David Noonan is an Australian

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that s ...

and member of the

anti-nuclear movement in Australia Nuclear weapons testing, uranium mining and export, and nuclear power have often been the subject of public debate in Australia, and the anti-nuclear movement in Australia has a long history. Its origins date back to the 1972–1973 debate ove ...

. Noonan is a former

anti-nuclear The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, nationa ...

campaigner for the

Australian Conservation Foundation The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is Australia's national environmental organisation, launched in 1965 in response to a proposal by the World Wide Fund for Nature for a more co-ordinated approach to sustainability. One high-profil ...

, and has been a prominent spokesperson during campaigns against the expansion of

uranium mining in Australia Radioactive ores were first extracted in South Australia at Radium Hill in 1906 and Mount Painter in 1911. 2,000 tons of ore were treated to recover radium for medical use. Several hundred kilograms of uranium were also produced for use in c ...

and against the establishment of

nuclear waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons ...

storage facilities. He has a science degree and a Masters in Environmental Studies.

Advocacy

Noonan has been a regular media spokesperson and opinion-writer representing the case against the establishment of

nuclear power in Australia The prospect of nuclear power in Australia has been a topic of public debate since the 1950s. Australia has one nuclear plant in Lucas Heights, Sydney, but is not used to produce nuclear power, but instead is used to produce medical radioisoto ...

and Australia's participation in the global nuclear industrial

fuel cycle The nuclear fuel cycle, also called nuclear fuel chain, is the progression of nuclear fuel through a series of differing stages. It consists of steps in the ''front end'', which are the preparation of the fuel, steps in the ''service period'' in w ...

. Noonan has also advocated for investment in renewable energy and

energy efficiency Energy efficiency may refer to: * Energy efficiency (physics), the ratio between the useful output and input of an energy conversion process ** Electrical efficiency, useful power output per electrical power consumed ** Mechanical efficiency, a ra ...

as alternatives to

nuclear energy Nuclear energy may refer to: *Nuclear power, the use of sustained nuclear fission or nuclear fusion to generate heat and electricity *Nuclear binding energy Nuclear binding energy in experimental physics is the minimum energy that is required t ...

. In the 1990s, Noonan spoke against the development of

Jabiluka Jabiluka is a pair of uranium deposits and mine development in the Northern Territory of Australia that was to have been built on land belonging to the Mirarr clan of Aboriginal people. The mine site is surrounded by, but not part of, the World ...

and

Beverley Beverley is a market and minster town and a civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre and north-west of City of Hull. The town is known for ...

uranium mines. With respect to the Beverley mine's in-situ leaching process, he drew attention to the absence of any requirement for the mine's operators to re-mediate impacted groundwater. Noonan has provided evidence to Parliamentary inquiries into nuclear issues at state and federal levels. In 2002 he provided evidence to a Parliamentary standing committee on nuclear safeguards. The following year, he provided witness testimony to a parliamentary inquiry into nuclear waste transport and disposal in New South Wales. Following the South Australian government's successful appeal against a decision by the Howard government to establish a nuclear waste dump in South Australia, Noonan told the media:

"The court has shown here today that the federal government exceeded their powers in trying to override the will of the South Australian community and the will of the SA parliament... They have failed in the land acquisition for this nuclear waste dump and they will not get away with imposing a nuclear waste future against SA's interests."

Noonan went on to win the

Conservation Council of South Australia The Conservation Council of South Australia, also known as Conservation SA and Conservation Council SA, is an environmental organisation serving as a peak body, representing over 50 member groups, representing over 90,000 individual members, in t ...

's Jill Hudson Award for Environmental protection to acknowledge his campaigning work opposing the waste dump development. In 2005 he referred to former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke's advocacy to end the Labor Party's

three mine policy The three-mine policy, introduced in 1984 and abandoned in 1996, was a policy of the government of Australia to limit the number of uranium mines in the country to three.

on uranium mining and to establish a nuclear waste repository in Australia as "undemocratic and dangerous." In the same year, he argued that to replace coal with nuclear power generation in the name of fighting climate change, was simply replacing a hazardous process (burning coal) with a hazardous technology (nuclear power). Noonan has advocated against the export of Australian uranium to Russia and China as he considers both nations to be in non-compliance with their

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation ...

obligations. In the wake of the

Fukushima nuclear disaster The was a nuclear accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The proximate cause of the disaster was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 an ...

, Noonan drew attention to export sales of Australian uranium to Japan made by

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

and

Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, meaning "red river", may refer to: Businesses * Rio Tinto (corporation), an Anglo-Australian multinational mining and resources corporation ** Rio Tinto Alcan, based in Canada ** Rio Tinto Borax in America *** Rio Tinto Borax Mine, ...

, and warned Australia to "steer clear of the risks of nuclear energy." Noonan's advocacy efforts attracted criticism from pro-nuclear environmentalist

Ben Heard Benjamin "Ben" Heard is a South Australian environmental consultant and an advocate for nuclear power in Australia, through his directorship of environmental NGO, Bright New World. Career Heard completed a Bachelor of Applied Science, Occupation ...

, who described him as having an "ultra-combatative demeanor" and "rusted on politics" in 2011. He has spoken out against various aspects of the Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine and its planned open cut expansion, including the management of its radioactive mine tailings and its water and energy requirements. He is opposed to the establishment of a new seawater

desalination plant Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in soil desalination, which is an issue for agriculture. Saltw ...

Point Lowly Point Lowly is the tip of a small peninsula north north-east of Whyalla in the Upper Spencer Gulf region of South Australia. The wider peninsula is shared by a combination of defence, industrial, residential, recreational and tourism interests ...

, where the brine discharge could threaten the breeding grounds of the giant Australian cuttlefish. Noonan has also spoken publicly on nuclear issues in academic debates, at public forums, conferences, demonstrations and community events.

References

Links

Transcript: Eric Miller interviews David Noonan from ACF Adelaide about the Laffery report on the Beverley uranium pilot plant.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noonan, David Living people Australian environmentalists Australian anti–nuclear power activists Year of birth missing (living people)

Advocacy

See also

References

Links