Uranium 'UnAustralian' say Protesters

by incubateNo Comments

Scoring a six never felt so good. Today anti-nuclear protesters played a cricket match against uranium at the Lizard’s Revenge festival at Roxby Downs. The demonstrators called the nuclear industry ‘UnAustralian’.

‘It’s not welcome here’ said Tim Johnson, ‘it risks our water, land and people. We don’t want any part of the nuclear chain – the mines, the power or the waste’.

Yesterday the protest turned glamorous with a parade of Frocks on the Frontline, synchronised mass dances and performances. More solemn expressions of dissent included three minutes of silence to remember Fukushima – the Japanese power plant that exploded in 2011 and spread radioactive dust as. Several protesters and police officers shed tears during the silence. The uranium used in Fukushima was mined at Olympic Dam.

Later today, a wind and solar-powered cinema night is planned to demonstrate that sustainable energy sources are viable alternatives to nuclear power.

Over three hundred protesters have gathered from all around Australia to voice their dissent to the mine’s expansion. If expanded, the Olympic Dam uranium mine will be the largest open-pit uranium mine in the world. It will use 42 million litres of water from the Great Artesian Basin each day in the driest state on the driest inhabited continent on earth. The South Australian government provides that water to BHP at no charge. Eight million litres of radioactive waste will leak into the underground aquifer each day. By the end of the mine’s life, radioactive tailings equivalent to nine Sydney Harbours will be left on the surface of the land forever.

Uranium ‘UnAustralian’ say Protesters

by ASENadminNo Comments

Scoring a six never felt so good. Today anti-nuclear protesters played a cricket match against uranium at the Lizard’s Revenge festival at Roxby Downs. The demonstrators called the nuclear industry ‘UnAustralian’.

‘It’s not welcome here’ said Tim Johnson, ‘it risks our water, land and people. We don’t want any part of the nuclear chain – the mines, the power or the waste’.

Yesterday the protest turned glamorous with a parade of Frocks on the Frontline, synchronised mass dances and performances. More solemn expressions of dissent included three minutes of silence to remember Fukushima – the Japanese power plant that exploded in 2011 and spread radioactive dust as. Several protesters and police officers shed tears during the silence. The uranium used in Fukushima was mined at Olympic Dam.

Later today, a wind and solar-powered cinema night is planned to demonstrate that sustainable energy sources are viable alternatives to nuclear power.

Over three hundred protesters have gathered from all around Australia to voice their dissent to the mine’s expansion. If expanded, the Olympic Dam uranium mine will be the largest open-pit uranium mine in the world. It will use 42 million litres of water from the Great Artesian Basin each day in the driest state on the driest inhabited continent on earth. The South Australian government provides that water to BHP at no charge. Eight million litres of radioactive waste will leak into the underground aquifer each day. By the end of the mine’s life, radioactive tailings equivalent to nine Sydney Harbours will be left on the surface of the land forever.

Student night blockade against uranium mining in Meghalaya, India

by asenkids Comment Closed

Shillong, Oct 14 – The influential Khasi Students Union (KSU) has announced a two-night road blockade in Meghalaya beginning Wednesday to protest a proposed uranium mining project in the state.

The road blockade would affect vehicular movement, specially night passenger buses and goods laden trucks, on the national highways between Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura.

The blockade will be on from 7 p.m. till 5 a.m. Wednesday, and then again for the same duration Thursday.

‘The KSU at a meeting Tuesday decided to intensify its stir… to protest the Meghalaya government’s decision to lease out land to the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL),’ said KSU president Samuel B. Jyrwa.

‘The KSU believes the uranium project would harm the environment and health of people living adjoining areas,’ Jyrwa said.

The state government has tightened security across the Khasi and Jaintia Hills of southeastern Meghalaya.

‘We are concerned that the proposed road blockades may affect other northeastern states too,’ Meghalaya principal secretary (home) Barkos Warjri told reporters here.

Police heads of the four districts — East Khasi Hills, West KhasiHills, Jaintia Hills and Ri-Bhoi — have been asked to see that the traffic flow along the national and other highways are not disturbed due to the night blockade.

Chief Minister D.D. Lapang told reporters: ‘The uranium reserves are a national property and no one can stop the government from using them.’

‘The government has waited for 20 long years to persuade the people to allow uranium mining at Domiasiat in West Khasi Hills district of southern Meghalaya.’

The KSU and local parties have been spearheading the movement against the Meghalaya government’s decision to allow the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) to carry out pre-project development programmes in 422 square hectares in the uranium-rich
areas of West Khasi Hills.

A senior Meghalaya government official said the union ministry of environment and forests had already allowed UCIL to start uranium mining for the annual production of 375,000 tonnes of uranium ore and processing of 1,500 tonnes of the mineral ore per day in West Khasi Hills district.

The UCIL has proposed a Rs.1,046 crore open-cast uranium mining and processing plant at Domiasiat in the West Khasi Hills district. Meghalaya has an estimated 9.22 million tones of uranium ore deposits.

Roxby Expansion and EIS Release protest

by asenkids Comment Closed

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On May 1, BHP Billiton released the Environmental Impact Statement for its planned expansion of the Olympic Dam (Roxby Downs) uranium/copper mine in SA. A May Day protest was held to voice many members of the publics opposition to the mine and its expansion.

At 2.00pm a mock BHP executive launched the EIS complete with details of everything the company plans to get away with:

· The mine operates under the SA Roxby Downs Indenture Act which exempts it from key environmental and Aboriginal heritage laws that apply everywhere else in SA.

· BHP Billiton plans to make Roxby the largest open-cut mine in the world. Export of uranium is expected to increase from an average of 4,000 tonnes per year to 19,000 tonnes. Enough plutonium to build 2,850 nuclear weapons each year.

· BHP Billiton proposes an increase in water consumption from 35 million litres daily (from the Great Artesian Basin) to 150 million litres daily (up to 42 million litres from the Great Artesian Basin, the remainder from a proposed desalination plant at Port Bonython). The total amounts to over 100,000 litres of water every minute of every day.

· The production of radioactive tailings, stored above ground, will increase seven-fold to 70 million tonnes annually. The tailings contain a toxic, acidic soup of radionuclides and heavy metals.

· Electricity demand for the mine will increase from 120 megawatts to 690 megawatts – equivalent to 42% of South Australia’s current total electricity consumption.

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