Australia Should Be Nuclear Waste Dumping Ground

[icyfroth]

Australia should allow the world's nuclear waste to be dumped in the country's most remote areas, former prime minister Bob Hawke believes.

Mr Hawke has used an address to the National Press Club in Canberra to outline his vision for the Australian economy, as well as reflect on his political career.

The former Labor leader said Australia had a limited capacity to grow the economy and create jobs, while at the same time providing a decent social security safety net.

"The one thing this country ought to do is have the disposal of nuclear waste in remote areas," Mr Hawke said.

He said reports his government received in the early 1990s showed the viability of such an industry and its importance in helping clean up the global environment.

"In doing good for the rest of the world we would be doing good for ourselves," Mr Hawke said.

"We would get an enormous stable flow of income which could be used for the benefit of the world and our own benefit."

Entire Article Here

Yeah thanks a lot Mr Hawke. First you and your mate Keating trash our economy and then you further reduce us to a 3rd world status by reccommending we take the worlds waste.

[bella_again]

Aussies will never stand for it. Depending on the type of nuclear waste it could take hundereds of thousands of years to break down. Who in their right mind would destroy and contaminate a country based on short term economic gain.  Crazy!!!!!

[the_hawk*]

we are radidly running out of things to sell for a quick $, it wont be long before we will have to sell ourselves

[monman12]

I wonder who knows anything about the nuclear fuel cycle, and the fact that there are many geostable areas in Australia ideally suited to the disposal of nuclear waste, some of which could be traced back to our yellowcake (U238) sales. A good place to start would be Emu Field and Maralinga !

nɥºɾ

[renomarvinm]

Hi icyfroth!

The people who live in the state of Nevada, USA,  have been fighting against this issue for years.  The US Government built a huge nuclear waste depository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, about a hundred miles northwest of Las Vegas.  The facility is in place.  It's complete.  The people of Nevada have stopped it cold - at least for now.  They didn't want the world's radioactive garbage either!  

Then the people resisting the site did their own studies - turns out there are flaws - lots and lots of flaws - in the geology and methodology involved.

But it's GREAT if you want radioactive lizzards, weird plants, five-legged coyotes, and free heat in the winter.  That, plus a lot of other problems.  Sure, I'm exaggerating here, but you get the idea.  It was a "gift" from our own government, just to line their pockets.

As for you Aussies, I say good on you, and I hope you can stop this thing!  You deserve better!!

[icyfroth]

---

@renomarvinm wrote:

Hi icyfroth!

The people who live in the state of Nevada, USA,  have been fighting against this issue for years.  The US Government built a huge nuclear waste depository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, about a hundred miles northwest of Las Vegas.  The facility is in place.  It's complete.  The people of Nevada have stopped it cold - at least for now.  They didn't want the world's radioactive garbage either!  

Then the people resisting the site did their own studies - turns out there are flaws - lots and lots of flaws - in the geology and methodology involved.

But it's GREAT if you want radioactive lizzards, weird plants, five-legged coyotes, and free heat in the winter.  That, plus a lot of other problems.  Sure, I'm exaggerating here, but you get the idea.  It was a "gift" from our own government, just to line their pockets.

As for you Aussies, I say good on you, and I hope you can stop this thing!  You deserve better!!

---

Thanks Marvin 🙂

We have a lot of things going on here at the moment that are being strongly prostested about. The expanding coal mines flattening precious forest areas, home to endangered species. The port dredging, again for coal mining, threatening to dump waste near the Great Barrier Reef. Mining again, threating our agricultural regions. Privatisation of our Electricity, Medicare and remaining industry is hugely unpopular.

[*mrgrizz*]

i have no problem with this, so long as we charge accordingly.

[icyfroth]

As long as the price is right it's alright you reckon Grizz?

I have a problem with it. It means once we've lost our industries and all our assets have been privatised, when we need to take on other country's waste to generate an income at the expense of our landscape this is what we might end up like:

Photographer Kevin McElvaney documents Agbogbloshie, a former wetland in Accra, Ghana, which is home to the world’s largest e-waste dumping site. Boys and young men smash devices to get to the metals, especially copper. Injuries, such as burns, untreated wounds, eye damage, lung and back problems, go hand in hand with chronic nausea, anorexia, debilitating headaches and respiratory problems. Most workers die from cancer in their 20s

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2014/feb/27/agbogbloshie-worlds-largest-e-waste-dump-...

Or this:

This is a pile of circuit boards next to a river where circuit boards were first treated with acid to remove metals (the acids flowing into the river) and burned openly. Massive amounts of dumping of imported computer waste takes place along the riverways. Guiyu, China. December 2001. ©2006 Basel Action Network (BAN)

http://www.electronicstakeback.com/global-e-waste-dumping/

Now I know it's not quite the same.

That the proposed nuclear waste dumps would be in a remote unpopulated place in Australia, where only scorpions and lizards live, but do we know what the long term consequences will be? How will the waste be transported there? What if there's an accident on the way to the dumping grounds in a populated area? 

Haven't we seen the consequences of human error or freak weather conditions with the recent catastrophe at Fukushima and the oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico.

Haven't we had enough of companies polluting our soil, air and waterways without inviting the time-bomb of nuclear waste into our backyard?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_spill

I definitely have a problem with it.

[monman12]

"I definitely have a problem with it." I suggest some research could help IF,  but I would guess your mind is made up sans research (?)   This might be educational:  http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-wastes/radioactive-wastes---myths-and-r...

It would appear though  that many (most?)  do not  appreciate the "nuclear cycle".

Leaving aside the technical aspects (and some of the comments above)  one should  realise that nuclear waste is a fact of  our nuclear technology, and it has to be disposed of/stored  as safely as possible rather  than  leaving it above ground in temporary holding tanks/areas where it poses a far greater danger than  in the ground.

nɥºɾ

[icyfroth]

Thank you for that link, Monno, it was indeed an interesting read. In fact while I haven't "researched" nuclear power, I have read various articles and opinion pieces about the benefits of nuclear power. I believe it is much cleaner than coal-fired and much more efficient than solar- or windpowered.

My problem with storing other country's nuclear waste is that while we are one of the world's major uranium ore exporters we don't benefit from it ourselves. In fact most of humankind doesn't. A lot of it seems to be going to various countries to make nuclear weaponry.

While I understand the monetary value in accepting the waste storage, I would be happier If we used our own uranium to power our own energy needs instead of importing it overseas to countries to make nuclear weapons, then importing the waste product and the risks it poses back in.