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MAY
2nd, 2008 |
IN THIS ISSUE: |
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1)
CCAMU COMMUNITY MEETING The next CCCAMU Community Meeting will be May 15th, 6:30pm at McMartin House, 125 Gore St East in Perth. We have just updated our website to include a section on "Nuclear". Go to http://www.ccamu to see the following documents,
"Why
Nuclear is Not Healthy for Humans or Other Life" "Nuclear
Smoke and Mirrors" 3) CALL FOR ARTISTS TO CONTRIBUTE Requests for donations from artists for the art auction May 10th. If you have something you are willing to donate please contact Sylvia Soderlind ss8@queensu.ca, Phone: 613-533-6000 ext. 74428. Please pass the request on to artist friends. All funds raised go to the Bob Lovelace/AAFNA Fund, and to support Bob's family while he remains in prison. The date for the art auction has been changed to May 10th (the day before mother's day). 4) SERPENT RIVER FIRST NATION LEADERS SAY "NO" TO URANIUM EXPLORATION SERPENT RIVER FIRST NATION (April 30, 2008) - It has come to the point where Serpent River First Nation leaders insist they want decisive action from the Ontario government on a list of matters pertaining to development in their traditional territory including the exploration of minerals, especially uranium. Elected Chief of Serpent River First Nation, Isadore Day, Wiindawtegowinini says he's concerned that private sector proponents for development are moving faster than government responses to consultation requirements for First Nations. "It poses real challenges between industry and First Nations when government moves slower in First Nation negotiations than it does when pushing through proponent approvals for expropriation of Crown lands" Day says. He goes on to say "what's worse is that Consultation and Accommodation requirements are not even in the form of mutually agreed policy between the Crown and the First Nations, and yet government is approving land expropriation in favor of development in traditional lands" Uranium exploration and potential development is a serious matter that the community has recently established a strong formal position on. "We have experienced a number of tragic incidents with respect to uranium mining impacts in our community's history" says Day, "and we are determined not to allow any of that damage to be inflicted upon our people or our lands ever again." The community realizes that the short term gain and the economic benefit is suspect of being "not worth the impact." Chief Day stated that he realizes that there will have to be discussions regarding changes to the Ontario Mining Act but for now the community has said that it is opposed to any uranium or any mineral exploration. This position has been supported by a strongly worded band council resolution carried by consensus in a community meeting to that effect. He says that in recent weeks and months, the First Nation has been in direct dialogue with the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines to begin discussions on how to work through a framework that details the legal requirements of consultation in the exploration phase. All other mining potential matters are considered non-starters at this time for the Serpent River First Nation. Directly in the Serpent River First Nation traditional territory there is a list of other developments ranging from cottage lot development, quarry projects, forestry, existing and proposed hydro projects and other competing interests to access crown lands. Day says that the Ontario government has been anticipating working with Serpent River First Nation on consultation and accommodation with respect to some of these projects but goes on to caution that, "all of these issues are not the same. It will take a much more consistent effort by Ontario to reach meaningful resolve on their duty to consult than what we have seen in recent years since the Haida, Taku and Mikisew decisions. There's a province and nation-wide pressure-cooker type situation ready to implode in First Nation-Government relations with regard to unresolved traditional lands and treaty entitlement disputes, so I think most would agree; its time for action!" Day says that at best, interim regulatory changes might help but urges Ontario and Canada to get their ac together on legislative change that respects and legitimizes Anishnabek Law. In his final comments, Chief Day said that "Anishinabek Leaders are now becoming more adamant that the implementation of Treaties is going to be the steam to get these issues to the next level." Ending the discussion, Day says that the Robinson Huron Treaty of 1850 requires a formal approach based on collective rights and efforts by First Nation communities. He calls on government and industry to a table where it won't be just one First Nation having to deal with issues alone; unity among First Nations in the Robinson Huron Treaty is being considered more than ever before. For further information contact: Chief Isadore
Day, Wiindawtegowinini 5) VIDEO: FREE BOB LOVELACE & THE KI SIX RYERSON RALLY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBHzuFSUnm0 CCAMU originally started a petition back in July 2007, to request a moratorium on uranium mining in Eastern Ontario. We collected over 3,000 signatures on that petition and submitted it to the Ontario government. It was discounted, as it was did not fit the criteria of a formal petition. We have since researched the issue and have formulated a new petition. It is available on our website under the ON-LINE PETITION tab. If you signed the original petition, please sign it again. You can download the new CCAMU petition PDF from our website. Have your family, friends, and colleges sign as well. When you have filled the page, send it in to the address at the bottom of the petition. IMPORTANT: Please print name and address below and then sign. Only Ontario residents are eligible to sign this petition. Petitioners under the age of majority may sign. Text of the Petition, Petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from the People of Ontario WHEREAS
exploration for uranium is taking place in Ontario, including on the traditional
territory of Algonquin First Nations We the undersigned residents of Ontario petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for a total moratorium on uranium exploration and mining in Eastern Ontario until there is a full, well informed and serious public debate and consensus regarding the impacts of the uranium cycle and Ontario's energy policy, including the role of nuclear energy as part of this overall energy policy. Nine municipalities adopted a resolution to request that the provincial government deny all permit applications for uranium mining in the region. The villages of Cambridge Narrows and Oromocto in New Brunswick have also passed resolutions calling for a moratorium or ban on uranium exploration and mining in the province. ARTICLE: MAYORS SEEK MINING MORATORIUM Times & Transcript April 23rd, 2008 The Forum des maires Acadie-Beauséjour in southeastern New Brunswick is asking the province to impose an interim moratorium on delivering permits for uranium mine exploration in the region. To read more of this article go to, http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/search/article/275910 8) ARTICLE: NUCLEAR MAY LOSE GREEN TAG IF FUEL COSTS RISE (Thanks to Michael Patenaude of West Quebec-CAMU for this. Check out Michael's website at http://no-uranium.blogspot.com/) April 30,
2008 More energy and water will be needed to extract and process high-grade uranium in the future, according to a new study. So what will this mean for those advocating nuclear power as a green technology? To read
more of this article go to, 9) ARTICLE: BANCROFT UPDATES URANIUM EXPLORATION AND DRILLING PROGRESS April 29, 2008 Bancroft Uranium Inc. (OTCBB: BCFT) ("Bancroft" or the "Company") today wishes to update the progress of the surface exploration and drilling program on the Monmouth Uranium Project near Bancroft, Ontario. To read
more of this article go to, 10) DR. GORDON EDWARDS ANSWERS: HOW MUCH URANIUM GOES TO NUCLEAR FUEL VS WEAPONS VS MEDICAL ISOTOPES? I have been asked: How much uranium is used for peaceful purposes, such as electricity generation and isotope production, and how much is used for military applications such a nuclear weapons? Rough Answer As a very rough estimate, the uranium that has been mined to date has been almost equally used for nuclear weapons and as fuel for civilian nuclear reactors. Only a minute amount has been used for isotope production. If all the uranium mines were permanently shut down as of tomorrow, isotope production would be unaffected for a very, very, very long time. The only competition would be from the bomb-makers. Uranium is the Key Uranium is the key element for all nuclear technology requiring energy production, whether civilian or military (including nuclear weapons as well as nuclear propulsion). Strategic Nuclear Materials: [HEU and Plutonium] There are only two strategic nuclear materials (materials from which one can fabricate the primary explosive for a nuclear weapon) and they are (1) HEU = highly enriched uranium, and (2) plutonium. If you REMOVE the HEU or the plutonium from any existing nuclear weapon, that weapon becomes unusable. But every atom of plutonium is created from an atom of uranium, so without uranium to start with there would be NO strategic nuclear materials at all. Fissile Uranium-235: [Natural U, LEU, and HEU] Uranium found in nature is always a blend of two main isotopes, called uranium-235 and uranium-238. Only uranium-235 can undergo a spontaneous chain reaction of nuclear fission, yielding an enormous amount of energy. So U-235 is called the "Fissile" isotope. It is the uranium isotope that provides the fuel for nuclear reactors and that has been used (in a highly concentrated form) as a nuclear explosive (e.g. in the Hiroshima bomb). Plutonium from Uranium-238: [all plutonium is bomb-usable] Uranium-238 is not fissile; however, when uranium-238 atoms are bombarded with neutrons, some of those neutrons may be absorbed by the U-238 nucleus and the uranium atom is then transmuted into a plutonium atom (plutonium-239, -240,-241, -242, etc.). ALL of these plutonium isotopes can be used to make bombs, (e.g. the Nagasaki bomb), and SOME of them (the odd-numbered isotopes) can be used to fuel a nuclear reactor. Every nuclear reactor fuelled with uranium produces plutonium as an inevitable byproduct. Since plutonium-239 (the most abundant isotope) has a half-life of 24,000 years, the irradiated nuclear fuel can be chemically processed to remove the plutonium and make atomic bombs any time in the future, even thousands of years after the reactor has been shut down and forgotten. This is the main proliferation risk of nuclear reactors. It is exacerbated by the fact that the nuclear industry plans to chemically remove the plutonium and uranium from the irradiated nuclear fuel from civilian reactors in order to re-use the fissile materials as fuel for nuclear reactors. Thus any criminal or terrorist group that gets its hands on this "recycled" nuclear fuel can much more easily access the plutonium, because the hardest part of the job has already been done by the nuclear industry in its zeal for perpetuating itself. Uranium Fuel for Most Civilian Reactors Most civilian reactors use either natural (unenriched) uranium or LEU = low-enriched uranium. Natural uranium consists of only 0.7 percent uranium-235 [and 99.3 percent uranium-238], whereas low-enriched uranium can range from 1 to 20 percent uranium-235. However, anyone (like Iran) who builds a uranium enrichment facility can CHOOSE to enrich the uranium to a higher degree, and thus the capability to make nuclear weapons from HEU exists. Since all future reactors will require either enriched uranium or plutonium as a fuel, and since HEU and plutonium are the two strategic nuclear materials, the link between the peaceful atom and the military atom is quite close.... The facilities needed to produce the raw materials for civilian nuclear fuel can also be used to produce the raw materials for bombs. Weapons-grade uranium Weapons-grade uranium is typically 95% uranium-235 or more, but anything more than 20 % uranium-235 is considered weapons-usable. Thus HEU takes in the range from 20 to 100 percent uranium-235. (The latter is presently unachievable.) Canadian uranium Until about 1970, virtually all of Canada's uranium was sold to the US military for weapons programs; in 1959, uranium was Canada's fourth most important export (after wheat, lumber and pulp) and it was all for bombs. Since then, all of Canada's uranium has been sold for ostensibly peaceful purposes only. However, the picture has become quite blurred between the peaceful and military uses of uranium since then. See my article: http://www.ccnr.org/non_prolif.html The problem is this. For a long time now, the depleted uranium (mostly U-238) left over from uranium enrichment hs been used by the military for military purposes. Of course people know about the DU ammunition that has been used since the Gulf War "Desert Storm" under the first President Bush. But long before DU munitions were deployed, the nuclear weapons makers were using DU as a target material to produce the necessary plutonium for their nuclear warheads (in specially designed "plutonium production" reactors). Moreover, DU is also used in the actual construction of the large, three-stage, "fission-fusion-fission" weapons called H-bombs. In this type of bomb, typically in the megaton range, the first stage is fission caused by plutonium (which was derived from DU), the second stage is fusion caused by 50 million degree heat acting on hydrogen isotopes (deuterium and tritium), and the third stage is direct fissioning of DU itself by the extremely energetic neutrons that are produced in abundance by the fusion reaction. Most of the explosive power of these H-bombs comes from the fissioning of depleted uranium, which is the left-over material from the uranium enrichment process -- and almost all of the radioactive fallout (fission products) also comes from the fissioning of depleted uranium in the third stage. Thus DU plays the major role in providing the most fearsome immediate effects (blast) and the most damaging lingering effects (fallout). Since the DU is a "free" byproduct of uranium enrichment for civilian nuclear fuel for reactors, it is very difficult to say how much uranium is used for "peaceful" as opposed to "military" applications. Hope this helps people to understand the physical connections.... Gordon Edwards |