Media release: Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam, Robin Chapple MLC
The state government's review of uranium mining regulation in WA has vindicated calls for a public inquiry into the industry.
The Australian Greens spokesperson on nuclear policy, Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam, said an independent report commissioned by the Department of Mines and Petroleum revealed serious flaws in the WA’s uranium mining regulations.
“The review identified regulatory holes in terms of openness and transparency, risk-based assessment – particularly in environmental health, mine worker safety, relevant training, and community consultation. These are serious problems - this is a wakeup to the WA Government on the overwhelming down-sides of uranium mining.”
“The Report recommends more staff for the Department as current staff levels and skills are inadequate for interagency meetings, media and community engagement. This indicates that the Department has been stretched to the limit when reviewing uranium mining matters, and that is profoundly troubling. This is not an industry where near enough is safe enough.”
Greens MLC for the Mining and Pastoral region Robin Chapple said the flaws identified in the report are only part of the problem with uranium mining.
“The report is based on the assumption that it is economical to mine and extract uranium at this time. With the current uranium price so low, and with significant markets phasing out nuclear power or reactors in shut down mode, the global market has taken a huge hit. That is why BHP is going slow on Yeelirrie and Cameco/Mitsubishi on Kintyre, leaving Toro's troubled and uneconomic project as the front runner. This is a company with no proven experience of operating a mine, sitting on a small low-grade deposit hosted in difficult calcrete geology.”
"Premier Barnett still has time to subject this industry to a thorough commission of inquiry," Mr Chapple concluded.
The Greens have expressed grave concerns over the Malaysian Government's approval for a new rare earth refinery in Pahang.
West Australian Senator Scott Ludlam said many local residents, environment groups and other parties were still deeply troubled by the proposed refinery and the process by which it has been established.
"In early January the Malaysian press was reporting severe restrictions on the public's ability to access information about the proposed plant. After almost a year of protests from locals and environmentalists forced Lynas to revise plans, the Australian company and Malaysian authorities were still reticent to reveal all. Why?" said Senator Ludlam.
Greens WA MLC Robin Chapple said rare earth mining and refining had caused controversy in China - the world's leading source of the minerals.
"One of the major reasons China has reduced its rare earth output and exports since 2009 was the government and public concern that mining and refining operations were causing excessive contamination to surrounding areas."
"The original proposal was to process as well as mine in Mount Weld, Western Australia, and to export the refined rare earth. We are concerned that thousands of tonnes of this unprocessed material containing radioactive thorium will be transported through Fremantle in road trains, in the same bags and using the same method employed for the lead exports by Magellan."
"We still believe that the material should be processed at Mt Weld and the toxic legacy placed back in the ground from where it came from rather than be left in piles on swampland in Malaysia," said Mr Chapple.
Senator Ludlam said public pressure had caused changes from the Malaysian authorities and the company, but serious concerns remained.
"The original plan looked like a cowboy job - raising a lot of questions. Protests by residents and NGOs since early last year saw a march on Malaysia's parliament and a demonstration at the Australian High Commission. Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency made a series of recommendations to reduce risks posed by the plan, including a better long-term waste management plan, leading the government to impose additional safety standards - but there has been a lack of transparency."
"When Malaysia's Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry announced Lynas had applied for a temporary licence, the Ministry stated it would display the application documents for public feedback before reaching their decision. Unreasonable restrictions were placed on public viewing of the documents. It was reported only one person was allowed to view the 300+ page document at a time for a maximum of one hour. If the public could view the document for a 14 day period, in an office open seven hours a day, but only one person at a time for a maximum of one hour, there was essentially a smoke and mirrors consultation process," said Senator Ludlam.
Media Contact: Giovanni Torre - 0417 174 302 & Robin Chapple - 0409 379 263
Greens MP Robin Chapple has moved to block the State Government from introducing a 5% royalty on uranium exports from WA.
“The Greens oppose uranium mining in Western Australia. It is not like other mining because uranium fuels the nuclear cycle which is inherently dangerous at all its stages. It is destined to become nuclear waste or even nuclear weapons”, Mr Chapple said.
“The Barnett-Grylls government has proposed royalty rates of 5% for uranium. I’ve moved to disallow the regulations and Parliament will debate this in the New Year.”
“5% royalty is less than the royalty on iron ore – less than the royalty on many other mining operations in WA.”
“The argument that uranium should be rated at 5% because it is shipped as a concentrate fails to properly consider the full impact of uranium mining on the State and community of WA. Royalty rates are intended to reflect as assessment of the benefits to the community.”
“Uranium mining leaves a legacy of radioactive waste at the mine site for tens of thousands of years. It has been proven to be hazardous to workers in the industry and has caused a terrible toll in deaths and health issues throughout its history.”
“This is a legacy which the State of WA will ultimately be responsible for – and the royalty rates should reflect this very significant future liability.”
“The highly radioactive nature of uranium mining requires establishing an expensive new regulatory regime in WA – and the community shouldn’t be picking up that bill. Miners should be covering that cost.”
“I will be working over summer with my colleagues in the Legislative Council to impose a much higher royalty on Uranium when this matter is debated in early 2012.”
“I call on the National Party to consult with their constituents about this matter over the summer. The royalties to regions program will have little to gain from a 5% royalty on uranium – yet it will be regional communities who face the local consequences of uranium mines imposed in their areas.”
For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263
HON ROBIN CHAPPLE (Mining and Pastoral) [5.50 pm]: Since the earthquake and tsunami of 11 March, Greens parliamentarians and party members around the world have been very concerned for the people of Japan, including our friends and colleagues whose lives changed on the day of the earthquake. Japan faces a very long recovery and rebuilding effort from an event that took such a short time. As someone who knows about geology, I am deeply aware of the sheer unforgiving force of an earthquake and the magnitude of that much water moving that fast. I am joined by my Greens colleagues in being amazed and heartened by the actions taken by the Japanese people in their recovery efforts: their ingenuity and improvisation and their capacity to organise on large scales is being tested greatly; how the Japanese people have met the test of cooperation within their communities; how efficiently they have moved to house and care for the displaced; and how they support the grieving and traumatised. All are different kinds of life-saving work, but crucial during the early stages of surviving a catastrophe on this scale. How quickly, also, have the Japanese people acted on the realisation that they do not need to use so much electricity. Electricity consumption has, out of necessity, reduced dramatically in big city centres, but this situation has advanced the idea that places do not need to be seen from space to be absolutely fantastic, interesting and prosperous places.
Acts of international support received in their hour of need have been important messages of solidarity for Japanese people. I wish to join my colleague Senator Scott Ludlam’s acknowledgement in federal Parliament of the speed with which the Australian government offered and delivered aid and assistance.
This week, on Tuesday, in the month of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Chernobyl accident, the Fukushima nuclear plant accident was classified a level 7 incident—the worst possible type of nuclear event. I served on the Radiation Health and Safety Advisory Council of the federal government’s nuclear regulatory authority before serving this term in Parliament, and therefore know what it means for several nuclear reactors to experience serious power outages and fires for over a month, leading to radioactive and radiation leakages—some of them very large, others smaller—into the air and ocean. I know what it means for the workers on 10-minute shifts risking their lives, working to fight a radiation fire that they cannot see. The radiation levels are thousands of times those permitted normally. I cannot imagine what it means, however, for the Japanese people whose land, food and agriculture are at serious risk of contamination. I cannot imagine not letting my child drink water from a tap. I cannot imagine not returning to my home because it is now part of an exclusion zone that will be depopulated for many generations. I am aware of the science, the current thinking about acceptable levels of radiation, and level 7 disaster radiation releases are far from being acceptable for human health, water, fish, plants and all living things. Much of the actual damage, the cancers and mutations, will not be seen for a long time; in some cases, decades. Radiation works in mysterious ways and that is something the nuclear industry absolutely banks on—literally. It banks on the fact that radiation cannot be seen, tasted or smelled and that the damage shows up a long time later.
The Western Australian Nuclear Free Alliance, made up of Aboriginal people from all over Western Australia and their allies, met on 4 April under the slogan, “We Can’t Close the Gap by Digging a Deeper Hole”.
Traditional owners from the Pilbara, the Kimberley, the Goldfields, the Great Victoria Desert, the Central Desert, the Gascoyne, Perth and the South West all say that on a good day Australian uranium becomes radioactive waste; on a bad day it becomes fallout. They express their profound regret that Australian uranium bought by TEPCO could be what is contaminating the sea water, food chain and gene pool. These Australian people are joined by others who have opposed Australia being the source of uranium, which is causing so much long-term damage, risk, alarm and controversy. I take this opportunity to seek leave to table their conference statement.
Yvonne Margarula, traditional owner of the lands on which the Ranger uranium mine sits in Kakadu National Park, summed up this sense of responsibility in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, which appeared on the front page of last Friday’s The Age. In it she expressed her profound sadness that radiation problems at Fukushima were possibly fuelled by uranium derived from her traditional lands. As we all know, the Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu is currently out of action, with milling suspended until July and mining also suspended. It is likely that the uranium was from the Olympic Dam mine—a mine that uses 33 million litres of water each day at no cost whatsoever to BHP. In the driest state in the driest continent on earth, we simply cannot afford to waste that much water. The Greens globally agree that the energy future is renewable rather than radioactive, and calls on the Western Australian government to join the actions of the German, Swiss, Chinese and Venezuelan governments and to pause and conduct a thorough review of its responsibilities, and of the risks and consequences of being a major uranium supplier, including our links to not only Fukushima and the many other reactors around the world burning Australian uranium, but also the nuclear weapons industry, which continues to hold the world to ransom, 66 years after the first use of nuclear weapons on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Premier Colin Barnett’s continuing pursuit of nuclear power for Western Australia even as radiation leaks from the Fukushima facility are appalling and out of step with his own party, Greens MLC Robin Chapple said today.
“It is truly incredible that anyone, let alone a State Premier, can continue to push for nuclear generated power in light of the tragedy unfolding in Japan,” Mr. Chapple said.
“I think that whilst events are largely speaking for themselves in terms of the safety of nuclear power, the Premier’s fantasy needs to face some harsh facts and these need to be raised systematically.”
“The Premier has said that nuclear should not be an option on fault lines. That should rule out Western Australia given that Perth is adjacent to a fault line.”
“We experience infrequent but significant seismic events such as the Kalgoorlie quake in 2010 – and as we have seen, it only takes one quake to cause a major incident and it only takes one major incident to contaminate a community”
“The Premier advises that he wants to see nuclear as an option once we have exhausted our fossil fuel supplies.”
“That in itself is an indication that the man has no vision with regards to any form of renewable energy generation and that he expects WA to remain chained to dirty energy to the bitter, unaffordable end.”
“He then wants to lock the State into an energy source that is basically an incredibly inefficient, expensive, and potentially catastrophic energy source that will dog future generations well after he is gone.”
“Nuclear is not a clean option because it generates highly radioactive waste that few countries or communities are prepared to have sitting around for thousands of years.”
“Nuclear is not a low emission energy source because the combined CO2e emissions from mining, processing and refining uranium, and the emissions from waste management are far higher than genuine renewable energy sources.”
“Nuclear is not a safe energy source, as has been made abundantly and tragically clear from its inception right up to the present moment. The industry itself is plagued with malpractice and faulty safety accounting.”
“Nuclear is also an incredibly expensive option and virtually impossible to insure without passing the cost on to the taxpayer.”
“Even Tony Abbott has said that nuclear is too expensive an option. This will be doubly true after the insurance agencies account for the Fukushima disaster.”
“Finally, the Premier has completely failed to grasp the implications of installing an incredibly water-hungry facility in a water-starved state.”
“Mr. Barnett is in the grip of a dangerous fantasy as a nightmare unfolds in the real world.”
For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255
