to Nationalize Fukushima Utility (TEPCO)

Japan is set to nationalize Tokyo Electric Power, the operator of the ravaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, under a ¥1 trillion ($12.6 billion) bailout plan approved Wednesday. The government has separately committed ¥2.4 trillion in taxpayer money to meet compensation payments arising from the accident. But estimates of the payments that Tepco might have to pay out have reached many tens of billions of dollars, making further government support likely.

See http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/business/global/japan-to-nationalize-fukushima-utility.html?_r=2&hp.

The Worst Yet to Come? Why Nuclear Experts Are Calling Fukushima a Ticking Time-Bomb

The spent fuel in the hobbled unit 4 at Fukushima Daiichi not only sits in an elevated pool outside the reactor core’s reinforced containment, in a high-consequence earthquake zone adjacent to the ocean — just as nearly all the spent fuel at the nuclear site is stored — but it’s also open to the elements because a hydrogen explosion blew off the roof during the early days of the accident and sent the building into a list.

See http://www.alternet.org/health/155283/the_worst_yet_to_come_why_nuclear_experts_are_calling_fukushima_a_ticking_time-bomb?page=entire+.

Japan shuts down last working nuclear reactor

All 50 reactors now closed for maintenance after 2011 tsunami but government faces major public opposition to reactivation.

See http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/05/japan-shuts-down-last-nuclear-reactor.

Anti-nuke activists resume hunger strike in India

Update: Nearly 500 women from the coastal hamlets around KKNPP joined the fast with 24 activists who were observing the fast-unto-death stir since May 1.

See http://www.dianuke.org/koodankulam-pmane-announces-indefinite-hunger-strike-from-starting-may-day/.

The UK Energy Summit involves CEOs of the Big Six energy companies, who have recently come under widespread criticism for drawing in record profits whilst one quarter of UK households have been pushed into fuel poverty.

See http://climatejusticecollective.org/#/blog/4561604140.

Time to say goodbye to nuclear power http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/news/20120307p2a00m0na003000c.html

Fukushima Residents Live With Fear Of Radiation http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/07/japan-tsunami-anniversary-fukushima-residents_n_1326077.html

http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2012/2/4/japanese-authorities-recognize-573-deaths-related-to-fukushi.html

Fukushima: A Nuclear War without a War – The Unspoken Crisis of Worldwide Nuclear Radiation

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28870

See http://www.euractiv.com/energy/campaigners-mount-bid-outlaw-nuclear-subsidies-news-510325.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11348

Uranium producers in Australia include BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.

See http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page504?oid=139608&sn=Detail&pid=92730.

See http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/15/nuclear-renewables-schellnhuber.

The central Asian state of Kazakhstan was among the first to ban all nuclear weapons testing on its territory. Last month the government established the world’s first international nuclear fuel bank, with the assistance of the US government. Kazakhstan is also taking steps to “clean up” the former Soviet Union nuclear weapons’ test site and make it safe “for animal husbandry and mining”. So far, so good? Perhaps not quite…

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11300.

Cleaning up Japan’s nuclear mess

Its owner fears not just radiation leaking out of the Fukushima plant, but also bad news.

See http://www.economist.com/node/21536625

Our Deadly Nuclear Legacy

Panel discussion with Greg Pallast, Harvey Wasserman, Vandana Shiva, Aileen Mioko Smith, Karl Grossman

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=camjKGUQ75U&feature=youtu.be

How Much Does It Cost To Insure a Nuclear Power Plant?

Asked to calculate the damage resulting from a major “total meltdown” accident at a nuclear reactor, researchers estimated it could cost upwards of 6 trillion euros (or 9 trillion dollars), which is why no insurance industry will touch the nuclear industry, and why the public is left holding the bag.

See http://www.care2.com/causes/how-much-does-it-cost-to-insure-a-nuclear-power-plant.html#ixzz1cB6JgtZa

Ranger mine owner seeks $A500 million for next stage development
Energy Resources of Australia Ltd, operator of the world class Ranger uranium project in Australia’s Northern Territory, has put out the bowl to shareholders seeking to raise A$500 million (US$505.9 million). The company, controlled by Rio Tinto, has announced a fully underwritten 12 for seven renounceable entitlement at an issue price of A$1.53 (US$1.548) per share. Rio Tinto said it is committed to taking up its 68.4% entitlement and indicated it would participate in sub-underwriting the retail entitlement offer. See http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page72103?oid=137387&sn=Detail&pid=92730.

Go-ahead for UK nuclear programme
The Fukushima disaster provides no reason to restrict UK nuclear reactors or stop building new ones, the official nuclear regulator has concluded. Dr Mike Weightman, the UK’s chief nuclear inspector, found no fundamental weaknesses in the current licensing regime or safety principles. The government commissioned the report after events in March damaged Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15256981.

Protest against nuclear plant in England
A quiet country road in Somerset was the setting for a 250 strong blockade as activists gathered to oppose the construction of Hinkley C – the first new nuclear power station to be built in the UK for over twenty years, part of government plans for up to ten in total. The project is backed by French energy corporation EDF.
See http://stophinkley.org/StopPress.htm.

10,000 protesters lay siege to Indian nuclear plant site
The agitation against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant near Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu state reached a feverish pitch recently with more than 10,000 activists laying siege to all the entry points to the project site. See http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_10000-protesters-lay-siege-to-tamil-nadu-nuclear-plant-site_1598354.

See http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page72068?oid=137155&sn=Detail&pid=92730 and
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/10/bhpbilliton-idUSL3E7LA0FA20111010.

Australian Nuclear Free Alliance calls for a moratorium on uranium mining

MEDIA RELEASE,  11th October 2011

In the wake of the approval of the Olympic Dam expansion, the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance (ANFA) is calling for a moratorium on uranium mining due to the long term impacts associated with the nuclear industry.

Uncle Kevin Buzzacott, Arabunna elder from Lake Eyre and President of ANFA, addressed a rally at Parliament House in Adelaide yesterday held in response to the approvals announced by the State and Federal government:

“Today is a very sad day, but it’s not over yet. We are not going to rest until the government reverses its decision. We want BHP Billiton out of the desert. If we have to bring this town to a standstill, then so be it.”

South Australian Minister for Mineral Resources Development Tom Koutsantonis said yesterday that the mine will be subject to the most “stringent environmental conditions.”

“If 8 million litres of radioactive waste per day leaking into the underground rock and aquifer, and almost 9 billion tonnes of radioactive waste left in the desert at the mines closure, is acceptable under these conditions, then the South Australian government is setting the bar extremely low,” said ANFA Committee member Nectaria Calan.

“The radioactive waste will remain on Kokatha and Arabunna Country long after the former ‘Big Australian,’ now 76 per cent foreign owned, packs up its business and moves on.”

The expansion means an increase in shipments of uranium oxide and copper concentrate railed through the Northern Territory and shipped out from East Arm wharf on Larrakia land.

Donna Jackson, ANFA co-chair and Larrakia woman said, “the transport and export of these goods puts additional pressures on our emergency services, if we increase the volume, we increase the chance of an accident happening.”

“We stand by the Kokatha and Arabunna who oppose this expansion and we repeat our opposition and distress to the approved increase of two trains a day transporting radioactive materials through the NT and out from our Darwin Harbour.”

For comment contact:
SA: Kevin Buzzacott   0431 157 747, Nectaria Calan     0432 388 665
NT: Donna Jackson     0427 847 186

THE LIZARD’S REVENGE

Invitation/Press Release

DLF  – Desert Liberation Front

Response to the government’s decision to expand Olympic Dam mine.

Sleeping underneath the ground there is an old lizard, Kalta the sleepy lizard. The lizard ain’t so sleepy anymore.

BHP is mining right into that Lizards body. The government has just approved an expansion of the Olympic Dam uranium mine, making it the biggest uranium mine in the world.

Kalta is angry and wants revenge. Arabana elder Kevin Buzzacot is calling the people of the world to help the lizard shut down the mine. He is calling for people to come and heal the land in the name of peace and justice for the next 10,000 generations to come.

The land is being irreversibly poisoned in and around Roxby Downs by the tailings dam causing dust and ground water contamination, and contamination of its workers.

The uranium is taken all over the world and used to kill the land and all its creatures. It’s destroying lives not only in Fukashima, with the reactor meltdown, but in the depleted uranium shells that children play with in the streets of Iraq and Kosovo.

With the governments numerous attempts to put a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty in the Northern Territory there is a danger that radioactive waste will be brought back, opening Australia up to accepting nuclear waste from all over the world. Lets stop the deadly cycle where it starts.

The land the lizard and the creatures of this earth are summoning everybody who gives a shit to the gates of Roxby Downs on the 14th of july 2012 for The Lizards Revenge – This is an open invitation to all people and a special call out to artists, musicians and activist community groups and media to get involved in the creation of this autonomous zone for the peace and healing of this land.

Party in a Dangerous Planet with Theatre, Cabaret and Art installations. Over 20 musical acts. Solar Powered sound system extravaganza and wind powered cinema. More to be announced…

Stand up and boogie down at the Gates of Olympic Dam 14th July 2012.

For more info email- izzybrown@live.com

Indefinite Fast Against Nuclear Plant in Koodankulam
http://www.justicia.in/indefinite-fast-against-koodankulam-nuclear-plant-5th-day-update/

Anti- Nuclear Fasters’ Health Critical
http://www.countercurrents.org/pmane180911.htm

“Halt Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant Project” – Letter to Prime Minister from Tamilnadu C.M. Jayalalitha
http://www.nonuclear.in/2011/09/letter-to-prime-minister-from-tamilnadu-c-m-jayalalitha/

Koondankulam: Jaya assurance helps end fast
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/koodankulam-nuclear-project-protestors-call-off-fast/849689/

Nuke row: Protesters call off fast
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/chennai/Nuke-row-Protesters-call-off-fast/Article1-748407.aspx

Japan has been slow to admit the scale of the meltdown. But now the truth is coming out.

See http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/why-the-fukushima-disaster-is-worse-than-chernobyl-2345542.html

Fukushima Blows Lid Off Exploited Labour

The men are given contracts to do unskilled, dangerous work inside nuclear plants for months together. There are no guarantees in the event of an accident, or long-term health insurance against such diseases as leukaemia or other forms of cancer which may surface years after exposure to radiation.

See http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=104978

Fukushima Now Radiating Everyone: ‘Unspeakable’ Reality ‘Will Impact All Of Humanity’

Exposing the “unspeakable” realities of the Japanese catastrophe in this ’60 Minutes’ programme during which leading nuclear scientist Dr. Michio Kaku said radiation from Fukushima will impact of all of humanity.

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DcOol3KJscc#!.

The Federal and South Australian Governments are currently considering the final Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed expansion of the Olympic Dam mine. This is the last stage of the approval process, with South Australia premier Mike Rann’s recent comments emphasising his commitment to approving the project before his retirement indicating that approval may be fast-tracked at the state level, sacrificing what should be a thorough consideration of the implications of the project to the ambitions of a retiring politician.

BHP Billiton plans to supplement the existing underground copper and uranium mine near Roxby Downs with a massive open-cut mine. The open pit will be 4 kilometres long by 3.5 kilometres wide and 1 kilometre deep. Export of uranium is expected to increase from an average of 4,000 tonnes per year to 19,000 tonnes per year, and the production of copper, gold and silver is also expected to increase.

WEAPONS  
19,000 tonnes of uranium per year is sufficient to fuel 95 power reactors which will produce 28.5 tonnes of high-level nuclear waste per year (in the form of spent nuclear fuel). That amount of spent fuel contains 28.5 tonnes of plutonium – enough for 2,850 nuclear weapons each year. BHP Billiton sells uranium to nuclear weapons states, states refusing to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban treaty, states blocking progress on a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty, states with a history of secret nuclear weapons research, and states stockpiling “civil” plutonium.

RADIOACTIVE WASTE       
Under the mine expansion plan, the production of radioactive tailings, stored above ground, will increase from the current 10 million tonnes per year, to 68 million tonnes per year. The tailings contain a toxic acidic soup of radionuclides and heavy metals. It is estimated that by the mines closure, these tailings will total nearly nine billion tonnes, equivalent to nine times the volume of Sydney Harbour, which BHP intends to leave on the surface of the land, forever.

As with the current tailings dams, the proposed new dams are designed to leak radioactive waste into the underlying rock. BHP estimates that 8 million litres of liquid radioactive waste will seep from the tailings dams every day for the first decade of the new mine, then 3 million litres per day for the next 30 years.  BHP acknowledges that seepage from the tailings dams could result in elevated concentrations of contaminants, including uranium, in the groundwater.

RADIOACTIVE RACISM      
The mine operates under the Roxby Downs Indenture Act, which provides exemptions from the South Australia Aboriginal Heritage Act, the key legislative instrument providing for the protection of Aboriginal heritage in South Australia. BHP Billiton is in a legal position to determine what consultation occurs with Traditional Owners, who is consulted, and the nature of any consultation. The company decides the level of protection that Aboriginal Heritage sites receive and which sites are recognised. It is a clear conflict of interest to have a corporation with a commercial interest in a piece of land also making decisions regarding whether this same land has competing non-commercial values.

“Many of our food sources, traditional plants and trees are gone because of this mine. We worry for our water: it’s our main source of life. The mine causes many safety risks to our roads – transporting the uranium from the mine. It has stopped us from accessing our sacred sites and destroyed others. These can never be replaced. BHP never consulted me or my families, they select who they consult with. Many of our people have not had a voice. We want the mine stopped now, because it’s not good for anything.” – Eileen Wingfield, Kokatha elder

THE ROXBY DOWNS INDENTURE ACT   
The Roxby Downs Indenture Act allows wide-ranging exemptions from key South Australian laws, such as the SA Environmental Protection Act (1993), Freedom of Information Act (1991), and the Natural Resources Management Act (2004), which encompasses water management. These legal privileges allow the mine to operate without the same level of scrutiny and legal accountability as other corporations.

BHP is currently seeking amendments to the Act to extend these legal privileges to the new mine. If these amendments are passed, SA will host the largest uranium mine in the world, operated by a mining giant with a questionable international social and environmental record, which will be shrouded in secrecy and exempt from key laws designed to regulate the environmental practices of exactly these types of developments.

WATER CONSUMPTION  
BHP Billiton proposes to increase its water consumption by an additional 200 million litres per day. Water intake from the Great Artesian Basin will increase from 35 million litres per day to up to 42 million litres per day, with the remainder to come from a proposed coastal desalination plant at Point Lowly. That’s over 100,000 litres every minute – in the driest state on the driest continent on earth. The water intake from the Great Artesian Basin has already had adverse impacts on the unique Mound Springs found near Lake Eyre, which are fed by the underlying Artesian Basin, and are sacred to the Arabunna people, the traditional owners of the area. Under the Indenture Act, BHP Billiton pays nothing for its massive water intake for the Olympic Dam mine, despite recording a total net profit of US$23. 95 billion in 2011, nearly double its 2010 figure of US$13.01 billion.

The proposed desalination plant has been inappropriately sited in the ecologically sensitive Upper Spencer Gulf. The highly saline brine output of the plant has the potential to damage the marine ecosystem, threatening the prawn and scale fish fisheries. The reef habitat near the proposed site hosts the only known breeding aggregation of the Giant Australian Cuttlefish in the world. There is potential for the brine to impact the hatching rates of cuttlefish eggs, where it disperses into the breeding ground. Certain characteristics of the Upper Spencer Gulf marine environment, such as dodge tides, which are distinguished by limited tidal movement, mean that BHP cannot guarantee that such dispersal will not occur. Cuttlefish lay their eggs and die shortly after. If their eggs do not hatch they do not return to breed again.

ENERGY USE  
Open pit mining is energy intensive. BHP’s proposal to dig the largest open-pit mine in the world will blow out South Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than 12 per cent, undermining any efforts by South Australia to reduce emissions. By 2020, when the mine could reach full operation, it would use about 20 per cent of the state’s electricity supply. Diesel use will rise from 26 million litres a year to 372 million litres a year for the five year construction period, peaking at a total of 516 million litres a year at full production (including transport). The diesel needed just to dig the world’s largest open pit to access the ore body will create emissions equal to the total emissions of the underground mine.

MORE INFORMATION   
Peter Burdon, ‘Above the law? Roxby Downs and BHP Billiton’s Legal Privileges’,
http://www.foe.org.au/anti-nuclear/issues/oz/u/roxby/indenture/indenture/