June 03, 2003
stamping on the feds toes
The Rann Government's resolute opposition to the Commonwealth's proposal to establish a low-level radioactive waste dump by 2004 at site 40a on Arcoona Station near Woomera is one of the best things they are doing.
Making this site and the nearby site 45a parks is an excellent move. Making things as difficult as is constitutionally possible for the Commonwealth on this issue is a good strategy. The Commonwealth's claim that establishing a low-level radioactive waste dump by at site 40a on Arcoona Station is in the general or national interest is a dubious one.
This fight shows the value of federalism. Often dismissed as a constitutional constraint on democracy, federalism enables a little state in a federation like SA to have its say and to express its own values. This is no momentary passion, state self-interest, factionalism or myopia as Canberra suggests. It is a considered judgement in face of the Commonwealth's desire to take the question off the political agenda. It is about local self-determination in democratic politics of the naton state given that a threat to secede is not credible.
SA is deploying a deep dissatisfaction to call the nation to account through democratic politics to highlight the heavy handedness and dubious politics of the Commonwealth. Without the separation of powers in federalism we in South Australia would be walked over. With these powers of divided rule we as a sovereign people can pressure the state government to make it harder for the executive in Canberra to act.
Difference and diversity within a federation are the strengths of democracy rather than weaknesses in the face of a technocratic rationality. This is a rationality deployed by a powerful state that is equipped with extensive scientific and technological resources and is determined to transform nature. Such a rationality is in the process of becoming detached from human and ecological values, freed from the constraints of civil society and democratic politics.
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 09:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 06, 2003
Nukes Dump/Space Industry
The story on the nuclear waste dump in SA continues to break. The angle now is the conflict between the needs of the nascent space industry in the Woomera Prohibited area and the Commonwealth's proposal to build a radioactive waste dump next door to the missile testing range.
What is being sacrificed by the Commonwealth in pursuing this nuke dump is the possibility of SA's regional development being partly clustered around a space industry. SA's regional growoth is to be sacrificed.
Rebecca DiGirolamo writing in The Australian here states that the space industry has concerns. These concerns undermine the claims by Peter McGauran, the federal Science Minsiter, that future space projects would not be affected by the location of the nuke dump at site 52a.
One of the space industries is National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan. NAL have invested $6 million in upgrading the infrastructure in the Woomera Prohibited Area, and they want to use the area until 2005. NAL's tests, which involve firing a massive rocket carrying a model jet, are part of a Japanese government-funded project to develop a supersonic passenger jet.
NAL is quoted Rebecca as saying that the boundary of the proposed nuclear repository---site 52a---is less than 1km from it plans to land a model jet in trials in 2002 and 2003. Kimo Sakata, NAL's project director, said that the repository was too close to their landing area and added that the landing area could not be easily changed.
And Allan Paull of the University of Queensland said that their HyShot project, which tests high-speed scram jets in the Woomera Protected Area, would be hindered by the federal government's nuke dump proposal.
There is a bright space industry future in South Australia. For instance, the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science plan to use Woomera to recover a small re-entry capsule containing sample material from a distant asteroid. NASA may test the future X-38 prototype crew return vehicle for the International Space Station
It all makes you wonder. Should not the federal government be facilitating the development of a nascent space industry, rather than trying to close it down by placing obstacles in its way.
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 05:16 PM | Comments (3)
February 05, 2003
Breaking news
Finally The Advertiser discovers that it is a newspaper that should comment on what is happening in the state.
It has said nothing at all for two days about the commonwealth proposal's to construct a low level nuclear waste dump within the Woomera Prohibited Area that is a missile site and space launching pad. Today it runs this story by political reporter LEANNE CRAIG.
True, it is only yesterdays news repackaged around a media release by Premier Rann, which states that the proposed radioactive waste dump at Woomera will jeopardise South Australia's burgeoning space research industry. But it is something.
The Premier, to his credit, is running hard on the issue, even though he knows that the Commonwealth has the power to roll himin his opposition to the location of a low level nuclear waste dump in SA. By contrast, The Advertiser is barely walking on the issue. There is no investigative journalism on this issue.
Clearly, The Advertiser has forgotten that newspapers have a responsiblity to the democratic process and the formation of public opinion. It must be very difficult for a concerned reporter, who takes the ethos of the journalism profession seriously, to work at The Advertiser.
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 11:19 AM | Comments (3)
February 04, 2003
Danger Zone
You would think that one of the last places that a federal government would bury radioactive waste is next door to a military bombing range. Good public sense would say that burying 5.7 million litres of low-level radioactive waste inside the defences forces testing ground at the Woomera Prohibited Area in South Australia would not be considered the best option.
Especially, when the alternative sites to site 52a (called 40a and 45a) are located east of the Woomera Prohibited Area and in the same geologically favourable conditions as site 52a.
Well the Commonwealth is deadly serious. Site 52a is the preferred option. And it is going to spend up big on a public relations campaign to convince South Australians that it makes good sense. South Australians are basically saying not in our backyard.'
Does it make good sense?
Consider this story by Rebecca Di Girolamo in The Australian-(no link). This is carrying the story. As a heap of junk for code has pointed out the story is being ignored by the South Australia's tabloid newspaper, The Advertiser
Rebecca quotes the Commonwealth Department of Defence as saying that it does not make sense. It's position is that the proximity of the ballistics weapon site at Woomera leads to a potential risk for accidental explosion that is suprisingly high. It argued its case in a submission to the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) statement.
Australia's space and science industries concur with this judgement. Philip Teakle of Australia Space Research Institute (ASRI) says:
"Why would you site Australia's national radioactive repository in an area where you have the probability of a big bomb hitting it? Is this not asking for trouble? Either the site will get hit or range activities will have to be curtailed."
BAE Systems, the company contracted by the Department of Defence to provide support services to the nearby Woomera township, argue that any chance [of the repository being hit], however minimal, is not just not good enough. Site 52 a is 'illogical and dangerous' and fraught with unnecessary that have been 'ignored, undermined and miscalculated.'
The draft EIS statement accknowledged that there was a potential for 42 weapons penetrating the protective cover of the repository each year. It then said that the risk of the repository being hit was 'remote' and, even if it were hit, the environmental consquences would be 'minimal'.
This is the claim that is disputed by ASRI, Defence and BAE Systems. The Defence Department's submission to the draft EIS has not been released.
Why site 52a rather than sites 40a or 45a? One suggestion is that it is the cheap option. The federal government would save millions of dollars in road, water and electricity services as these are already established at site 52a. It is a case of short-term savings over the long-term wealth of the Woomera Prohibited Area.
Is this a case of bean counter mentality disguised as science and bureaucratic rational planning?
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 04:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 03, 2003
Radioactive Idiots?
a heap of junk for code mentioned that SA is to become the dumping ground for low level radioactive junk. The proposed repository, site 52a, would store almost 6 million litres of waste buried in a buffer zone.
Scott over at The Eye of the Beholder has picked up the story on the proposed nuclear waste dump. In his post on the Commonwealth proposal for radioactive junk to be dumped near Woomera he asks:
"But what idiot came up with the idea of putting this dump just 1km away from where they test rockets and missiles?"
There was nothing in The Advertiser about site 52A. Great newspaper huh? Would they know what investigative journalism is? The Australian has--Defence officials oppose nuke dump. Apparently, Defence officials have warned Senator Hill the EIS drafted by DEST was misleading, failed to adequately consult Defence and misjudged missile impact risks and radiation exposures.
Defence officials advised the radioactive repository would threaten the safety of testing because it sat beneath safety templates – areas set aside to enable the safe crash-landing of a projectile that is off-course. Sources say the officials are "violently opposed to 52a" and made a " scathing attack on the people who did the (EIS) assessment".
And a Japanese rocket last year crashed spectacularly just 8km from site 52a.
What does that say about The Advertiser for failing to follow up the story?Have their journalists read the submissions to the draft EIS. Or are they waiting for a Rann Government media release?
Well this is the DEST webite dealing with Radioactive Waste Management in Australia.
The full draft EIS (Environmental Impact Statement ) Report can be found here.
For the consultation process, submissions and discussion papers see here
The supplementary report, which responds to the issues raised by the public on the draft EIS, is to found here
Thats the process of how the Commonwealth got to propose that a radioactive dump would be just 1km away from the Range E Target Area, where defence and commercial companies frequently test missiles. I wonder what the Defence Department says? What did it say in response to the draft EIS?
General information on waste disposal of radioactive material can be found here. This is the US based International Atomic Energy Agency, but 'international' does not include Australia it would seem. There is no information on what is happening in Australia that I could find. It is all about Iraq.
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 02:47 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack