AUSTRALIA
Media delight. The Australian media had a beaut time with William and Kate, and little Prince George (yes he WAS cute with the Bilby). And after that they had an even beauter time with the ANZAC festivities, (yes, I AM sad for all those young lives destroyed).
Late on Anzac eve, hidden between all this fun, Australia’s Minister Against the Environment, Greg Hunt, put out the trash – revealed the government’s policy white paper on climate change, with Direct Action, and the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF). Clive Palmer and other right-wingers oppose it. As Paula Matthewson, corporate adviser said , if the legislation looks like not passing, Tony Abbott will be thinking - “Please don’t throw me in the briar patch” (e.g No action whatsoever on climate change)
Also ignored midst the fun, the panel to Review the Renewable Energy Target was announced. As I reel from the discovery that Abbott’s top adviser, Maurice Newman is both a Climate Denialist, and a believer in Intelligent Design (Creation Science) I was pretty much numbed by learning of who’s been appointed to this panel - ACIL Allen, Brian Fisher, Shirley In’t Veld all straight from fossil fuel lobbying. The panel is headed by Dick Warburton, climate sceptic and nuclear advocate. That rampant left wing radical, Bernie Fraser, former governor of the Reserve Bank is very disappointed in the government’s attack on renewable energy.
Nuclear power. Don’t let’s forget, beneath the hype about Royals and ANZAC Day, and even the pre-Budget discussions, the pro nuclear lobbying goes on. A pity when Westinghouse, which wanted to export 81,000 Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, pulled right out of this plan. But that doesn’t deter Australian enthusiasts, including our new Governor General Peter Cosgrovel.
Uranium mining. Toro Energy ‘s quarterly report shows the continued fall in uranium prices. Tio Tinto might be bailing out the cash-trapped ERA with its closed Ranger mine, but as yet I do not have a definite source to confirm this deal. (USA mines are stockpiling uranium due to the abysmal prices. )
Climate Change. Aboriginal ‘climate ambassadors’ are assessing impacts of climate change on the natural environment and traditional communities. They are coming up with important findings about plants and animals in local areas across Australia
INTERNATIONAL
Our website nuclear-news.net Some good news from co-editor ‘Arclight’. He has been experiencing tribulations – which is what happens to investigative reporters in UK. Moving to Ireland, Arclight was in dire straits. But he has been helped first by anonymous donors, tiding him over, and then , in his passport status, by Jennifer Schweppe, Head of the School of Law, Limerick University. Arclight might not be ‘out of the woods’ yet, but isn’t it great that some people help out in time of need?
Taiwan. 28,000 anti nuclear demonstrators met with water cannons. But people power brings the government to halt the new nuclear reactor
Ukraine. One result of the political change there is a covert agreement that radioactive trash from European Union will now be stored in Ukraine
Chernobyl. The new 2 $billion sarcophagus slowly going up, will last only 100 years – the radioactive reactor wreck requires cover for many thousands of years. It’s a stop-gap measure, but the best that they can come up with.
USA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn9_8wrDH8M A challenge to governments ruled by corporate greed. A challenge to the Trans Pacific Partnership, to nuclear power, and militarism. Ralph Nader’s new book shows that corporate control of politics is opposed by both Left and Right. “Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State. ” Nuclear front groups exposed - Nuclear Matters and the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) getting far too much coverage in media.
Dead nuclear reactors – the funerals are getting more expensive. USA, home of nuclear power, is first to realise this. And there are more nuclear power deaths on the way.
Japan The Tenacious Mari Takenouchi persists in her anti nuclear activism, despite the techniques used against her. This is detailed by Arclight.
Ecological effects of Chernobyl and Fukushima. Timothy Mousseau clarifies this complicated issue. Much publicity has appeared about how birds have adapted to ionising radiation. Mousseau explains how negative pressures on birds have indeed brought about adaptations. – we see these interesting adaptive responses in the birds that are remaining (i.e. those that haven’t perished…).
France. A new poll finds that the vast majority of French people prefer renewable energy, would not invest in nuclear power