November 18, 2024

Pop-Up Sandy Ridge Nuclear Waste Dump. Another for Osborne, Adelaide.

Western Australia now hosts a massive low level nuclear waste dump few have heard of. Its called Sandy Ridge, created after paid-for secret agreements with interest groups, including some Aboriginal groups. More see https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-06/nuclear-waste-sandy-ridge-facility-tellus-holdings-aukus/104130550


(Photo above courtesy ABC News, just part of the Sandy Ridge facility)
For decades federal and state governments have tried to find a place to store low-level radioactive waste and failed. Now private company, Tellus Holdings, has quietly amassed 100,000 tonnes of low-level radioactive and chemical waste stored in the Western Australian outback at very isolated Sandy Ridge. (Photo below courtesy The West Australian - broad shot of the whole Sandy Ridge facility).





Maps above and clearer on Tellus PDF below. Sandy Ridge may be about 150km by helicopter ENE of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Or may be more than 3 hours and 200+kms by reliable 4WD east via the Great Eastern Highway from Kalgoorlie or out to blazes from Perth. See clearer image of MAPs on pages 3 and 8 of Tellus Holdings' PDF document at https://www.gemg.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/52018-Sandy-Ridge-%E2%80%93-Australia%E2%80%99s-First-Dual-Revenue-Near-Surface-Geological-Repository.pdf


Separately in Adelaide


Today it was announced Federal parliament has passed legislation that allows for low level nuclear waste to be stored and disposed of at Osborne shipyard in northeast sleepy Adelaide. Residents said they were not consulted or told of the plan. Our AUKUS robot AlboGov (encouraged by his cheerful UK reps :) said the dump is going ahead whatever local plebs think or fear. See https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-18/aukus-nuclear-waste-to-be-stored-adelaide-suburbs/104605640

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are so cynical Pete. And I like it.

Gessler said...

Important words from the Admiral in-charge of the US Navy's submarine build program:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/19/aukus-submarine-deal-richard-marles-on-track

Pete2 said...

Thanks Gessler

For https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/19/aukus-submarine-deal-richard-marles-on-track

It shows that the Biden Government's Defense Secretary Austin is voicing platitudes about Biden's failing AUKUS Virginia policy. Biden and Austin will be gone in 2 months. It is the directly impacted, longer term, US Navy voice that says US industry cannot build enough Virginias even for USN use - let alone for RAN use.

Regarding Marles - he is only a part-time Defence Minister who has little credibility. He might also be long gone after the next Australian Election, to be held no later than May next year, 2025.

Regards Pete

Anonymous said...

China's also getting better at projecting power from within its own territory:

"Specifications for the DF-100 include a length exceeding 9 meters, a projectile
diameter ranging between 0.7 and 1 meter, and a payload capacity of over 500
kilograms. The missile is powered by a ramjet engine and achieves speeds of
Mach 5 during its terminal phase. Its three-stage operation includes an initial
boost phase using a solid rocket motor, a cruise phase at altitudes of 30 to 40
kilometers, and a terminal glide phase. The glide phase involves high-speed
maneuvering, enhancing its ability to evade defenses and strike moving
targets.

Reports from the U.S. Air Force’s China Aerospace Studies Institute in 2020
identified the DF-100 as part of the PLA Rocket Force’s 656th Brigade in
Shandong Province. Its minimum effective range of 2,000 kilometers places
Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and the northern Philippines within its operational
scope. The missile was assessed to have reached full operational capability by
2022."

See:

https://armyrecognition.com/news/army-news/army-news-2024/china-extends-df-100-supersonic-missile-range-to-4-000-km-for-strategic-strikes

Pete2 said...

Hi Anonymous at 11/21/2024 6:31 AM

A fearsome weapon indeed. Other countries with similar projects are Russia, India, France? Israel? and the AUKUS countries.

More see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CJ-100 with the CJ-100 being the DF-100

Regards Pete