PM to force unsafe reactors on the states : Melbourne Indymedia

Under grilling from senate estimates, one of Howard's key pro-nuke bureaucrats admitted to opposition senators that the government has sought legal advice on powers available to force states to go nuclear.

Tania Constable, Tania Constable, the general manager of the resource development branch of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources, confirmed to a Senate estimates committee hearing on Monday night legal advice had been received. The Opposition's resources spokesman, Chris Evans, who questioned Ms Constable, said it showed that the Government had "begun considering legal options to sweep those bans aside and force through the building of nuclear reactors at sites of its choosing".

Ms Constable serves as the secretariat of the steering group for howard's Uranium Industry Framework, established by the Australian Government Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources, the Hon Ian Macfarlane MP, to oversee the development of a three year Uranium Industry Framework. High on the steering group's agenda are the development of the Jabiluka deposit, and implementation of Total Product Stewardship, a policy which would see Australia accept return of all nuclear waste resulting from the uranium we export.

A couple of days later, the opposition in the House of Reps was able to extract an admission from John Hunt (the coward) confirming the legal advice.

into the fray steps barnaby joyce, who claims to be quite open to the prospect of building a nuclear power reactor in his electorate :

"If you put the right incentives in, if you contacted the community and see if they wanted to participate in the process, and everybody was on board, then yes, you'd have to consider it.

"As a nation we do export uranium, we make money out off uranium, there are lots of states who want to expand their uranium mines. You can't say it's morally incorrect to use it but it's morally correct to send it to someone else to use. If you're going to export it, then I suppose you should consider using it yourself."

"I think the states that should really consider it are the ones that are making a lot of money exporting."

The PM has also confirmed the government is looking at another taxpayer-funded information campaign promoting nuclear power.

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maybe he's comforted by the recent giddy media-spin from nuclear power station constructors Westinghouse, who have tried to insist that last-minute design changes are not about cutting corners to get current projects operations, but will protect reactors from terrorist attack

The modifications incorporate measures "to enhance security and aircraft crash resistance," Westinghouse said in a statement.

but independent reports say that "Westinghouse Electric Co. has modified the design of its AP1000 nuclear reactor to help expedite the building of the plant and reduce costs and security risks."

Scott Shaw, a Westinghouse spokesman, said the changes include instrumentation and the plant's control room.
He said the concrete structure around the reactor had been made more robust, but declined to reveal further details, citing security concerns.

In April, the NRC proposed a new requirement for nuclear reactor builders to consider how they might increase protection against an airliner crash, but did not propose any specific standards nor mandate design changes.