http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/jim-green/ Dr Jim Green is a nuclear/energy campaigner with Friends of the Earth (http://www.foe.org.au) and a member of the EnergyScience Coalition (http://www.energyscience.org.au) and the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance (http://www.anfa.org.au). en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australian-uranium-fuelled-the-fukushima-disaster/ Sunday was the first anniversary of the nuclear meltdowns, explosions and fires at Fukushima in Japan. Australian governments and uranium mining companies need to be held to account for their role in the disaster. The impacts of the nuclear disaster have been horrendous. Over 100,000 people are still homeless and some will never be able to return. Homeless, jobless, separated from friends and family, the toll on people’s health and mental well-being has been significant − one indication being a sharp increase in suicide rates. One farmer’s suicide note simply read: “I wish there wasn’t a nuclear plant.” Early indications are that the long-term cancer death toll will be in the range of several hundred up to 1000. The death toll could rise significantly if many people resettle in contaminated areas. Tens of thousands of people are grappling with the dilemma of going home to live in contaminated areas or starting from scratch elsewhere. Direct and indirect economic costs of the disaster will amount to several hundred billions dollars. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jim Green) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australian-uranium-fuelled-the-fukushima-disaster/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australian-uranium-fuelled-the-fukushima-disaster/#item7991 Mon, 12 Mar 2012 19:38:44 +0000 Jim Green | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australias-dangerous-hypocrisy-on-nuclear-proliferation/ You don’t have to oppose uranium mining to oppose exports to nuclear-armed India. All it takes is a strong desire not to have an atomic bomb dropped on your head ... or anyone else’s. Thus critics of the plan to sell to India include uranium mining advocates Ron Walker, a former Australian diplomat and former Chair of the International Atomic Energy Agency; Paul Barratt, former Secretary of the Defence Department; and Kelvin Thomson, a member of Labor’s Right faction and Chair of Parliament’s treaties committee. The main concern is that India has not signed, and will not sign, the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Needless to say, that sets an alarming precedent. If the response to the India’s nuclear weapons program is to reward it with sales of uranium and nuclear technology, then others are sure to follow. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jim Green) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australias-dangerous-hypocrisy-on-nuclear-proliferation/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australias-dangerous-hypocrisy-on-nuclear-proliferation/#item7273 Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:50:46 +0000 Jim Green | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/support-for-nuclear-power-has-melted-away/ A poll by Roy Morgan Research several days into the Fukushima nuclear crisis found that 61 per cent of Australians oppose the development of nuclear power here, nearly double the 34 per cent level of support. Thus the growth in support for nuclear power over the past five years has been totally erased ... and then some. While there was undoubtedly growing support for nuclear power until Fukushima, the issue has been the subject of a great deal of hype and spin. In 2009, for example, a flurry of media reports and commentary followed the release of a Nielsen poll which found that support for nuclear power had risen to 49 per cent and had overtaken the level of opposition. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jim Green) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/support-for-nuclear-power-has-melted-away/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/support-for-nuclear-power-has-melted-away/#item5581 Sun, 10 Apr 2011 19:45:42 +0000 Jim Green | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/do-not-let-the-nuclear-industry-tell-you-that-radiation-is-safe/ The Paydirt 2011 Uranium Conference was held at the Adelaide Hilton on Monday and Tuesday. Bad timing. The image of uranium industry executives sipping cocktails at the Hilton as the Fukushima crisis entered its second week could hardly win the public’s hearts and minds. Likewise, Paladin CEO John Borshoff’s description of the Fukushima crisis as a “sideshow” will do nothing to quell public concern. Efforts to cool the nuclear reactor cores have met with mixed success; there have been deliberate and uncontrolled radiation releases and several explosions; 200,000 people were evacuated and the exclusion zone was repeatedly widened; a fire led to spent nuclear fuel releasing radiation directly to the environment; radiation monitors detected alarming jumps near the reactors and low levels of radiation have been detected in Tokyo and beyond; and food restrictions are being implemented because of radioactive contamination. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jim Green) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/do-not-let-the-nuclear-industry-tell-you-that-radiation-is-safe/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/do-not-let-the-nuclear-industry-tell-you-that-radiation-is-safe/#item5457 Thu, 24 Mar 2011 19:50:47 +0000 Jim Green | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/rolling-the-nuclear-dice-with-australian-uranium/ Secret US cables concerning nuclear politics in South Asia provide important context for debates over Australia’s uranium export industry. US cables released by Wikileaks warn that a limited Indian invasion of Pakistan, in response to an incident such as the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, would be to “roll the nuclear dice’’ and risk triggering nuclear warfare. An invasion would be limited in the hope of avoiding a nuclear response but would nevertheless be “fraught ... with potential nuclear consequences”. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jim Green) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/rolling-the-nuclear-dice-with-australian-uranium/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/rolling-the-nuclear-dice-with-australian-uranium/#item4681 Tue, 14 Dec 2010 19:39:57 +0000 Jim Green | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-myth-of-the-peaceful-atom/ The connection between power and proliferation is the inconvenient truth of the nuclear industry. Articles in The Australian in recent weeks by Ziggy Switkowski and academic Andrew O’Neil trivialise the links between nuclear power and nuclear weapons. O’Neil in particular had me choking on my cornflakes (and spluttering them all over Greg Sheridan’s mugshot, as luck would have it) with his contention that “every nuclear weapons program since and including the US Manhattan Project has been the product of dedicated military reactors rather than an offshoot of civilian programs.” O’Neil seems blissfully unaware that uranium enrichment provides a pathway to nuclear weapons without the need for a reactor of any description. He points to North Korea, claiming that “no one − including high-level International Atomic Energy Agency experts − was in any doubt ... that North Korea’s nuclear reactor program was military in its focus and intent.” feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jim Green) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-myth-of-the-peaceful-atom/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-myth-of-the-peaceful-atom/#item4185 Tue, 05 Oct 2010 19:40:26 +0000 Jim Green | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-exactly-are-we-to-introduce-nuclear-power/ Cheers to The Punch for the opportunity to respond to recent contributions on nuclear power, in particular those by Clive Mathieson and David Penberthy. Clive claims that nuclear power is “a debate Labor desperately doesn’t want us to have” and David says “our dominant politicians are determined to not even allow a debate” on the issue. Clive and David ought to spell out exactly what they want from the government. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jim Green) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-exactly-are-we-to-introduce-nuclear-power/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-exactly-are-we-to-introduce-nuclear-power/#item926 Sun, 16 Aug 2009 19:35:11 +0000 Jim Green | Author bios | The Punch