PAWS

6pm Wednesday April 2, 2008

Room 7, (Large Conference Room)

City West Lotteries House, Delhi St. West Perth

Presented by Jo Vallentine and Scott Ludlam

Nuclear power is being touted as a panacea for climate change, but the impacts of the whole nuclear fuel chain are rarely examined. With the mining industry pressuring the Carpenter Government to dump its no-uranium policy, it’s worth taking a look behind the scenes to see what uranium mines do to country and water.

Jo will outline the context of the uranium debate in Western Australia and moves to enshrine the current tenuous uranium ban in binding legislation.

Scott will take participants on a virtual tour of existing and proposed uranium mines in South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, with a particular focus on water management, consumption and contamination.

We will examine the mining practice known as ‘Solution Mining’ or ‘In-situ Leaching’ in detail, with particular regard to impacts on groundwater.

The presenters

Jo Vallentine is a former Senator for the Nuclear Disarmament Party and Greens (WA), and one of the country’s most prominent anti-nuclear activists.

Scott Ludlam has worked on uranium mining since the Jabiluka campaign, and is a newly elected Senator for the Australian Greens.