Australia starts shipping uranium to China

Australia’s minister of resources and energy, Martin Ferguson, has welcomed the first shipment of uranium to China, following the earlier signing of a bilateral safeguards agreement between the two countries.

Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) announced sales contracts with China following the signing of bilateral treaties enabling exports. Details about the shipment to China – including the quantity and destination – were not disclosed. Uranium is currently mined at three locations in Australia: BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam and Heathgate Resources’ Beverley mine, both in South Australia; and ERA’s Ranger mine in Northern Territory.

In April 2006, Australia and China signed two bilateral safeguards agreements that would open the way for Australia to supply uranium to China’s growing nuclear energy industry. The Nuclear Material Transfer Agreement and Nuclear Cooperation Agreement put in place strict safeguards to ensure that Australian uranium supplied to China will be used solely to produce electricity. The Nuclear Transfer Agreement allows Australian uranium to be used in designated Chinese nuclear facilities, while the Nuclear Cooperation Agreement allows, among other things, for China to explore for uranium in Australia.

bioterror and uranium

Great to see Plum Island, the most secure location of six candidates according to Homeland Security, being played up for proposed massive germlab, the N-BAF. Finally, something like sanity surfacing?

Train jumping tracks, prompts uranium transport concern

Possible train Derailment

Please read article, cited after the quote. Articles open in a new window.

“An environment group says a BHP Billiton proposal to transport uranium yellowcake through the Northern Territory should be reconsidered in light of a train derailment near Katherine.

Four carriages left the tracks west of Katherine yesterday and investigators are trying to determine the cause.

Justin Tutty from the No Waste Alliance says BHP’s proposal would see a trainload of radioactive material a day on the same rail line”

Do the research: Uranium doesn’t solve problem

First, nuclear power is many times more expensive than the alternatives. It’s also riskier, and nuclear power plants take longer to build – at least 10 years, compared to 18 months for a wind farm.

This isn’t just some wild environmentalist talk. The major financial agencies (Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, etc.) won’t invest in nuclear power because, they say, it has unique risks. Quoting their July 2007 letter to the federal Department of Energy – “We believe these risks, combined with the higher capital costs and longer construction schedules of nuclear plants as compared to other generation facilities, will make lenders unwilling at present to extend long-term credit to such projects in a form that would be commercially viable.”

The only way nuclear power will come back is if government funds it – our tax dollars. Hopefully, we’ll remember this when we vote in November.

Uranium ‘could go to Russian weapons’

A FEDERAL parliamentary committee has questioned whether Russia would stick to its promise not to use uranium imported from Australia in the production of nuclear weapons.

Recent developments in Georgia also raised concerns about whether a deal that would see Australia sell uranium to Russia for civilian purposes should go ahead, Treaties Committee chairman Kelvin Thomson said.

A deal, struck by the former Howard Government last year, allows Russia to buy Australian uranium for civilian purposes under strict safeguards.

Hidden uranium could fuel reactors

A STOCKPILE of nuclear materials in south Wirral could be used to help fuel three nuclear power plants in the UK for 60 years, it has been revealed.

The Capenhurst site has “a substantial” amount of the UK’s uranic material – which could be converted to power reactors.

In total, Britain has around 100 tonnes of plutonium from recycled UK fuel, all of which is stored at Sellafield, in Cumbria.

This, together with the reuse of all the UK’s stocks of uranium materials – almost all of which is stored safely at Capenhurst, in Wirral – could power three 1,000mw reactors for decades. One of those reactors could provide sufficient power for a city the size of Liverpool.

The amount of plutonium is equal to more than 800m barrels of oil, and the amount of uranium more than double that at around 1.75bn barrels oil. Last year in total, the UK used 619m barrels of oil.

A spokesman for Sellafield Sites, which operates the nuclear sites, said they were awaiting a decision by the Government on what the material would be used for.

He said decommissioning work at Capenhurst was almost complete and they were waiting to see “what happens at Government level”.

The Depleted Uranium Threat

“The DoD, the nation’s biggest polluter, is now cleaning up 29,500 currently or formerly contaminated sites in every state and territory. California alone has 3,912 contaminated sites on 441 current and former DoD installations. Many of DoD’s facilities have already contaminated groundwater sources of drinking water…. The cost to clean up toxic munitions contamination and unexploded ordnance at active and former military installations around the country may reach $200 billion.” – The National Resources Defense Council, April 21, 2004.

“The Defense Department is refusing to comply with orders or sign contracts to clean up 11 hazardous waste sites, including one in Hawaii, and has asked the White House and Justice Department to intervene on its behalf.”