AUSTRALIA
Small Modular (Nuclear) Reactors (SMRs) for Australia ? ( Notice how they leave out that unpopular word”Nuclear” ). The Liberal Coalition government put SMRs on their Christmas wish list, while mouthing pieties about “no plans for nuclear”.
However. SMRs exist only as (already expensive) blueprints. The USA government has just given only modest funding to a University-linked research group, for SMRs, instead of funding big coprporations Westinghouse/Ameren, as the nuclear lobby had expected. And SMRs are not all that they’re cracked up to be.
Uranium: At Ranger mine, the bursting of a leach tank spilled 1 million litres of highly acidic uranium slurry, and highlighted the dubious safety of this aging facility. Latest European research indicates that radioactive material gets dispersed through the filtration system more than previously thought. Thus the World Heritage Kakadu National Park could be endangered. Operations at Ranger are closed pending investigations.
Tony Abbott spruiks Olympic Dam uranium mine as job provider for the former Holden workers – BHP probably embarrassed, as they have recently rejected any expansion of the mine – due to the miserable market prospects.
Renewable Energy, Human Rights, Environmental Law - Tony Abbott’s Christmas anti-presents? I am speechless. How will Tony’s kids look back on Daddy’s legacy?
INTERNATIONAL
Japan: New Secrecy Laws cause anxiety about civil liberties and press freedom .Fukushima. Big increase of radiation in groundwater at No reactor. Cancer incidence increasing in Fukushima children. Japanese govt to select places for nuclear waste permanent dump
UK: new Hinkley nuclear reactor to cost around £17bn – more than the plant itself, and govt subsidy now being investigated by European Union as illegal.
USA: US Navymen lose federal case on Fukushima radiation. Small Modular Nuclear Reactors getting only modest funding from USA govt – US govt getting cold feet about SMRs?
France: French nuclear watchdog calls for a halt in work on the giganticFlamanville nuclear reactor, due to safety problems.
