Howard's Nuclear Push and What it Means for Universities: The Plans for a Nuclear Institute at Sydney Uni
12pm Tuesday October 16, Holme Reading Room
Speakers: Sue Wareham (Medican Association for the Prevention of War), John Kaye (The Greens), Michael Thomson (National Tertiary Education Union, Sydney Uni).
On August 22 the Vice-Chancellor announced the development of a new Institute of Nuclear Science, in partnership with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation at Sydney Unviesity. This will be the first such centre since the 1980s and will be critical in facilitating the development of a nuclear industry in Australia.
This forum will discuss the reasons for opposing Howard's nuclear push, as well as those for rejecting the proposed Institute. These range from the fact that nuclear is too slow and too expensive to be any solution to climate change, to the fact that there is no safe way to dispose of nuclear waste after 50 years of research. Come along and see how you can be part of a Nuclear Free Future!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
Useful links
If you are interested in learning more about nuclear power; and the organisations that are campaigning against nuclear power, here are some useful links:
Australian Student Environment Network- http://www.asen.org.au/
- Anti-Nuclear Campaign: www.asen.org.au/index.php?p=campaign_anti_nuke
- Report- 'Opportunities to Waste: Australian Universities and the Nuclear Industry': www.asen.org.au/OpportunitiesToWaste/
- Sydney University Environment Collective, who are involved in the campaign against the nuclear institute, is a member of the Australian Student Environment Network.
Friends of the Earth Australia - http://www.foe.org.au/
- Anti- Nuclear Campaign: www.foe.org.au/anti-nuclear/
- Report- 'Nuclear No Solution to Climate Change': www.foe.org.au/campaigns/anti-nuclear/issues/nuclear-climate/
Wilderness Society Australia- http://www.wilderness.org.au/, https://www.wilderness.org.au/nuclear/index.html?
Australian Student Environment Network- http://www.asen.org.au/
- Anti-Nuclear Campaign: www.asen.org.au/index.php?p=campaign_anti_nuke
- Report- 'Opportunities to Waste: Australian Universities and the Nuclear Industry': www.asen.org.au/OpportunitiesToWaste/
- Sydney University Environment Collective, who are involved in the campaign against the nuclear institute, is a member of the Australian Student Environment Network.
Friends of the Earth Australia - http://www.foe.org.au/
- Anti- Nuclear Campaign: www.foe.org.au/anti-nuclear/
- Report- 'Nuclear No Solution to Climate Change': www.foe.org.au/campaigns/anti-nuclear/issues/nuclear-climate/
Wilderness Society Australia- http://www.wilderness.org.au/, https://www.wilderness.org.au/nuclear/index.html?
Student Speaks to APEC Rally about Nuclear Institute
At the demonstration around the Asia Pacific Economic Conference in Sydney on Saturday September 8th, Holly Creenaune from the Australian Student Environment Network spoke to the crowd about APEC's dangerous nuclear agenda, and how the Institute of Nuclear Science proposed for Sydney University will play a pivotal part in it:
"At the Sydney APEC meeting, John Howard is fuelling climate disaster: expanding coal mining and exports, pushing ineffective and non-binding targets, and undermining the Kyoto Protocol.
On Wednesday [September 5th], George Bush and John Howard announced their nuclear pact: escalating uranium mining, dotting nuclear power stations along the Australian coast, and turning Australian universities into research and training grounds for a dangerous and unsustainable industry.
Sydney University is marked for a major role, proposing the first nuclear institute in over twenty years. Students oppose their university's role in Howard's aggressive nuclear push. In 1986, the anti-nuclear movement saw the closure of the sole remaining School of Nuclear Engineering at UNSW. Twenty years on, there is still no support for Howard's nuclear agenda. We will shut down the Institute of Nuclear Science at Sydney University before it begins.
Australia's status in the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership will mean that uranium mined on Aboriginal lands and exported, will return to be stored in an international nuclear waste dump, proposed on Aboriginal lands in the Northern Territory.
We know uranium is a dirty fuel – it is used to create nuclear weapons, and it becomes radioactive waste that is toxic and deadly for 250,000 years. We know that after 50 years in the global nuclear industry there is still no safe way to store nuclear waste.
Despite what Bush and Howard say, Nuclear power is NO solution to climate change and across Australia we will stand up, we will resist, we will stop Howard and his nuclear agenda.
John Howard and the NSW Police have spent the last year attempting to intimidate, suppress and silence today's rally against APEC's dirty energy agenda. It has been difficult for us to demonstrate today. It has not been easy. But we are building this movement. Two weeks before the Federal Election we can put half a million people on the streets to Walk Against Warming, demanding a renewable and nuclear-free future.
There are a host of energy options available to us: wind, solar, solar thermal, hot rocks, small-scale hydro, energy efficiency and the list goes on.
But our growing movement to avert dangerous climate change goes beyond the technology: we are shifting power.
We are shifting power away from the 21 climate criminals here at APEC.
We are shifting power away from the multi-national coal and uranium mining companies pushing their polluting agenda.
We reject APEC's energy agenda – we need REAL ACTION on climate change. We reject a coal and nuclear-powered future. Today, we are creating a movement that is shutting down the dangerous fossil fuel industry. We are creating a future that is just, renewable and people-powered."
"At the Sydney APEC meeting, John Howard is fuelling climate disaster: expanding coal mining and exports, pushing ineffective and non-binding targets, and undermining the Kyoto Protocol.
On Wednesday [September 5th], George Bush and John Howard announced their nuclear pact: escalating uranium mining, dotting nuclear power stations along the Australian coast, and turning Australian universities into research and training grounds for a dangerous and unsustainable industry.
Sydney University is marked for a major role, proposing the first nuclear institute in over twenty years. Students oppose their university's role in Howard's aggressive nuclear push. In 1986, the anti-nuclear movement saw the closure of the sole remaining School of Nuclear Engineering at UNSW. Twenty years on, there is still no support for Howard's nuclear agenda. We will shut down the Institute of Nuclear Science at Sydney University before it begins.
Australia's status in the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership will mean that uranium mined on Aboriginal lands and exported, will return to be stored in an international nuclear waste dump, proposed on Aboriginal lands in the Northern Territory.
We know uranium is a dirty fuel – it is used to create nuclear weapons, and it becomes radioactive waste that is toxic and deadly for 250,000 years. We know that after 50 years in the global nuclear industry there is still no safe way to store nuclear waste.
Despite what Bush and Howard say, Nuclear power is NO solution to climate change and across Australia we will stand up, we will resist, we will stop Howard and his nuclear agenda.
John Howard and the NSW Police have spent the last year attempting to intimidate, suppress and silence today's rally against APEC's dirty energy agenda. It has been difficult for us to demonstrate today. It has not been easy. But we are building this movement. Two weeks before the Federal Election we can put half a million people on the streets to Walk Against Warming, demanding a renewable and nuclear-free future.
There are a host of energy options available to us: wind, solar, solar thermal, hot rocks, small-scale hydro, energy efficiency and the list goes on.
But our growing movement to avert dangerous climate change goes beyond the technology: we are shifting power.
We are shifting power away from the 21 climate criminals here at APEC.
We are shifting power away from the multi-national coal and uranium mining companies pushing their polluting agenda.
We reject APEC's energy agenda – we need REAL ACTION on climate change. We reject a coal and nuclear-powered future. Today, we are creating a movement that is shutting down the dangerous fossil fuel industry. We are creating a future that is just, renewable and people-powered."
Speakout Success
NUKES NOT WELCOME HERE!
NO to a Nuclear Institute at Sydney Uni!
NO to APEC and the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership!
Nuclear is NO solution to climate change!!!
These were the rallying cries that drew students to the speakout held outside Fisher library on Thursday the 6th of September. At 12 noon a passionate, loud and colourful group gathered to raise our voices against the Nuclear Institute. There were student speakers from Enviro Collective and the Anti War Action Group, and Michael Thomson, President of the Sydney University Branch of the National Tertiary Education Union. Students and educators alike are united against the nuclearisation of our university.
NO to a Nuclear Institute at Sydney Uni!
NO to APEC and the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership!
Nuclear is NO solution to climate change!!!
These were the rallying cries that drew students to the speakout held outside Fisher library on Thursday the 6th of September. At 12 noon a passionate, loud and colourful group gathered to raise our voices against the Nuclear Institute. There were student speakers from Enviro Collective and the Anti War Action Group, and Michael Thomson, President of the Sydney University Branch of the National Tertiary Education Union. Students and educators alike are united against the nuclearisation of our university.
They were joined by concerned citizens from the wider community - Aunty Isabelle from the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, speaking about the devastating impact of the nuclear cycle on Indigenous communities, and Matt Howard from Iraq Veterans Against the War, speaking about the dangers of depleted uranium munitions. The Nuclear Institute would be a crucial step in the establishment of a nuclear industry in Australia, the impact of which extends way beyond our campus.
The speakout was one step in raising awareness of the issues that relate to the Nuclear Institute amongst the student body. We will continue to raise awareness about, and coordinate opposition against, the Nuclear Institute.
Media Release - Thursday September 6, 2007
Don't Nuke Sydney University for GNEP: Opposing Howard's Nuclear Agenda at APEC
Today Sydney University students, staff and community members will show their opposition to the proposed Institute of Nuclear Science, marked for a major role in the US-Australia Nuclear deal announced last night.
Holly Creenaune of Friends of the Earth Sydney says "the US-Australia nuclear deal seeks to turn Australian universities into research and training grounds for a dangerous and unsustainable industry.
"Australia's status in GNEP as a major nuclear fuel supplier will lead to significant pressure to store international waste in the proposed Northern Territory nuclear waste dump. Despite the Prime Minister's claim, the Federal Council of the Liberal Party passed a motion in June explicitly supporting an international waste dump in Australia."
Olivia Nigro of the Australian Student Environment Network says "Sydney University students do not want to see their university be part of Howard's aggressive nuclear push. The Institute for Nuclear Science will be first since the closure of Australia's sole remaining School of Nuclear Engineering in the 1980s. Twenty years on, there is still no support for Howard's nuclear agenda at Sydney University or across the Australian community."
"Australia's status in GNEP as a major nuclear fuel supplier will lead to significant pressure to store international waste in the proposed Northern Territory nuclear waste dump. Despite the Prime Minister's claim, the Federal Council of the Liberal Party passed a motion in June explicitly supporting an international waste dump in Australia."
Olivia Nigro of the Australian Student Environment Network says "Sydney University students do not want to see their university be part of Howard's aggressive nuclear push. The Institute for Nuclear Science will be first since the closure of Australia's sole remaining School of Nuclear Engineering in the 1980s. Twenty years on, there is still no support for Howard's nuclear agenda at Sydney University or across the Australian community."
Wenny Theresia of the Sydney Nuclear Free Coalition says "Nuclear power is no solution to climate change – it is too expensive, too dangerous and cannot provide the deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions we need now."
Friends of the Earth Sydney, Sydney Nuclear Free Coalition and the Australian Student Environment Network are planning strong contingents demanding real action on climate change and a nuclear-free future at this Saturday's APEC rally.
For comment, please contact:
Friends of the Earth Sydney, Sydney Nuclear Free Coalition and the Australian Student Environment Network are planning strong contingents demanding real action on climate change and a nuclear-free future at this Saturday's APEC rally.
For comment, please contact:
Holly Creenaune 0417 682 541 - Friends of the Earth Sydney
Liv Nigro - 0401 955 405 - Australian Student Environment Network
Wenny Theresia - 0402 564 862 - Sydney Nuclear Free Coalition
Wenny Theresia - 0402 564 862 - Sydney Nuclear Free Coalition
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