Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is pressing the Australia Labor Party to overturn a decades old ban on exporting Uranium to India. Meanwhile the high echelons of the Labor Party are pushing for Labor to expand Uranium Mining within Australia. Previously Labor has rejected exporting uranium to India because it is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
This represents a major policy shift for Labor and Australia. It is a retrograde step in an uncertain world. The volatility around the globe, not just economically but in terms of protracted wars, the spread of the Taliban into Pakistan, represent real threats to the peace and security of the world. Iran is on the verge of acquiring a Nuclear Weapon.
This is not the time to release the reigns on the uranium industry within Australia. Indeed it suggests we should tighten our controls over our exports. uranium never was, and never will be, safe. Julia Gillard is thumbing her nose at those who supported her in creating a carbon price for this country, and will bed down with the opposition to redefine the nuclear parameters of our country.
Uranium is the second most dangerous thing on this planet. The most dangerous thing is people. People using uranium is madness.
India is not part of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. We ought not be trading uranium with them. If we look only at the economic benefits, the short-term and illusory economic benefits, of uranium mining, then we prove that our horizon is blinkered. Environmentally it is a disaster. For the peace and security of the world it is a disaster. Uranium mining does not benefit Australians. There will be more pressure on us to find a place to bury the waste from this product, and yet we know that there is no safe way to safeguard this waste for half a billion years. It is just not possible, and is too great a risk.
We need to get a petition circulating to take to the National Conference of the labor Party next month. This is a step in the wrong direction. We should be pulling out of Uranium, not investing further into it. Nuclear power is not a solution to the climate debate. There are very many non-dangerous alternatives to reducing our carbon footprint. I would welcome the input of anyone with the wherewithal to begin a petition rejecting this retrograde step on behalf of Julia Gillard and the Labor Right.
Comments
Re: Labor backlip on uranium
According to this report Pakistan now wants a share of Australia's uranium, if we are going to export to India. Julia Gillar dis opening up the Pandora's Box by supporting this turnaroun in Labor's policy.
The reasons why uranium ought not to go to this region is for the simple reason that Pakistan and India are in conflict, and Uranium is too dangerous. Being non-signatories to the treaty, either country to seek to build nuclear weapons, and Pakistan has been shown to have strong links to the Taliban.
Uranium is and always has been bad. You need look no further than Hiroshima and Ngasaka to understand why. These are the two single worst war crime sin the history of humanity, as isolated acts. To consider if uranium is a safe source of power look no further than Chernobyl and Fukushima.
To see if it is safe to use at all look at the science on the waste. The waste stays dangerous for half a billion years, and tha tis only a guess. We have no container or facility that can store such waste, and the idea that we can simply bury it in a hole in the desert is misguided. it will remain a risk long after humanity has left the scene.
There is an argument that nuclear power would reduce carbon emissions. This is a furphy. There is only enough known sources of uranium to fuel 30 years of global power, after that we have created a vast amount of waste that can never be safely stored, meanwhile our reliance on other fuels will have only increased. The safe way to source power is through green energy. Nuclear is NOT a solution.