Lots of Uranium in the wind today around the nuclear suppliers group conference in Christchurch. The big suits are here with their (our?) scowling security guards. Not much fun for my work mates as they have to deal with the security people to get parking coupons. Media are banned: of course. These people do nothing to allay my suspicions about this industry; I can smell the stench of of secrecy, big money and corruption from here.

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“New Zealand shouldn’t be part of the nuclear supply chain and to allow the raw minerals needed for nuclear generation and possibly weapons.”
“I also worry for the downstream impacts when it is time to dispose of the used uranium. There is still no safe, long term way to treat nuclear waste.”

Agree, agree. I was shocked to hear the above news.
Allowing Yellowcake through NZ ports implicates New Zealand in the nuclear industry. And the disposal of the waste is a serious issue. Whatever the yellowcake is for, allowing this to stopover here is against nuclear free policy, to my mind. NZ is tacitly agreeing to nuclear power and waste.

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That worries me that they are mining uranium in New Zealand. That could have such devastating effects for such a beautiful country.

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But Maritime NZ can at least ensure that the ship is safe and the cargo secure.

Trevor.

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Trev, not exactly a test of your suit, but: I don’t believe that ERMA gets to change the safety arrangements; only to rubber-stamp them. If we said no, then exactly the same arrangements would be used, but a different ship, going on a different route, would carry the same drums.

Stephen, I don’t know about Australian uranium mining, but oil mining in Africa has been on the news recently, and it does not create jobs for the locals. It uses imported labourers, who are cheap and have done the same kind of work before, and imported food, because they don’t trust the local sources.

BJ, after the end of nuclear power, due to peak uranium, we need to know where the energy will come from to reprocess the last of the spent fuel. If it’s fossil fuel, that casts some doubt on the project. Also, I’m inclined to think that fission power is about delaying the inevitable.

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Since the big guys aren’t making lots of new weapons the principle use of this stuff is for power.

Which means that it displaces power from fossil fuels.

I go along with Green thinking with respect to nuclear weapons. The rest is… not so easy for me to follow. I don’t agree with any more expansion of the meaning of “nuclear free”.

Particularly now when the most likely scenario is that owing to the fossil fuels we won’t HAVE a port there in a couple of hundred years.

BJ

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Uranium mining has big impacts on Australian communities. The act of mining itself is contentious, as is the controversial practise of trucking yellowcake past schools. I also worry for the downstream impacts when it is time to dispose of the used uranium. There is still no safe, long term way to treat nuclear waste.

1. impact = profits + new townships – some old ones may die but many jobs are created within the new ones
2. A big mountain range cavern is a pretty awesome way to dispose of Nuclear waste…and it’ll work well enough I reckon- or burying it in the outback of Aussie and Nevada – there are plenty of uninhabitable places to store nuclear waste in

Frankly I’m fine with the raw materials being shipped through NZ as long as it stays behind the fences of customs

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(Donning flame suit…) I can’t really see a problem with allowing yellowcake through New Zealand ports providing it does not clear customs and it is handled safely. It isn’t going to make much difference whether we allow it through our ports or not and if it does pass through our ports, then at least we can ensure that the ships and shipments are safe.

Trevor.

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@Mark
“GNS Science in Lower Hutt has been member of AINSE since 1995 and uses the Australian facilities to complement its own research in isotope and nuclear sciences. While it does work in some areas of nuclear science, mainly based on two particle accelerators, >>it does not have a nuclear reactor<< ." (emphasis added)
http://www.gns.cri.nz/nic/

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aaah Gareth – a small reactor near Lower Hutt? – since the sixties – have yet to lay my hands on it’s thrumming turbine, but other readers have previously confirmed this info.
May be we have to get down orf the White Horse here…

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