Doctors launch Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons

23/04/2007

There was a large red cross on the steps of Parliament House and a map of Melbourne with rings at 3, 5 10, 20 and 80km radii from the centre asking the question 'What would happen if a 1 Megaton nuclear bomb landed in Melbourne's CBD?', while 'doctors' in white coats tended 'victims'. The occasion was the launch of the Australian branch of the International Campaign against Nuclear Weapons by members of the Medical Association for Prevention of War (MAPW). [Read More | Press Release]

MAPW | ICANW | Nuclear Free Australia

Nuclear is no Solution

16/11/2006

While the Victoria Police have locked down Melbourne for the G20 Finance Ministers meeting at the Hyatt Hotel in the expectation of protests, in Germany thousands of anti-nuclear activists protested and delayed a shipment of nuclear waste to the town of Gorleben. The nuclear waste necessitated guarding by up to 20,000 German police.

Anti-nuclear activists outside the Melbourne GPO on Tuesday held up a series of placards saying 'Nuclear is no solution' in response to the Prime Minister's Nuclear power and uranium enrichment agenda and misleading Australians about base-load solar power.

More Reports: Germany IMC (en/de) | UK IMC

Liar, liar, planet on fire: Howard's nuke lies

19/10/2006

"In recent months something more scary than usual has been happening in the media and the halls of parliament. John Howard, finally admitting the reality of climate change is now telling us nuclear power is the answer (just as uranium prices reach an all time high)." said Kim Stewart, who outlines six ways Howard is wrong on Nuclear Power. The latest statement from Howard confirms Kim Stewart's earlier report in October 2005 on Howard’s nuclearisation of Australia.

Anti-Nuke Features | Climate Features
Report: Nuclear Power no solution to climate change
Events: Maralinga Commemorative Concert Sun Oct 22.
Walk Against Warming Sun Nov 4

British Nuclear Tests at Maralinga Commemorated

29/09/2006

On the 50th anniversary of the first British nuclear bomb tests at Maralinga in South Australia, Friends of the Earth organised commemorations held across the country. Dr. Jim Green, national co-ordinator of the Beyond Nuclear Initiative, said: "Almost the entire Australian continent was dusted with radioactive fallout from the British bomb tests, and millions of Australians received small radiation doses. The legacy of environmental contamination remains to this day. The impacts on Indigenous communities were severe, including radioactive contamination and forced relocation to missions." (see Personal testimonies of the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta)

The Australian Conservation Foundation said this week’s 50th anniversary of nuclear weapons tests at Maralinga in South Australia was a sobering warning about the damage that inevitably accompanies nuclear adventurism. The Federal Government is considering selling uranium to India and has also set up a committee to report on expanding the Nuclear Industry in Australia. Recent agreements for the USA military to embark upon weapons testing has raised the prospect of DU munitions being used in Australia.

Activists in Alice Springs commemorated the Maralinga atomic tests by planting a tree in a shopping mall, while Friends of the Earth Adelaide staged the inaugural Blinky Award out the front of BHP Billiton's Adelaide offices to draw attention to BHP Billiton's massive environmental impact and unjustifiable legal privileges it holds under the Roxby Indenture Act.

Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta | Australian Nuclear Veterans Associations | Dr Jim Green | Perth IMC feature
Parliamentary Report: A toxic legacy : British nuclear weapons testing in Australia

Uranium Enrichment May Lead to Regional Nuclear Arms Race

14/09/2006

Friends of the Earth claim the Howard government is scheming to expand Australia's role in the nuclear fuel chain, ignoring the many security and environmental threats and posing the potential to destabilise the region with a regional nuclear arms race. According to Dr. Jim Green, National nuclear campaigner for Friends of the Earth, "The simple fact is that 'peaceful' enrichment plants can produce low-enriched uranium for power reactors, and they can produce highly-enriched uranium for Weapons of Mass Destruction." [Read More]

Events: Beyond Nuclear Symposium: Sep 15 | Sep 16
Maralinga Day Protest Sep 27

FOE Symposium | Nuclear Free Australia | Anti-nuclear Features

Communities Unite to Oppose National Nuclear Waste Dump

30/08/2006

Concerned Melbourne citizens disrupted ‘business as usual’ at the Parsons Brinckerhoff office as part of a national day of action opposing the federal government's plan to impose a nuclear dump on the NT. Parsons Brinckerhoff is the company contracted to assess the proposed dump sites.

“Parsons Brinckerhoff is a key player in the expansion of Australia’s nuclear industry, collaborating with the Howard government to push ahead with new uranium mines, nuclear reactors and waste dumps in Australia” said Dr. Jim Green, nuclear campaigner with Friends of the Earth. “Last year the Howard government passed legislation overriding NT environmental and Aboriginal heritage protection laws to facilitate the nuclear dump project. The planned dump is an unwanted, unnecessary imposition and Parsons Brinckerhoff should play no part in the government's grubby, racist nuclear dump plans." [Full Story]

Background: Nelson Steamrolls Territory on Nuclear Waste Dump
FOE Press Release | Darwin Protest | No Waste Alliance | FOE

Nuke Industry attacks Whistleblower over near Meltdown

29/08/2006

The company that runs the Swedish nuclear power station that suffered a near nuclear meltdown on July 25, has been trying to malign the whistleblower, Lars-Olov Höglund, including questioning his capacity to judge and his safety expertise. The former reactor design chief had explained that the Swedish nuke had missed a worst case reactor meltdown accident by only minutes.

Lars-Olov Höglund blames the liberalisation of the power market for the near nuclear meltdown on 25 July. In addition to Forsmark, three other Swedish nukes are now off the grid for safety checks.

Swedish Nuclear Reactor in near-Meltdown Scare
Nuclear Power No Solution to Climate Change
Events: Radioactivity Short Film Festival on 30/8
Beyond Nuclear Initiative 15-16/9

Rum Jungle Inspected by Anti-Uranium Activists

23/08/2006

Local environmentalists conducted a public site inspection of the Browns mining project at Batchelor, next to the old Rum Jungle uranium mine. Mr John Oakley, a spokesperson for the inspection team, says that a lack of public information regarding the activities of Compass Resources around the old Rum Jungle Uranium lease had forced their hand. “While we understand the EPA has given approval for Compass to develop their Browns Oxide project, the company has yet to fulfil the requirements of that authorisation,” said Mr Oakley. [Full Story]

The Australian Government has awarded Major Project Facilitation status to develop the copper, nickel and cobalt mine.

ACF on Browns Oxide Project | Public Environment Report | Satire: compass-resources.info

Swedish Nuclear Reactor in near-Meltdown Scare

17/08/2006

On Tuesday the 25th of July an incident occurred at Forsmark-1 nuclear power station in Sweden that left one of the reactors without power for its safety systems. It took 20 minutes before the reserve generators could be started. "It was the worst situation since Chernobyl and Harrisburg. We were horrifyingly close to a really dangerous situation." said Lars-Olov Höglund, the former head of the construction division of the reactor.

The events in Sweden “in one fell swoop bring back into awareness the terrors of atomic energy”, said anti-nuclear German activist Jochen Stay, who has called on all nuclear opponents in Germany to reinvigorate opposition to nuclear power. A German environment protection group says a nuclear power station near Hamburg is worse prepared for a critical breakdown than the Swedish Formark-1 reactor.

Greenpeace: Sweden closes nuclear plants over safety fears
Nuclear Power No Solution to Climate Change

Cover-up claim after Radiation leak

15/06/2006

An accident at Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear reactor has stopped production of radioactive material. A spokesman for the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Craig Pierce, says a pipe in a radioactive hot cell ruptured last week, halting production of an isotope used in medical procedures. The pipe coughed radioactive gas into the atmosphere and exposed a technician to potentially dangerous radiation. [Full Story]

Further contamination accidents have occurred this week according to this report on ABC Radio.

Insurance and the Lucas Heights nuclear plant | List of Safety Problems at ANSTO

Whitewashing the Public with a Nuclear Taskforce

12/06/2006

Greenpeace and other environmental organisations have heavily criticised the Howard Government appointment of a six member Nuclear Taskforce, headed by nuclear physicist Ziggy Switkowski, to assess expanding the nuclear industry in Australia to minimise climate change, including the possibility for nuclear power stations. Various states have already threatened laws against nuclear plants.

Some think Howard is playing wedge politics on the issue by putting forward nuclear power as a possibility which he does not really care about and knows is uneconomic and is prepared to lose, to distract opposition to expansion of uranium mining, nuclear fuel reprocessing and nuclear waste storage. Meanwhile, Australian company Silex has Signed an Agreement with General Electric for Uranium Enrichment Technology. Silex, the Australian laser enrichment technology, promises to ramp up nuclear enrichment. (Background: Silex exposed (PDF))

Background:

• Is nuclear power part of Australia’s global warming solutions? Professor Ian Lowe AO, ACF President , and nuclear physicist
  
• German doctors angry at nuclear extension bid
  
• Spain says "Adios" to Nuclear Power

Events:

• Blowin in the Wind Film about depleted uranium - 14 June
  
• Nuclear Power No Solution to Climate Change with guest speaker Helen Caldicott - 3 July

Clean Futures Blog | Jim Green - Nuclear and Environmental Research | Greenpeace

Brisbane Peace Activists oppose US Naval Presence

29/01/2006

A coalition of peace groups in Brisbane say that the nuclear powered and armed USS Ronald Reagan is not welcome in the Port of Brisbane and are taking to their kayaks and row boats in a peace flotilla to make their point. [Full Story]

In North Queensland the Townsville Greens has called on Townsville's Nuclear Free Zone to be enforced to prevent nuclear powered and armed ships entering local waters. Spokesperson Jenny Stirling said "The Australian government should take the same stand as New Zealand, and permit only ships that confirm they are not carrying radioactive material into our Ports."

MAPW Policy on Nucear powered ship visits
Nuclear Free Australia on Nuclear ships
History: Queensland versus Greenpeace: the Vega affair

Nelson Steamrolls Territory on Nuclear Waste Dump

03/11/2005

from the newswire
While everyone was busy with the Melbourne Cup, Industrial Relations or terrorism bills, a nuclear waste dump for the Northern Territory moved one step closer with the passing in the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2005. The bill was introduced by Science and Education Minister, Dr Brendan Nelson, with widespread opposition from the Territory Government, aboriginal and environmental groups.[More]

As part of a week of actions against the nuclear waste dump 50 cyclists headed out to the Tanami turn off for a Critcal Mass bike ride back in to Alice Springs along the Stuart Highway. The ride was seen off by a senior Arrernte woman who thanked them for solidarity in their campaign against nuclear expansion on their country.[More] [Wikinews: Opposing Nuke Dump in NT]

Action: Contact Senator Scullion to cross the floor.
Central Land Council | Irati Wanti | Darwin Indymedia |
Northern Territory Environment Centre

Howard’s Nuclearisation of Australia

07/10/2005

The nuclearisation of Australia "is making itself felt in many sectors: mining, power provision, military, and even in the irradiation of food, and sometimes done with the full approval of the opposition at state and federal levels. Current claims to cure climate change with nuclear power as the sustainable option are fallacious and dangerous for long term sustainability." said climate change campaigner Kim Stewart. [More]

In 2004 authoritative UK scientist, James Lovelock, said that 'Only nuclear power can now halt global warming', but a new report launched by environmental organisations in Melbourne exposes the myths of Nuclear Energy. Meanwhile, investment in Renewable energy generation, such as the Wonthaggi wind farm, is restricted by the Federal Government by a very low 2 percent Mandatable Renewable Energy Target (MRET), which compares poorly with other developed countries.

Friends of the Earth Anti-nuclear Campaign
Medical Association for the Prevention of War
Report: Nuclear Power No Solution to Climate Change