Archive for July, 2009

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Submissions opposing expanded BHPB uranium mine

July 31, 2009

Many organisations and individuals across Australia are now sending in submissions in response to BHP Billiton’s Environmental Impact statement (EIS), to be reviewed soon by Australia’s Federal government. Final date for submissions is 7th August

uraniumhole

Many Australians are outraged at this proposal – to create the largest man-made hole, and largest radioactive tailings waste, in the world.

Their objections include:

FAILURE TO ASSESS NO-URANIUM OPTION:

* BHP Billiton has not been required to consider mining copper, silver and gold but not uranium − an option which would allow for ongoing, profitable mining while addressing some of the major problems (namely, high-level nuclear waste problems and nuclear weapons proliferation risks associated with uranium export).

THE ROXBY DOWNS INDENTURE ACT

* The Roxby Downs Indenture Act allows wide-ranging and totally indefensible exemptions from key laws such as the SA Aboriginal Heritage Act, Environmental Protection Act 1993, Freedom of Information Act 1991 and Natural Resources Act 2004. The exemptions should be repealed and if the expansion is to proceed, the exemptions should not be extended to cover the expansion.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROLIFERATION RISKS

* Export of uranium is expected to increase from an average of 4,000 tonnes per year to 19,000 tonnes. In power reactors, 19,000 tonnes of uranium produces enough plutonium to build 2,850 nuclear weapons. The total amount of uranium at Olympic Dam would produce enough plutonium to build over 340,000 nuclear weapons.

* The International Atomic Energy Agency has admitted that its rights of inspection are “fairly limited” and that it operates on a “shoe-string budget comparable to a local police department”.

* The mine expansion is heavily dependant on selling uranium and a uranium-infused copper concentrate to the undemocratic, secretive, murderous and militaristic regime in China. BHP Billiton also wants to export uranium to other nuclear weapons states including Russia even though there has not been a single IAEA safeguards inspection in Russia since 2001.

RADIOACTIVE RACISM

* The Roxby Downs Indenture Act provides overrides and exemptions from the SA Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988. BHP Billiton is in a legal position to determine what consultation occurs with Traditional Owners, who is consulted, and nature of any consultation.

* BHP Billiton supports Reconciliation Australia’s ‘good governance’ program and has provided over $2 million to Reconciliation Australia, yet the company will not relinquish its exemptions from the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988. The company’s position is hypocritical.

RADIOACTIVE WASTE

* Radioactive tailings wastes are exposed and open to the environment and currently amount to about 100 million tonnes. The tailings contain a toxic, acidic soup of radionuclides and heavy metals.

* BHP Billiton plans to increase the production of radioactive tailings waste seven-fold to 68 million tonnes annually to cover an area of up to 44 sq kms to a height of up to 65 metres. This toxic mountain is designed to leak on average 3 million litres of radioactive waste a day. BHP plans to line only 15% of the proposed tailings facility.

* There have been numerous spills and leaks and large numbers of bird deaths have been recorded in the vicinity of tailings dams. Photos taken by an Olympic Dam mine worker in December 2008 show radioactive tailings liquid leaking from the so-called rock ‘armoury’ of the so-called tailings ‘retention’ system. BHP Billiton then threatened “disciplinary action” against any worker taking photos of the mine site. The company can also restrict the release of information because of the exemptions from the Freedom of Information Act 1991.

* Overseas, Olympic Dam uranium will end up as high level nuclear waste. However no country has a permament repository for this waste let alone a better solution than dumping it in a repository. The most advanced high-level nuclear repository project was Yucca Mountain − a $10 billion fiasco that was 23 years behind schedule when the project was permanently abandoned by President Obama earlier this year.

WASTING WATER

* BHP Billiton proposes an increase in water consumption from 37 million litres daily (from the Great Artesian Basin) to over 250 million litres daily (up to 42 million litres from the Great Artesian Basin, the remainder from a proposed desalination plant near Whyalla). That’s over 100,000 litres every minute − in the driest state in the driest inhabited continent.

* The water take from the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) is a direct risk to the unique and fragile ecology of the Mound Springs that are listed as an ‘endangered ecological community’ under federal environment legislation and depend on the natural flows of water from the GAB. BHP Billiton should be required to phase out − and not to increase − extraction of GAB water.

* The Indenture Act allows BHP Billiton to extract massive and unsustainable amounts of water from the Great Artesian Basin for free despite the company’s $17.7 billion profit in 2007-08.

* BHP Billiton wants to site the proposed desalination inappropriately in the fragile and low flushing Upper Spencer Gulf, posing a threat to the breeding ground of the Giant Australian Cuttle Fish.

ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION & GREENHOUSE EMISSIONS

* The expansion will see the mine’s electricity consumption increase over six-fold from 125MW to 775MW. BHP plans to source this from some combination of the state electricity grid, a proposed on-site gas-fired plant, and a proposed on-site plant powered by waste heat. There is no requirement for BHP Billiton to source any electricity for the mine site from renewable sources.

* Greenhouse emissions from the mine are projected to increase from 1.2 million tonnes annually to up to 5.9 million tonnes. This will make it all but impossible for SA to reach its legislated emissions target of 13 million tonnes annually by 2050.

* BHP Billiton promotes uranium as a fuel for low-carbon nuclear power but this is true only if compared to fossil fuels. Nuclear power is more greenhouse intensive than most renewable energy sources and most energy efficiency/conservation measures.

* BHP Billiton plans to increase the use of diesel at the Olympic Dam mine from 25 million litres annually to over 375 million litres annually (even more during the proposed five year construction period). The company stands to gain over $65 million annually in diesel fuel rebates − more than the company now pays in royalties to the SA government from the existing underground mine operation.

THE STING IN THE TAIL

* Water consumption, radioactive waste production, energy consumption and greenhouse emissions may all be considerably higher than the figures presented in the Draft EIS because BHP Billiton has applied for approval to extract up to 1 million tonnes of copper product a year even though the EIS only examines an expansion of up to 750,000 tonnes.

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Spying and secret lobbying, nuclear weapons industry behind Australia’s new 4 Mile uranium mine

July 30, 2009

The company with the right contacts

The Brisbane Times,  Ben Cubby, 30 July 09

GENERAL ATOMICS, the company behind the nation’s newest uranium mine, has been patiently lobbying Australian politicians for more than a decade to encourage it to allow mining, to develop nuclear reactors and buy high-tech weapons.

The company has ferried members of the US Congress, their families and aides to Australia for high-level talks. It has paid for Labor MPs to travel to the United States to see its weapons and nuclear reactors first-hand, as well as hosting taxpayer funded trips……………………………………

To put its case for more mines and more weapons in Canberra, the company uses Hawker Britton, a lobbying firm that includes many former ALP staffers and MPs.

But among the biggest supporters of uranium mining expansion is the South Australian Premier, Mike Rann, who was on the Greenpeace executive that launched the Rainbow Warrior protest ship to try to block French nuclear weapons tests in 1972……………………………….

General Atomics flew a group from the US Congress to Australia, accompanied by company executives, to persuade the Federal Government to buy the company’s Predator unmanned aircraft………………………….

As well as its interest in unmanned spy planes, General Atomics has employed human spies. Last year it was caught hiring a former undercover police officer turned private investigator to infiltrate Australian environment groups and report on their actions. The former officer was posing as a Kurdish refugee and feeding information back to General Atomics.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/the-company-with-the-right-contacts-20090729-e1lk.html

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USA: uranium mining and pollution

July 30, 2009

RUSSELL MEANS FREEDOM July 27, 2009
“………………In northwestern South Dakota, the Cave Hills area is managed by the US Forest Service. The area currently contains 89 abandoned open-pit uranium mines. Studies by the USFS show that one mine alone has 1,400 millirems per hour (mR/hr) of exposed radiation, a level of radiation that is 120,000 times higher than normal background of 100 millirems per year (mR/yr)! In the southwestern Black Hills, the US Forest Service reported on 29 abandoned open-pit uranium mines, one of which is about 1 square mile in size.

It is estimated that more than 1,000 open-pit uranium mines and prospects can be found in the four state region from a map developed by the US Forest Service. The water runoff from the creeks and rivers near these abandoned uranium mines eventually empties into the Missouri River which empties into the Mississippi River…………………

This Fact Sheet regarding past and planned uranium and coal mining in the Upper Midwest region should give cause for alarm to all thinking people in the United States. This is the area that has been called “the Bread Basket of the World.” For more than forty years, the people of South Dakota and beyond have been subjected to radioactive polluted dust and water runoff from the hundreds of abandoned open pit uranium mines, processing sites, underground nuclear power stations, and waste dumps.

There needs to be a concerted effort to determine the extent of the radioactive pollution in the environment, and the health damage that has been and is currently being inflicted upon the people of the United States.

America’s Secret Chernobyl – Uranium Mining & Pollution in the Upper Midwest : Russell Means Freedom

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USA uranium plant scrapped

July 30, 2009

USEC scraps uranium plant, mulls options
Jul 28, 2009

By Matt Daily and Michael Erman (Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Maureen Bavdek, Phil Berlowitz)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – USEC Inc said on Tuesday it would scrap plans to build a new uranium enrichment plant and may now seek a partner or buyer after the U.S. Department of Energy denied its request for a loan guarantee, sending its stock plummeting.

USEC’s planned American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio, was one of four new facilities proposed that would be built to supply enriched uranium to the nuclear power sector, which industry experts believe is poised for a renaissance in the United States……………..The company had so far sunk $1.5 billion into the ACP project, using funds from the equity and debt markets, but still needed another $2 billion………………………..USEC’s shares plunged 36 percent to $3.97 on the New York Stock Exchange.

USEC scraps uranium plant, mulls options | Green Business | Reuters

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Depleted uranium: the hidden danger to soldiers and communities

July 30, 2009

Uranium weapons: Does anyone care?

Peter Eyre Middle East Consultant  USA, July 29, 2009 (Pal Telegraph)-

Our planet is truly a wonderful place but under the umbrella, that we call our atmosphere, lies a cocktail of uranium aerosols waiting to claim its next victim. Many countries donate to this contamination such as the US, UK, Israel, NATO member states, China and Russia etc

Why would the UN, WHO, US, UK, NATO and IDF allow this to happen and why do they continue manufacturing and using weapons containing uranium?…………………

A conference took place in Sweden: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF WAR – The examples of Agent Orange and Depleted Uranium – Stockholm • 23-24 April 2004 in which various experts gave speeches, two of those being Doug Rokke and Tedd Weyman.
Dr Douglas L. Rokke, Ph.D. Former Head of U.S. Army Radiological Laboratory and Former Director U.S. Army Depleted Uranium Project, U.S. Army major (retired), and former Assistant Professor of Environmental Science at Jacksonville State University, Florida, USA. During an interview with John Pilger, Doug gave a summary of his work experience: “Prior to the Gulf War, I was responsibility for the training and educating of all the medical professionals and combat soldiers on the effects of nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare. More importantly what type of medical care and treatment was required and what decontamination is needed for those that may be injured or wounded during the war”.

After the ground war he was tasked as a health physicist responsible for cleaning up the depleted uranium or uranium 238 contamination…………………………..- what we’re seeing now are respiratory problems, breathing problems, kidney problems, and cancers. We have individuals of our team that were actually known exposed and they have died of cancer. We have other individuals right now that have cancer. We have rashes, neurological problems. A lot of people – and again this is out of the whole complex toxic battlefield where DU contributes – lost fine motor function, individuals have neural psychology problems, short term memory losses. The uranium is a heavy metal poison and also a radiological poison, so we have to look at a conglomeration of potential health effects that then mix with other causes to create serious problems”…………….

The recent Iraqi field samples collected by UMRC were analysed by plasma mass spectrometer by Dr Axel Gerdes, Institute of Petrology and Geochemistry, JW Goethe University, Frankfurt. The human and environmental samples have been found to contain Depleted Uranium and abnormally high levels of the artificial transuranic isotope, 236U. The isotope composition of Depleted Uranium found in civilians as well as in surface soils and water courses shows the weapons used in Iraq were manufactured from two and perhaps three different metallurgical sources (stockpiles of uranium metals). The soil and water samples indicate DU was deployed in both mechanized battlefields and urban neighbourhoods where aerial bombing took place………………………

For almost 40 years we have all been let down a path of total deception by the US Government, US Department of Defense, US Military and the Nuclear Industry. This deception later extended to the US Institute of Medicine, UN (especially the UNEP), WHO, NATO and their respective Governments and many other institutions that all failed in their duty of care for our planet and its inhabitants…

..http://www.paltelegraph.com/world/world-news/1620-uranium-weapons-does-anyone-care-about-our-planet

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Uranium Mine Olympic Dam expansion to skyrocket greenhouse emissions

July 29, 2009

Olympic Dam expansion hits emission hopes

THE AUSTRALIAN Gavin Lower | July 29, 2009

BHP Billiton’s proposed multi-billion-dollar expansion of its Olympic Dam mine will increase South Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 12 per cent, casting doubt on Mike Rann’s climate change credentials, environmentalists said yesterday.The Australian Conservation Foundation said BHP Billiton was seeking government approval to increase Olympic Dam’s greenhouse emissions by at least 4.1 million tonnes a year — the equivalent of more than a million inefficient cars on the road.The Premier, who is also South Australia’s Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change, has pledged as part of the state’s strategic plan to meeting the Kyoto target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 108 per cent of 1990 levels by 2012.But the ACF says the Olympic Dam expansion, which would create the world’s largest open pit mine, 560km north of Adelaide, would cause a “blow out” to the state’s current emissions of 33 million tonnes a year……………………..

“How can Mr Rann maintain his image as a climate change leader when the state will continue its pollution for a decade?” Climate change program manager Tony Mohr said………………………

Mr Mohr said if BHP Billiton was allowed to increase its emissions to the levels it was seeking, the public’s confidence in reducing emissions and their own efforts to do so would be undone. He said the mine expansion would also be one of the single biggest impacts on Australia’s efforts to meet international emissions targets.

Olympic Dam expansion hits emission hopes | The Australian

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Australia – left behind in the energy race?

July 29, 2009

 THE AUSTRALIAN – First Byte 28 July 09

“…………..What happens to Australia’s coal and uranium industries when someone in the world, and it won’t be us because we don’t put any money into research, develops an economically viable renewable energy in the next 10 to 50 years?
Mark MillardCoolbellup, WA

Letters Blog | The Australian

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Australian govt’s grab for aboriginal land, for mining

July 29, 2009

Light My Fire

  The Young Turks 23 July 09  by blackopal

“……………….the Howard government had to ratify the ‘racial discrimination act’ so that it appeared fair and equable to the outside world, namely the UN.

They also enforced ‘compulsory acquisition’ of lands within the ‘Native Title Act’ to gain access of Aboriginal land. Though this act has to be agreed upon by the two parties involved that includes Aboriginal people, transparency and inclusiveness was not clear at first as the mass media attention was on the abuse and social decay of Aboriginal communities in the remote areas.

 Remembering that Aboriginal reserve land areas hold untapped mineral resources such as uranium,gold, gas, bauxite, etc. One wonders of the shell-games regarding the government.

The Young Turks: Light My Fire

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America’s Secret Chernobyl – Uranium Mining & Pollution in the Upper Midwest

July 28, 2009


RUDSSELL MEANS FREEDOM July 27, 2009
“………………In northwestern South Dakota, the Cave Hills area is managed by the US Forest Service. The area currently contains 89 abandoned open-pit uranium mines. Studies by the USFS show that one mine alone has 1,400 millirems per hour (mR/hr) of exposed radiation, a level of radiation that is 120,000 times higher than normal background of 100 millirems per year (mR/yr)! In the southwestern Black Hills, the US Forest Service reported on 29 abandoned open-pit uranium mines, one of which is about 1 square mile in size.

It is estimated that more than 1,000 open-pit uranium mines and prospects can be found in the four state region from a map developed by the US Forest Service. The water runoff from the creeks and rivers near these abandoned uranium mines eventually empties into the Missouri River which empties into the Mississippi River…………………

This Fact Sheet regarding past and planned uranium and coal mining in the Upper Midwest region should give cause for alarm to all thinking people in the United States. This is the area that has been called “the Bread Basket of the World.” For more than forty years, the people of South Dakota and beyond have been subjected to radioactive polluted dust and water runoff from the hundreds of abandoned open pit uranium mines, processing sites, underground nuclear power stations, and waste dumps.

There needs to be a concerted effort to determine the extent of the radioactive pollution in the environment, and the health damage that has been and is currently being inflicted upon the people of the United States.

America’s Secret Chernobyl – Uranium Mining & Pollution in the Upper Midwest : Russell Means Freedom

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Uranium contamination haunts Navajo country

July 28, 2009

Uranium contamination haunts Navajo country

THE NEW YORK TIMES by Luis Hipolito on 07/26/2009

“………….The legacy wrought from decades of uranium mining is long and painful here on the expansive reservation. Over the years, Navajo miners extracted some four million tons of uranium ore from the ground, much of it used by the United States government to make weapons.

Many miners died from radiation-related illnesses, and some, unaware of harmful health effects, hauled contaminated rocks and tailings from local mines and mills to build homes for their families.

Now, those homes are being demolished and rebuilt under a new government program that seeks to identify what are very likely dozens of uranium-contaminated structures still standing on Navajo land and to temporarily relocate people living in them until the homes can be torn down and rebuilt.

Stephen B. Etsitty, executive director of the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency, and other tribal officials have been grappling for years with the environmental fallout from uranium mining.

“There were a lot of things people weren’t told about the plight of Navajos and uranium mining,” Mr. Etsitty said. “These legacy issues are impacting generations. At some point people are saying, ‘It’s got to end’”.

Uranium Contamination Haunts Navajo Country « The Blogger

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