Blissfully away from news, and from all matters digital, I returned to find that the climate and environment politics are worse than ever in USA and Australia. Meanwhile, on the nuclear scene, things would be farcical, if they were not so dangerous. Donald Trump wants to expand US nuclear arsenal, make it ‘top of the pack’. Australia's own Dr Helen Caldicott set out all too clearly the grim situation at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex. The farcical part is in the nuclear lobby's pretence that theirs is a viable industry. As the giant Toshiba corporation nears bankruptcy, and nuclear power stations go down like dominoes in USA, it's really only China where the industry still might save itself. And that's dubious, too.
And -sorry- this newsletter is too long today!
AUSTRALIA
Australia stands out in self-imposed exile from global summit on treaty to ban nuclear weapons.
Six anti-war activists arrested for breaching the perimeter into the joint top secret US-Australian defence facility, Pine Gap, outside Alice Springs, are to be prosecuted and may be gaoled for seven years.
No place for nuclear enthusiasts in South Australia's Liberal Party. Department of Industry, Innovation and Science avoids hard questions on nuclear waste. Will the nuclear waste of Sydney's dead HIFAR nuclear reactor be sent to South Australia?
CLIMATE
- Victoria's ground-breaking climate change bill passed into law on 24 February.
- Australian Prudential Regulation Authority dropped a climate bombshell - ignored by Government!
- Australia's Minister For Coal Josh Frydenberg blackens the name of wind and solar power. Josh Frydenberg aims to have coal mining subsidised by Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Coal-dependent states had power bills rising more than in renewables-powered South Australia. Money intended for research was diverted to coal advertising. Mining lobby tries to stifle environmental activism.
Australian Conservation Foundation summarises the background of Adani's Carmichael coal mine and rail project.
- Seed- Australia’s first Indigenous youth climate network..
RENEWABLE ENERGY
There's heaps of news on this: World-first digital energy marketplace for rooftop solar launched by Australian consortium. South Australia's Spencer Gulf ideal for pumped hydro energy storage. Global battery storage industry to fight Australia home bans. Opposition leader Shorten speaks out for Labor's 50% renewable energy target. Poll shows that majority of Australians support Labor’s renewable energy goal.
INTERNATIONAL
Global action is needed, NOW, to defeat the out-of-control Fukushima nuclear disaster. The Fukushima nuclear disaster remains a global environmental threat.
Effect of air pollution might have masked mid-20th Century sea ice loss.
EUROPE
Iodine 131 reported in Europe in January 2017 – European radiation facts revealed. A radiation ‘sniffer plane’ is reportedly searching for the source of a cloud of nuclear isotopes floating across Europe.
USA
- Oh dear! Transatomic Power has been making false claims about Generation IV nuclear reactors.
- Squabble in West Texas over stranded nuclear wastes.
- Florida Supreme Court rejects nuclear expansion.
- Bexar County commissioners say no to nuclear waste shipments. On both sides of USA-Canada border, opposition grows to transport of nuclear wastes.
- Fight building in Connecticut against subsidies for nuclear power.
- Link between nuclear power stations and cancer rates?
- New Mexico bill stalled - would have classed nuclear power as "renewable"
- USA confirms use of depleted uranium in Syria, despite its previous promises.
- America's nuclear weapons made workers very ill.
- Trump's associates and USA conservatives to wage war on environmentalists. Attacks on climate scientists continue.
- Growing concern over Trump's mental condition.
JAPAN
Almost six years on, Fukushima nuclear disaster still ongoing nightmare. Global nuclear catastrophe waits in the wings, as Japan plans for Olympics. Fukushima evacuees 'pressured' to return to contaminated homes, says Greenpeace. Nuclear station restart at Oi is approved - but local consent is needed. Toshiba's crippling burden of its overseas nuclear business.
SOUTH AFRICA
Court case to stop SA from bankrupting itself from nuclear industry begins.
FRANCE
Long closure of Flamanville nuclear reactor is costing EDF £1m a day.
CHINA
China delays nuclear reactor start again and again. Opposition to nuclear power grows. China's culture, and the fear of speaking out on environmental concerns.
INDIA
Solar power for 7,000 railway stations in India.
PAKISTAN
Pakistan and India have agreed to extend their bilateral nuclear safety agreement.
RUSSIA
Russia will continue to see the development of its nuclear forces as a top priority, but the military will rely increasingly on conventional weapons to deter any aggression, the Russian Defense Minister said.
ALGERIA
Algerian human rights agency to prosecute France for nuclear tests. The French government carried out 17 nuclear tests in the Algerian desert, causing the death of 42,000 individuals; thousands more were made chronically by being exposed to nuclear radiation.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Might Arab states develop nuclear weapons? United Arab Emirates push for nuclear power.
Christina Macpherson
Antinuclear Australia
www.antinuclear.net
www.nuclear-news.net
https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com/