AUSTRALIA
Nuclear news has gone very quiet at the moment – seeing that for Australia nuclear’s big argument was that it’s “the cure” for climate change. (But now it is not politically correct to worry about climate change?)
Uranium. Energy Resources of Australia is touting its latest method to to treat radioactive water. ERA will go out of business if it doesn’t get a new mining operation going at Ranger. Not a great prospect – with its history of spills and revenue losses.
CLIMATE CHANGE has dominated the news this week. Or, more correctly, what Australia is NOT going to do about climate change.
Tony Abbott has:
abolished the Science Ministry
appointed as head of his Business Advisory Council - Maurice Newman, who very recently attacked the CSIRO, the weather bureau and the “myth” of anthropological climate change.
abolished the Climate Change Commission, – sacking its chief, Tim Flannery
appointed as Environment MInister – Greg Hunt, who abandoned decades of personal commitment to addressing climate change in order to save his political skin. He now tacitly supports climate scepticism, and has given false information on climate change and carbon emissions
through Greg Hunt approved a brief to begin drafting a Bill to repeal the Climate Change Authority (this requires an Act of Parliament)
through Treasurer Joe Hockey has ordered the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to cease operations. However, this order is not lawful, it is obliged to continue to operate until the Coalition passes legislation abolishing the CEFC (that needs an Act of Parliament)
To abolish the Climate Change Authority and the CEFC Abbott’s Bills would have to pass both Houses of Parliament,. This can’t happen until after July 2014, as until then Abbott would not have a majority in the Senate.
Not Surprisingly, Former Labor Energy Minister Martin Ferguson has applauded the Liberal government’s attack on renewable energy. In the Labor cabinet, Ferguson had a hard time pretending to support renewable energy. Look out for Ferguson getting a nice little job with the polluting industries?
INTERNATIONAL
Fukushima news dominates – as always. There is so much information coming out – it’s hard to keep up. I recommend the website http://enenews.com/ for up to date news.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake has rocked Japan’s Fukushima prefecture on Thursday – 50 km South West of the crippled nuclear reactors. No harm reported there.
Workers on Wednesday discovered the cracks and cuts at 8 places in the buttress supporting the 120-meter vertical pipe standing between the number-1 and number-2 reactor buildings about 66 meters above the ground..
The planned ice wall around and under the plant is likely to increase the sogginess of the ground there, and thus increase risk of reactors collapsing
Top actress Norika Fujiwara [former Miss Japan] has accused the government of covering up the truth about the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant,
TEPCO paid for the creation of a blacklist of actors and musicians who are against the nuclear industry. http://enenews.com/report-tepco-paid-creation-blacklist-actors-musicians...
India . Anger as the government tries to do a “sweetheart” deal with American nuclear companies, so that they can get around India’s Nuclear Liability Act . ( This would mean that the Indian tax-payer would cop the costs of a nuclear accident, rather than the nuclear company as the Act stipulates)
Syria. The situation has settled down to the extent that war is not now so likely. Questions arise as to why nuclear weapons of mass destruction are not banned, if chemical ones are. Israel stands out as a nuclear weapons country in the region.
Iran New President Hassan Rouhani making efforts for more diplomacy, and pledging that Iran will never develop nuclear weapons.