ALICE SPRINGS, 5 OCTOBER 2008: MAPW members were among the 300 community members gathered in the Todd Mall, Alice Springs on Sunday 5 October to oppose uranium exploration at the Angela and Pamela deposits just 25 km away.

• Go to photos in our photo gallery.

The NT Government on Friday afternoon announced the granting of a exploration licence to Cameco-Paladin despite widespread community opposition.

The weekend's events began with a snap protest just three hours after the announcement, where 80 people gathered on the Town Council Lawns and marched to NT Government offices for a community speak out.

MAPW representative Dr Tom Keaney was among those who spoke on Sunday.

“In the last six months, hundreds of Alice Springs and Central Australian residents have written to the NT government and attended public events to voice their opposition, but it seems the government has its ears in its pockets”, said Natalie Wasley, Beyond Nuclear campaigner and member of the Alice Springs Angela Pamela (ASAP) collective that organised today’s rally.

“Speaker after speaker has stood up and denounced this decision, calling for the exploration license to be revoked. People noted the irony that federal Minister Peter Garrett has been here all week talking up the Solar Cities project. Will Alice become iconic for its solar or nuclear reputation?”

Jimmy Cocking, Arid Lands Environment Centre coordinator and ASAP collective member said:

“Both public events held since the announcement clearly demonstrate continued opposition from local residents. The deposits lie within the Alice Springs water catchment, in areas noted for national conservation and biodiversity significance and the risk is simply too high to allow a uranium project to go ahead”.

While NT Environment Minister Alison Anderson, present at the rally, promised to take the message of opposition back to the NT government, the crowd resolved to continue building a broad campaign of opposition and undertake community actions at the site if exploration works go ahead.

140 personal fax messages were collected and are being sent to NT and federal Mining and Environment ministers and the NT Chief Minister.

Red Centre uranium digs approved - NT News:
http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2008/10/04/7635_ntnews.html

 NT 'ignored community over uranium project' - ABC
www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/03/2381883.htm

 Uranium mining won't affect Alice water: Henderson, ABC
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/06/2383116.htm?site=alicesprings

Story based on Beyond Nuclear media release.

CANBERRA, 18 SEPTEMBER 2008: The Medical Association for Prevention of War has welcomed the recommendations of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties that Australia does not proceed with uranium sales to Russia until far more stringent measures are in place to separate Russia’s civilian and military facilities.

Five Liberal and National party members of the committee issued a dissenting report, seemingly on the basis of faith that things will improve when Australian exports begin. Liberal member Kevin Andrews did not sign either document. 

Association President Dr Sue Wareham congratulated the Committee on taking seriously both the inadequacy of current safeguards as they relate to Russia, and Australia’s responsibilities as a uranium exporter.

“The committee, in proposing that the separation of civilian and military uses of uranium be verified by IAEA inspections, have understood the alarming truth of the existing system” Dr Wareham said.

“As MAPW told the committee, the current safeguards cannot guarantee that Australian uranium would not end up in Russian nuclear weapons”

“The five nuclear weapons states which are party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPTi), including Russia, are under much less scrutiny than states that do not yet have nuclear weapons. For example, the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, has confirmed that Russia’s military sites are off limits for inspection."

"Worse still, no IAEA report or safeguards statement since 1995 makes mention of actual inspections in Russian facilities,” said Dr Wareham.

The Committee has also recommended that Russia should fulfil its obligations under the NPT treaty, before Australia considers selling Russia our uranium.

“MAPW believes that Australia should not sell uranium to any nuclear weapons states, including Russia. All of the 5 nuclear weapons states that are party to the NPT are in breach of the treaty by their refusal to get rid of their nuclear weapons,” Dr Wareham concluded.

• Media comment: see our media release or contact our office.
• JSCOT Committee report: On APH website - scroll down, Chapter 2 is the Russia report
• Dr Sue Wareham's oral submission to the Committee: See Hansard transcript - page 2.

CANBERRA, 18 SEPTEMBER 2008: The Australian Government has received a Committee report recommending against ratifying a treaty which would have allowed uranium sales to Russia to proceed. 

The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties has recommended that stringent conditions be met before the treaty is ratified. MAPW has welcomed this outcome (see separate story and media release).

The report's recommendations are as follows:

List of recommendations regarding Agreement with the Russian Federation on cooperation in the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes

Recommendation 1
The Committee recommends that the Australian Government not proceed with ratification of the Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Russian Federation on Cooperation in the Use of Nuclear Energy for Peaceful Purposes until:
(a) Russia’s reform process to clearly separate its civilian nuclear and military nuclear facilities is completed and independently verified;
(b) IAEA inspections are implemented for Russian facilities that will handle Australian Obligated Nuclear Materials;
(c) The Government is satisfied that the Russian Federation is complying with its obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPTi) noting that this treaty is scheduled for review in 2010;
(d) The Government is satisfied that Russia will not subsequently abandon this treaty or other nuclear treaties;
(e) Further consideration is given to the potential ramifications for this agreement of recent political events affecting Russia;
(f) Further consideration is given to Article IX of the Agreements, ‘State Secrets’, and the Government is confident that this article will not undermine the intent of this agreement;
(g) Further consideration is given to the justification for secrecy of ‘Material Unaccounted For’; and
(h) The Australian Government discusses with the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Canada and Japan, whether the problems of the past in relation to Russian nuclear material being stolen, have now been addressed satisfactorily.

Recommendation 2
The Committee reiterates its earlier recommendation, made in Report 81:
The Committee recommends that the Australian Government lobbies the IAEA and the five declared nuclear weapons states under the NPT to make the safeguarding of all conversion facilities mandatory.

Recommendation 3
The Committee recommends that Australian efforts to strengthen the resourcing of the IAEA be continued.

INDIA, 10 JUNE 2008. Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) - MAPW's sister organisation and fellow affiliate of IPPNWi - have issued a press release welcoming Australia's decision not to sell uranium to India, and Prime Minister Rudd's announcement of a new international Commission to advance nuclear disarmament,

The Press Release reads:
In a statement released here today Dr.Livar Singh Chawla – Vice President IPPNW & President IDPD and Dr.Arun Mitra – General Secretary IDPD welcomed the statement of Australian Prime Minister Mr.Kevin Rudd not to sell Uranium to India.

The Uranium is directly linked to the production of nuclear weapons and its supplies to India could increase the nuclear arms race in the already fragile region of South Asia.

A delegation of Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) had met Mr.Murray Harris, Counsellor (Political) and Head, Public Affairs, Australian High Commission, New Delhi on 15th May 2008 and submitted through him the view point of IDPD in this regard. IDPD has carried out a study on the Health Effects of Uranium Mining on people living around Jadugoda Uranium Mines and found alarming results. T

he IDPD further welcomes the statement of Mr.Rudd to create a nuclear non proliferation and disarmament commission which could be step forward for nuclear disarmament.

IDPD also welcomed the statement of Dr.Manmohan Singh – Prime Minister of India impressing upon the need to implement Rajiv Gandhi Action Plan for global nuclear disarmament and hoped like minded countries could come forward to meet this challenge.

 Dr Arun Mitra
General Secretary
Indian Doctors For Peace and Development (IDPD)
139-E, Kitchlu Nagar,
Ludhiana - 141001
Punjab (India)
Phone: +91 161 2300252, 2304360
Mobile: +91 94170 00360
 

• Two stories this week show the vulnerability and risks posed by both military and civilian nuclear facilities

Sweden: Men held over nuclear scare

SWEDISH police detained two men on suspicion of planning to sabotage a nuclear power station today after one of them was discovered entering it with small amounts of a highly explosive material. 22 May 2008, Herald-Sun (Melbourne, Australia)

China: earthquake concerns for nuclear installations

MAY 2008: IPPNWi has launched a medical campaign, as part of ICANi, to accelerate the global conversion of radioisotope-producing reactors from highly enriched uranium (HEUi) to low enriched uranium (LEU). The objective of the campaign is the passage of resolutions by medical associations around the world, in order to place irresistible pressure on those few producers who continue to use HEU needlessly.

 While it may seem like a small matter compared with the task of eliminating some 25,000 nuclear weapons from the world's arsenals, this is a proliferation problem in the medical profession's own backyard. Health care professionals have an obligation to hasten the phase-out of medical commerce in HEU and so terminate one of the most vulnerable pathways to the much-feared "terrorist bomb."

 IPPNW's International Council and IPPNW Board are asking all IPPNW affiliates to take contact their national medical associations and specialty associations, and to inform their leaderships of the the use of HEU in medical isotope production. 

• See our Nuclear Medicine page for more details including a fact sheet and draft policy for professional organisations
• These resources, plus a powerpoint presentation, are also available from the IPPNW website

MAPW's Northern Territory branch is supporting a public meeting on proposed uranium exploration at the Angela Pamela deposits, to be held Wednesday 7 May in Alice Springs.

The meeting will provide information on the implications of uranium exploration and mining, and discuss options for community response.

The keynote speaker will be Dr Gavin Mudd, civil engineering lecturer at Monash University.

Dr Mudd has active research interests in urban groundwater issues, groundwater management and assessment, especially with respect to climate change and sustainability. He has had extensive involvement in examining the underlying scientific issues associated with uranium mining in Australia, with detailed knowledge of the Australian uranium mining sector.

Other speakers include a representative from Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation, Dr Hilary Tyler from the Medical Association for the Prevention of War and Natalie Wasley from the Beyond Nuclear Initiative.

Public comments on the exploration license application are due at the end of May. These comments must be considered by the NT Mines Minister Chris Natt in deciding whether to grant the license.

The uranium deposits are situated 25 km south of Alice, within the town water catchment boundary and in close proximity to planned and existing bore fields for drinking water supplies.

MAPW member and meeting organiser Dr Tom Keaney notes that “The potential economic benefits of uranium mining can not be divorced from the risks of local contamination from radioactive materials, the catastrophic effects of nuclear reactor dysfunction, the production of radioactive waste or the potential for reprocessed Alice Springs uranium to end up in a nuclear warhead. These risks have clear local, regional and global implications”.

Contact :

Dr Gavin Mudd 0419 117 494
Natalie Wasley 0429 900 774
Jimmy Cocking 0423 511 931
Dr Tom Keaney 0406 557 35
Dr Hilary Tyler 0419 244 102
 

LAX NUCLEAR SAFEGUARDS pose a key threat for Australia and the world, according to an opinion piece published in the Adelaide Advertiser on 22 April 2008; written by MAPW Vice-President Dr Bill Williams, with Professor Jim Falk.

The authors argue that nuclear proliferation is a key threat facing Australia. They ask us to consider the uranium export industry as uranium is not just fuel for electricity generation but it is also feedstock for nuclear weapons - the most destructive weapons ever devised. 

They note that only a fraction of safeguards-eligible nuclear facilities and stockpiles are actually inspected by the IAEA, and that nuclear materials sold overseas are never fully accounted for.