One would hope Helen that you never get Cancer or need an MRI because if you took advantage of those devises then that would make you a Hypocrite. I sincerely hope you don't have a Smoke alarm in you house because what makes them work is Plutonium.

Are you a hypocrite, Helen?

To elaborate on Curmudgeon's info, there have been no deaths from the Three Mile Island incident (there may [about 30% chance last I read] be one cancer attributable in the long term), there have been no deaths directly from the reactor in Japan (while there were about 150 deaths attributed to the evacuation, it is thought that there would have been none from the radiation if the evacuation had not occurred) and the "million deaths" that Caldacot refers to is from a series of papers that were never published in English (you do have to wonder how good her Russian is) and have been totally discredited.

It is hard as a layperson to understand the science and put the actual risks involved into perspective, but when you look at the motivations of those talking (fear and profit are the main drivers in this debate IMO), it's not to hard to figure out who is and who is not worth listening to.

One has to wonder if people like Helen regret the particular hobbyhorse they climbed on years ago.

Hobby horse legs, like gravy train wheels, have a tendency to fall off over time.

It must be rather galling for these people to realise the legs have fallen off their horse, & they are now flogging a completely dead horse.

It must be even worse to realise that, after painting your hobby horse into a corner, there is now absolutely no way you can get off it, with even a shred of dignity.

I guess that is why they continue to push the same totally discredited garbage to the grave.

Rhrosty, Peter Lang, Curmudgeon, Grumbler, Hasbeen and Jayb

Nuclear waste dumps are an inevitable cost and problem of having a power reactor industry in Australia.

If nuclear waste dumps are so ultimately logical and rational and if there's many millions to be made from them, then:

1. there must be countries overseas that are making many $millions from hosting nuclear waste dumps? This doesn't include meaningless plans or business projections.

US Government plans made a decade ago are not valid post GFC.

Which countries are at present making millions from nuclear waste dumps?

High level waste dumps are working factories with circulating coolant. You can't just leave it in the ground and forget about it.

How much did the dumps cost to build?

Did government money build them, tax write-offs or subsidy funds?

If high level dumps are built in Australia who can guarantee that Foreign Company A or Country B will continue to pay for the upkeep, and honour Store in Australia contracts after 100 years, let alone 500 years? let alone 500,000 years?

Think of the terrorism, crime and invasion encouragement value of having 100s or 1,000s of tonnes of enriched, weapons grade, Plutonium in Australia? A cost effective investment for Australia?

Reactors need to be hardened to resist terrorist explosions and aircraft impacts. Noting Lucas Heights has been aircraft hardened.

You'd need a defence force to guard such dumps as police or security companies would be inadequate.

You also need an army to guard road or rail transport (against terrorism, sabotage and protestors) of reactor parts and nuclear waste.

Who pays for these military security costs?

Pete

Our nuke industry both weapons and power are interconnected so dangerous materials as waste are used for nuke weapons. There is no incentive to produce a safer means of power. The power side uses really old technology that is extremely unsafe and the waste lasts for up to billions of years.

Dr Helen Caldicott and Prof Chris Busby are not being alarmist. The dangers are real. Prof Busby has evidence of the USA using both depleted Uranium and small nuke weapons in Iraq. Perhaps better technology in nuclear Fusion is the answer but presently we have technology that is over 50 yrs old.

The price of nuke power is a fraud. There isn't a single reactor/power station anywhere that isn't heavily subsidised, and that's not even counting the cost of supporting infrastructure and handling, let alone disposal.
So far no-one is even CLOSE to finding a safe and sensible method of disposal, yet the associated problems last for tens of thousands of years, unlike any other source of generation.
Given the above it's absolutely idiotic to be even considering such for Australia.
We have amongst the best and most prolific sources for many forms of green power on the planet yet our government is hell-bent on crippling any attempt to develop them, and on top of their gutting of Science at every level one must surely come to believe that the Mad-Monk is determined to take us back to the 17th/18th century, in line with his religious and social beliefs.
Think also about this, that any Australian reactor and supply chain will be administered and over-sighted by our Public Service, that alone sends chills down my spine!
Anyone care to nominate ANY area of P.S. responsibility that ISN'T incompetent, wasteful, prone to corruption and downright dangerous to our health?
And you want to put nuclear radiation in THOSE hands?