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Defense firms soar on ample military spending, testing manufacturing schemes

COMMENT. Aint it grand! Jobs jobs jobs in an industry of no benefit to humanity, or to other planetary species!

Very exciting for the macho boys. Less wasting of money on health, care, education, and trivialities like coping with climate and extreme weather events.

the Israeli companies involved inUkraine’s anti-missile architecture, with Elbit ranking 21 on the list, Israeli Aerospace Industries at 27 and Rafael at 30

(ED. This article doesn’t mention Russia, but I’m sure that their weapons industries are making a killing, too – all the world’s greedy boys are in it together)

For the many billions of dollars governments spend on defense, companies are on the hook to get their production pipelines in place and deliver.

By Defense News staff, Sep 4, 2026, https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2026/09/03/defense-firms-soar-on-ample-military-spending-testing-manufacturing-schemes/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=c4-overmatch

The year 2025 was another record setter for global defense companies, so much so that production bottlenecks in Western nations — not the usual industry lamentations about lacking government spending — began creeping up as the key problem many NATO countries are facing today.

Companies in the United States and Europe rode a wave of significant defense-spending increases on both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe, individual national budget increases, as well as the European Union’s increasing involvement in brokering and financing joint procurement, continued to increase the revenue of defense industry players large and small.

In the United States, the 2025 Reconciliation Act is set to pump most of the legislation’s total $156 billion into acquisition — on top of the regular defense budget of roughly $900 billion for that year.

“Now, it’ll take years for that enacted money to actually flow to the companies and to their financial statements,” said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser in the defense analysis program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. “But it will be a big boost for many companies.”

Click here to view the 2025 Defense News Top 100

In Europe, the trajectory is perhaps more immediate, as governments spooked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 began dialing up their military expenditures drastically years ago.

Besides absorbing the overall plus-up in the amount of money available, companies on the continent have rewired their business strategies to align with a preference for European-made equipment by many European governments, though the massive influx of cash on all sides obfuscates whether European companies have meaningfully cut into the bottom lines of U.S. defense giants.

More money on both sides of the pond

The latest Defense News Top 100 ranking of global defense companies bears out the overall upward trend, with companies posting higher annual defense revenues, a combined $700 billion compared with $629 billion in the prior year, a 11.3% increase.

The first four spots of our latest ranking continue to be in the hands of U.S. firms, with Lockheed Martin in the top spot with $72.1 billion in annual defense revenue, followed by RTX ($46 billion), General Dynamics ($39.4 billion) and Northrop Grumman ($37 billion), in that order.

Britain-based BAE Systems, which has a sizable U.S. operation, is the first non-American company in the lineup, creeping up one spot into number five over last year’s ranking, with $36 billion in revenue reported.

Boeing’s defense segment similarly climbed one position, into slot number six with $35.7 billion in revenue, as did L3Harris ($17.4 billion), which now places eighth.

In between sits a Chinese entrant, Aviation Industry Corporation of China, at $32.3 billion.

On the heels of that company begins a lineup of firms from all over the world, with European outfits continuing to inch upwards — the big players Leonardo, Airbus and Thales placing 9, 10 and 12, respectively.

Perhaps no company represents the European defense uptick as much as Germany’s Rheinmetall, which reported $11.2 billion in 2025 annual revenue, up from $8.3 billion in the previous year. The company now sits at number 15 on the list, up from 18 in the prior year.

The firm has, over the years, branched out its operations into virtually all domains of war — land, air, naval, space, cyber and unmanned — from Europe to Australia, and has embraced the formerly low-brow segment of explosives and ammunition.

That category, which includes artillery shells, missiles and air-defense interceptors, has seen unprecedented demand in all NATO countries, based on the experiences since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Air defense competitions on the rise

The air defense category is also where the biggest shortfalls lie. Companies have expanded their supply chain setups in recent years to build artillery shells, urgently needed in Ukraine to shoot over immediate front lines’ robot-dominated no-go zones for infantry.

But what’s still lacking are sufficient interceptor missiles and drones to defend against Russian missiles fired at Ukrainian cities.

With the Patriot air defense complex — radars, launchers and interceptors — in the hands of U.S. firms, European and Ukrainian officials have begun thinking through alternatives to the scarce equipment.

Offerers include the Israeli companies involved in that country’s anti-missile architecture, with Elbit ranking 21 on the list, Israeli Aerospace Industries at 27 and Rafael at 30, as well as pan-European firm MBDA at 26 and Germany’s Diehl at 58, up from 82 last year.

Companies with a naval shipbuilding portfolio, such as General Dynamics, Huntington Ingalls (ranking 13, at $12.3 billion annual revenue, up from 16) and South Korea’s Hanwha (rank 16, at $10.4 billion, up from 22), have been lifted by a favorable tide of capital-intensive naval modernization projects worldwide.

In the U.S., defense officials and lawmakers have envisioned a new armada of warships and icebreakers, dedicating a whopping $29 billion for shipbuilding in the 2025 Reconciliation Act alone.

“The Biden administration, and now the Trump administration, have just been pouring money into shipbuilding — way beyond what the industry can absorb,” said Cancian. “And then they’re talking about building another shipyard to produce all these ships that have now been funded,” he added, leaving shipbuilders with order books filled into the 2030s or beyond.

Defense spending as an ‘engine’?

Production bottlenecks for defense components, combined with economic woes in civilian industry sectors, have led to some new creative arrangements.

In Europe, some automotive companies and rail car makers have turned their factory floors into production sites for drones and counter-drone equipment.

The rush to re-arm, based on the worry that Russia might try a Ukraine-style attack elsewhere, has prompted political leaders in Europe to tout what they consider secondary economic effects of the defense bonanza.

Defense officials in the U.K. published figures in August, for example, that said the 2024-25 period saw British weapons and ammunition manufacturing jobs rise by 51%, “part of a wider 26,000 increase” in defense-supported roles nationwide.

Click here to view the 2025 Defense News Top 100

“The increase underlines defense as an engine for growth and the move towards a resilient industrial base, proving that investment in the U.K.’s security is investment in the U.K.’s prosperity,” reads an Aug. 20 statement by the Ministry of Defence.

Some Turkish companies, meanwhile, representing a country with a government mandate for making defense equipment at home rather than importing it, made the latest Top 100 list again, improving positions in some cases. Aselsan jumped from spot 43 to 40 on roughly $4.5 billion in reported annual revenue, and Roketsan gained seven ranks, on $2.4 billion, landing at spot 64.

Similarly, Polish state-owned armaments group PGZ jumped from rank 54 in 2024 figures to number 41 in the latest accounting, based on $4.4 billion in revenue last year.

The Polish government has set out plans to create one of NATO’s most powerful armies in Europe, and local weapons programs are typically designed to include Warsaw’s go-to producer as a key partner.

Meanwhile, the collection of Ukrainian defense companies under the umbrella of Ukroboronprom improved their ranking to spot number 36, up from 49 last year, with a reported revenue of $4.6 billion in 2025.

The country’s defense industry over the past years has put the Kyiv government in a position to provide armaments to its forces that the country previously had to import, often with operational limitations attached.

So much has the Ukrainian defense industry gained in expertise that allied militaries are itching to incorporate its know-how into their own supply chains.

Looking ahead, there is more spending expected, and more business for relevant defense companies, in the field of air and missile defense, said Cancian. Much of that will be connected to whatever the Trump administration’s Golden Dome program will entail, he noted.

Golden Dome wildcard

The controversial Golden Dome effort will consist of a sweeping suite of sensors and interceptors — stationed on Earth, in space and everywhere in between — that would make the United States almost impervious to aerial attacks of any kind, the theory goes.

Details have been scant on its exact architecture, and companies are searching for avenues into what they suspect will be a generational chunk of government spending in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

“We still don’t really know what it is,” Cancian said, adding the lack of clarity could make the whole project an increasingly hard sell as time goes by.

On the whole, the analyst said, there is so much defense spending on the books that the U.S. government, for its part, isn’t forced to choose between buying legacy weaponry and new technology.

“The thing that struck me most — I come out at this from a program budget perspective — is that there was enough money to do both,” he said.

Turning the influx of defense money into meaningfully improved defenses will be a top oversight job for politicians. And industry will have to be disciplined to get its ducks in a row to contend with order backlogs and production bottlenecks.

As PricewaterhouseCoopers analyst Scott Thompson noted in a recent performance analysis of the aerospace and defense sectors, “In a market where demand is not the constraint, execution is the differentiator.”

September 7, 2026 Posted by | weapons and war | Leave a comment

Outlaw Trump Must Be Dumbfounded by His Opponents – Ralph Nader

By Ralph Nader, September 4, 2026

What must Tyrant Trump be thinking about his opponents’ feeble, weak, cowardly responses to his daily torrent of serious, impeachable offenses? Even his egomaniacal narcissism cannot fully explain his amazing good luck.

Start with the House’s two impeachments of Trump, while Nancy Pelosi was Speaker, in 2019 and 2021. The first was over Trump’s trying to bribe or extort Ukraine into going after Hunter Biden—an investor and Board member of a Ukrainian business. Pelosi knew there was no chance of getting the required two-thirds vote required for Senate conviction, but went for the House vote anyway. At the same time, Pelosi declined to pursue numerous other ‘slam dunk’ kitchen table impeachable offenses we and others presented to her.  (See Congressional Record, December 18, 2019).

In 2021, after the Jan. 6th Trump-incited violent insurrection involving attack on the Capitol and Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election, Pelosi did the same thing: impeached Trump in the House. Unfortunately, the Senate fell short of the two-thirds vote required to convict and remove him from office because most Senate Republicans cowardly failed to hold Trump accountable for these treacherous actions.

Come the Second Trump term, after criminal indictments, a felony conviction, and civil litigation brought by women accusing him of sexual misconduct, on Day One, January 20, 2025, Trump began issuing illegal executive orders. Many of them were impeachable offenses as he boastfully implemented them, with the aid of Elon Musk’s criminal enterprise – DOGE.

Trump probably anticipated a much more vigorous impeachment drive by the Democrats, even though they were in the minority in the House. His luck continued. The Democratic Party’s so-called leadership decided against this excellent galvanizing get-out-the-vote initiative for their voters, 90% of whom wanted Impeachment yesterday. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries’ staffers told inquirers that they didn’t know how it would play out.

Jeffries himself told a reporter that “he didn’t want to get ahead of that discussion.” What? Ahead of 90% of his Party’s voters!!?

Trump, who called for the execution of six Congressional Democrats for reminding soldiers of their obligation not to obey an illegal order that is contrary to the Constitution or the laws of the United States (as in described in the Army Manual for Courts-Martial [MCM] along with international law) must be privately dumbfounded. The more violently extreme and erratic he gets, the less interested the Democratic Party is in an Impeachment Drive. (See “Statement from Medical Professionals” in the April 30, 2026 Congressional Record.)

Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) introduced H. Res. 537 on June 24, 2025. It was treated as a privileged impeachment resolution and Rep. Al Green took to the floor for debate and a prompt vote to educate the public about the necessity of ordering Trump, “You’re Fired.” Jeffries and his cohorts opposed it! Trump must have been stunned.

After all, people and their children are feeling, seeing, and hurting in the tens of millions from Trump’s wrecking, endangering, and weakening America. (See my column last week, “Open Letter to Representative Hakeem Jeffries.”)

Under the Jeffries and Schumer anti-impeachment bans, thus agreeing with Trump, the news media has little activity to cover in Washington, D.C. Also, it’s not keeping up with the civic activity around the country demanding Impeachment. (See nader.org/impeachment.)

More puzzling is the refusal of editorial writers to urge impeachment.  They regularly make the Impeachment case against Trump but decline to tell their readers the obvious conclusion: that the House should begin an impeachment inquiry and approve articles of impeachment. Congress also has an important role under Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. Congress, by statute, may appoint itself—in lieu of the principal officers of the Executive Branch—to determine whether the president is disabled and should be temporarily removed until the disability lapses.  

Despite the many detailed editorials in the New York Times, such as one showing how Trump is harming the health of the American people and another “Autocracy Index” titled “Trump’s Election Meddling Erodes Our Democracy,” the editorial writers limped off their pages without answering the alarmed readers’ question, “What do you want done about this?”

The Times Sunday columnist Jamelle Bouie relentlessly documents Trump’s impeachable crimes, but not once has he moved to recommend this Republic-saving mechanism given to us by our Founding Fathers. Same for other Timescolumnists, Michelle Goldberg and EJ Dionne.

The Times’ reluctance to employ the “I” word is typical of the mass media. What about the independent progressive media? The Nation, In These Times, Progressive Magazine, and The Washington Monthly have all mentioned impeachment, but few have made a sustained, prominent editorial demand for an impeachment drive.  Also, they do not report on the rising citizen activities behind Impeachment around the country.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to commit “high crimes and misdemeanors,” brazenly, taunting the so-called leaders of the Democrats by saying, “This is just the beginning.” He provides the Democrats with daily evidence to that should prompt SHADOW CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS organized by Democratic members of Congress and designed to build a public factual record. Such hearings could attract substantial media attention, particularly if they focused on specific alleged abuses and featured affected witnesses, legal experts, and former public officials. Nonetheless, Jeffries and Schumer block any shadow hearings by dissenting House members.

What explains this historic cowardice? Is it fear of Trump retaliating? Is it smugness over Trump’s low polls, and a belief they can win in November by lying low, raising AIPAC and corporate campaign money, mumbling about affordability, and avoiding heavily poll-favored Pledges or Contracts for the American people showing specifically what they stand for? (See, Compact for American Workers and Robert Reich’s 10-Point Plan To Make America Affordable.) Or is it just trying to avoid Trump accusing the Democrats of having done similar things when they controlled the White House, such as starting or backing unconstitutional wars?

Whatever explains their inhibitions, the result is to signal to Trump that he has two-plus unchallenged years to ravage the lives and livelihoods of millions of people here and abroad, oppose preparedness for climate and pandemic catastrophes, to suppress renewable energy and favor omnicidal fossil-fuel combustion, invade our cities with his stormtroopers, and treat children with unsurpassed cruelty. It also leaves unanswered serious questions about his personal financial enrichment while in office – estimated to be $1.1 million per working hour. All this invites the demand that they resign. The people need fresh, stand-up leaders to take over the Democratic leadership and its party committees. (See RootsAction: “Tell Democrats in Congress to Insist That Schumer and Jeffries Step Aside”.)

The Democrats and electorally frightened Republicans pushed Richard Nixon out in 1974 for far, far lesser transgressions than those committed by Trump in a week.

September 7, 2026 Posted by | politics, Reference, USA | Leave a comment

Lepreau breaks down again, likely to cost about $50M

The aged equipment has the potential to cause a major outage due to sudden failure.

–NB Power annual report 2025-2026

Workers at the 43-year-old station were finishing planned maintenance when a major gasket failed, forcing them to keep the plant offline

by John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, September 4, 2026

Atlantic Canada’s only nuclear power plant has broken down again, a repair problem that will likely cost NB Power customers at least $50 million.

For New Brunswickers who want to know how that impacts their wallet, that works out to about $127 on average for each of the public utility’s 393,000 direct customers.

Officials with the Crown corporation did not offer any estimates on Tuesday, the day after announcing the unplanned outage at the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station west of Saint John.

“We are still assessing the overall cost,” spokeswoman Elizabeth Fraser-McAllister told Brunswick News on Tuesday in an email.

“Repair costs and replacement power costs can vary depending on the time and duration of the outage, market conditions and operational requirements. Our focus is on completing the work safely and returning the station to service once all required reviews are complete.”

But it’s not that difficult to do a rough calculation of how much the breakdown will likely cost customers who are already suffering from rate shock.

A planned maintenance outage announced earlier this year in an NB Power news release was supposed to last only 119 days. That work began April 10 and was scheduled to wrap up by Aug. 7.

Fraser-McAllister said the unplanned outage would likely last until the end of September, or 54 days since the planned outage was to be completed.

In previous hearings before the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board, NB Power executives have said that an unplanned outage at Point Lepreau costs on average about $1 million a day outside the winter peak months.

When it is down, NB Power must fire up more expensive fossil-fuel plants (like the oil-burning Coleson Cove) or buy premium-priced power from Quebec and Maine.

That means the 54-day outage could cost ratepayers an additional $54 million.

Customers won’t know the true costs until a little under a year from now. Fraser-McAllister said they would be reported through NB Power’s annual financial statements, which are publicly available. Those are typically published in July.

In its release on Monday, the utility said there was no risk to the staff, public and the environment.

“This is the best path forward,” said Steve Bagshaw, site vice president and chief nuclear officer with the Crown corporation, in the release. “Taking the time now to complete this repair helps reduce the risk of unplanned interruptions during the winter months, helping ensure we are ready when customers need us most. This approach supports the long-term reliability of the station.”

The problem this time is a blown gasket. NB Power says the piece of equipment that failed was on the turbine system on the conventional, non-nuclear side of the plant

Fraser-McAllister said the gasket issue became apparent as the station progressed through its normal start-up activities and steam began circulating through the turbine system on Aug. 21. The plant went fully offline on Sunday.

“As power was gradually raised, as per process, teams observed that steam was escaping from the reheater gasket area,” she explained. “The station continued operating safety as the team analyzed the issue. Further reviews and assessments determined that the gasket on the reheater was not sealing as intended and needed to be replaced.”

She said the repair is being completed before workers fire up the plant again.

“Taking this proactive approach is in the best interests of our customers, helping to ensure the equipment is operating as intended and supporting the station’s safe, reliable and efficient operation through the winter and over the long term.”

Point Lepreau has had several unplanned outages over the years. The direst was last year, when a planned maintenance outage and unexpected breakdown lasted eight months, costing ratepayers more than $200 million.The 43-year-old plant is considered one of NB Power’s workhorses, providing about one-third of the province’s electricity when it is running properly.

The utility’s executives are desperate to get it operating as well as it should. Electricity rates have gone up more than one-quarter in the past four years, costing households hundreds of extra dollars a year and leading to a public outcry. Meanwhile, the utility’s bulging debt continues to grow, surpassing $6 billion, money that will eventually have to be paid back.

Most nuclear plants operate at a capacity factor above 90 per cent. The capacity factor measures how much electricity a plant actually produces compared to the maximum amount it could produce if it ran at full power 24 hours a day.

Point Lepreau has been a basement dweller in this regard. Over the last decade, its capacity factor has ranged from 89 to 27 per cent. Between fiscal years 2016 and 2025, the average annual capacity factor was 74 per cent, nearly 20 points below the industry norm.

NB Power signed a three-year, $20-million deal with Laurentis Energy Partners, a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, that began in April. The idea is to use expertise from Ontario, where there are several nuclear plants, to ensure Point Lepreau gets up to snuff.“

Some major Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station equipment has run well beyond its typical design life of 30 years,” warned a section in NB Power’s annual report, released this summer. “The aged equipment has the potential to cause a major outage due to sudden failure.“

September 7, 2026 Posted by | business and costs | Leave a comment

The Freedom Flotilla Sails Again To Break The Gaza Blockade

THE FREEDOM FLOTILLA SAILS AGAIN
Vessels have begun international port-to-port voyage to Gaza

 Coalition statements, By zohar. September 4, 2026, https://freedomflotilla.org/2026/09/02/ffc-sails-again/

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) today announced that a new international mission to challenge Israel’s illegal and deadly blockade of Gaza is underway.

The violence and torture that Israel inflicted on hundreds of flotilla volunteers this past spring, including severe beatings, repeated tasering, and sexual assault, has not deterred the FFC, just as Israel’s murder of 10 flotilla activists aboard the Mavi Marmara, in 2010 did not stop the movement. If anything, action is needed now more than ever. While much of the world has moved on from Gaza, believing a supposed “ceasefire” has ended the genocide, Israel continues to kill Palestinians in Gaza at will; use its blockade to restrict and manipulate the entry of the food, medicine, and fuel that a besieged population depends on to survive; and deny Palestinians their fundamental right to freedom.

The new mission involves a port-to-port voyage throughout Europe, bringing together human rights advocates, union activists, elected representatives, journalists, medical professionals, and other supporters of Palestinian freedom. In June and July 2026, FFC vessel, Handala II, sailed around Scandinavia, making stops at ports in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Earlier this month, the vessel, Kate, launched from Bristol, UK and has made port calls in Ireland, Germany, and France. Upcoming stops include ports in Spain, Portugal, and Italy, before the flotilla continues on to Gaza. At every stop, the flotilla will stand with local communities to press their own governments to end their complicity in genocide by blocking weapons and energy shipments that arm Israel’s aggression, ending diplomatic and military cooperation, and imposing real sanctions. The journey will build public support and international pressure ahead of the flotilla’s planned attempt to reach Gaza in October 2026.

“The Freedom Flotilla sails again because our governments continue to fail to uphold their obligations,” said Zohar Chamberlain Regev, FFC Steering Committee member. “At every port, we will carry the demand that Palestinians be free to live with dignity. In October, we intend to carry that demand and the solidarity of people around the world to Gaza’s shores.”
Throughout the port-to-port journey, FFC and its local partners will organize public welcomes, community gatherings, media events, and opportunities for supporters to visit the vessels. Details of port calls and public events will be released as arrangements are confirmed.
Since 2010, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has brought together civil-society organizations and grassroots campaigns from around the world to challenge the blockade by sea. Its work continues the precedent established by the Free Gaza Movement, whose vessels began sailing to Gaza in 2008.

“The Freedom Flotilla sails again because our governments continue to fail to uphold their obligations,” said Zohar Chamberlain Regev, FFC Steering Committee member. “At every port, we will carry the demand that Palestinians be free to live with dignity. In October, we intend to carry that demand and the solidarity of people around the world to Gaza’s shores.”
Throughout the port-to-port journey, FFC and its local partners will organize public welcomes, community gatherings, media events, and opportunities for supporters to visit the vessels. Details of port calls and public events will be released as arrangements are confirmed.
Since 2010, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has brought together civil-society organizations and grassroots campaigns from around the world to challenge the blockade by sea. Its work continues the precedent established by the Free Gaza Movement, whose vessels began sailing to Gaza in 2008.

September 7, 2026 Posted by | Gaza, politics international | Leave a comment

Nuclear Liability Beyond Earth: Who Pays for an Incident on the Lunar Surface?

 European Journal of International Law by Yunus Emre Bakiler and Güneş Ünüvar, September 2, 2026

Lunar exploration during the 20th century sought to reach, explore and, in some cases, return from the Moon,; rather than to serve as successive stages in the construction of permanent lunar infrastructure. Today, lunar missions are mostly about establishing the long-term infrastructure necessary to remain there. Under the Artemis Programme, NASA is developing phased infrastructure for long-term operations and an enduring human presence near the lunar south pole. The International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), led by China, is envisaged as an expandable facility capable of long-term robotic operation and shorter periods of human participation. Commercial entities are already involved in lunar delivery and landing services, while prospective activities extend to communications, mobility, power supply, prospecting and the use of lunar resources.

For sustained operational presence anywhere, power is a common dependency. This is certainly the case for the Moon, and nuclear power is one alternative. In January 2026, NASA and the US Department of Energy announced that they would work towards deploying such a fission surface power system  by 2030. NASA now describes “Lunar Reactor-1” as a reactor intended to land on the Moon in that year. Nuclear surface power is therefore becoming part of near-term planning for sustained lunar operations.

These developments form part of a broader and increasingly global debate over lunar governance. Among the legal questions raised is the liability regime that would apply if a nuclear incident occurred on the lunar surface, but the interaction between the international space law liability framework and the civil liability regimes developed for nuclear installations has yet to receive any scholarly and policy attention. Can a state be held liable for a nuclear incident occurring on the face of the Moon under international law? The blog post will argue that instruments available under international law, while entirely relevant, fall short of providing a conclusive answer to the question. It will also suggest a tentative model for the way forward…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The existing UN Principles on Nuclear Power Sources and the 2009 UN–IAEA Safety Framework provide important safety guidance, but they do not create a detailed governance framework or a compensation regime. The development of lunar nuclear power should be accompanied by an equally serious effort to identify the applicable liability architecture embedded within a robust, comprehensive lunar governance framework. Once a reactor is operating on the Moon, uncertainty over fault, compensable damage, competent fora and available financial resources will be immediate realities. The legal framework should be developed alongside the technology and not in response to its first, potentially catastrophic, failure. https://www.ejiltalk.org/nuclear-liability-beyond-earth-who-pays-for-an-incident-on-the-lunar-surface/

September 7, 2026 Posted by | business and costs, space travel | Leave a comment

Ministry of Defence withheld information about nuclear test veterans’ records, ex-minister claims

He said the information was “deliberately withheld” by the MoD and claimed there was an effort to delay its release until surviving veterans had passed away.

2 Sept 26, Tabby Wilson, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3d787k9kpyo

Former veterans minister Tobias Ellwood has accused the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of deliberately withholding the medical records of Cold War veterans who oversaw nuclear tests, calling it “an absolute cover-up”.

Ellwood told BBC Newsnight he now believes some information he gave to Parliament about the UK’s nuclear programme, based on MoD briefings, was “a complete lie”.

Veterans have campaigned for the release of their medical histories, arguing blood and urine test results could help them prove that nuclear exposure damaged their health.

An MoD spokesperson said the government had conducted an “extensive records discovery exercise” to address questions about the programme, with its findings published in full.

As many as 25,000 members of the UK armed services, scientists and civilians took part in the nuclear testing programme between 1952 and 1967 at sites including Australia and several islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Veterans have claimed the tests caused severe lifelong health problems, alleging they have suffered cancers of the liver, bone, bowel, skin and brain, as well as leukaemia, heart disease, stillbirths and generational birth defects as a result of their exposure.

Ellwood, who served as a junior defence minister between June 2017 and July 2019, said he believed ministers over the years had been briefed to say they had no evidence to help nuclear test veterans, despite thousands of documents about the programme being held.

He said the information was “deliberately withheld” by the MoD and claimed there was an effort to delay its release until surviving veterans had passed away.

“The more you unpick this story, the more murky, the more shady, the concerning it becomes,” Ellwood told Newsnight, calling it bigger than the infected blood, Windrush and Post Office scandals “because of the longevity… and the number of people that have been involved”.

“This is a scandal. It’s absolutely tarnished the reputation of the MoD.”

Calling for an independent tribunal into the matter, Ellwood asked: “Why it is that the MoD – rather than help veterans, provide the information – closed ranks and said ‘nothing to see here’, and then told ministers such as me ‘actually we haven’t got that information and we’re not willing to help the veterans’?”

The ministry in 2024 promised to embark on a comprehensive examination of any information the department held on the issue, and has since released five reports.

In those, it said there were a number of factors affecting the way medical records were kept, including the lack of a centralised approach and high levels of Cold War “secrecy”.

Ellwood conceded that some documents were to be handed to the National Archives, but said they would still be heavily redacted: “They have to be declassified. This isn’t enough to help the veterans, who understandably remain deeply angry.”

An MoD spokesperson said the government had examined “tens of thousands of documents to address long-standing questions from veterans about blood and urine testing policies during the nuclear testing programme”.

They said it had been published in its entirety “following regular engagement between Ministers, nuclear test veterans and community groups throughout the process.”

“We owe an enduring debt of gratitude to the more than 22,000 Service personnel, scientists and civilians who contributed to the UK’s nuclear testing programme and helped safeguard our national security,” the spokesperson said.

September 7, 2026 Posted by | health, secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

UK government does not know what datacentres are being used for, FoI request shows

Lack of information raises fears over environmental impact of the AI boom

Pippa Neill Environment reporter, Wed 2 Sep 2026 ,
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/sep/02/uk-datacentres-ai-boom-foi-environment

The UK government does not know what the country’s datacentres are being used for despite fears over the growing environmental impact of the AI boom.

When asked in a freedom of information (FoI) request who was using the largest sites and what for, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said it did “not hold the requested information”. The ministry has since been dissolved.

With hundreds of datacentres awaiting planning permission and 315 queueing to connect to the National Grid, there is growing concern over a lack of transparency and justification for these projects given their environmental impact.

Ministers announced plans in January to allow qualifying datacentres to opt into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project scheme. This lets developments bypass local planning committees by securing approval from the government. Campaigners say this “insulates” datacentres from local scrutiny.

Zack Polanski, the Green party leader in England and Wales, said: “The government plans to steamroller over local opposition so private companies can build these facilities – yet they can’t even explain what the benefits are and who is benefiting.”

Datacentres use a huge amount of resources. The Guardian revealed last month that two planned sites will have higher carbon emissions than ExxonMobil in the UK, with concerns raised over how this will fit within the country’s carbon targets.

The government designated datacentres as critical national infrastructure in 2024 and campaigners fear this could mean the water-hungry sites are prioritised over households in times of drought. Water UK, the trade body representing water companies in Britain and Northern Ireland, warned in July that the UK did not have enough water for the datacentre expansion.

Polanski said: “What is more ‘critical’ than people’s access to water? What is more ‘critical’ than our need to transition to a low-energy, low-pollution world so we can put the brakes on climate extremes?”

While there is consensus that datacentres can provide some essential services, there are concerns that developments with a huge environmental impact and local opposition are being prioritised regardless of their use.

Oliver Hayes of Global Action Plan, the environmental charity which submitted the FoI request, said: “It’s highly likely that we’re going to end up seeing datacentres given favourable and preferential treatment when it comes to resources that are actually running chatbots or enabling people to do benign and very wasteful, pointless things.

“At the more serious end, these datacentres could be powering chatbots that enable people to nudify teens without their consent and much worse, frankly.”

With reports that the Scottish government is inching toward a moratorium on new datacentres, there is growing pressure for the UK government to follow suit.

Friends of the Earth is calling for a ban on new sites until environmental safeguards are in place. The campaign group wants the government to publish clear environmental rules for new and existing datacentres, including requirements for 100% additional renewable energy generation for new projects.

Anisah Khan, the campaigns manager at Global Action Plan, said: “When individuals across the country are facing hosepipe bans and essential housebuilding is being delayed because datacentres are gobbling up grid connections, what we need is not more chatbots at any cost.”

The government did not respond to a request for comment over its failure to say what large datacentres were being used for.

A spokesperson said: “A pause on building new datacentres would simply send investment and good jobs abroad, while leaving Britain dependent on other countries for the processing of sensitive health and defence data. Put simply: it would be a disaster for jobs and national security.”

September 7, 2026 Posted by | technology, UK | Leave a comment

Pay hike for NB Power CEO while ratepayers struggle ‘doesn’t make sense’: NB ACORN

The ACORN picket happened two days after another unplanned power outage at the Point Lepreau nuclear plant with a likely cost of $50 million. An analysis published in the Telegraph-Journal suggests that the latest nuclear plant outage will cost an average of $127 for each NB Power customer.

NB Media Co-op, by Susan O’Donnell, September 4, 2026

Picketers at NB Power’s Fredericton headquarters on Thursday said the government is not doing enough to help the thousands of New Brunswickers struggling to pay their electricity bill.

The 2025 report on energy poverty from the Human Development Council found that more than 37,000 households in the province experience both low income and high energy burden, a rate nearly double the national average.

NB ACORN chair Nichola Taylor organized the picket because she said the government is not doing enough to help these people. “First of all, the announcement that the CEO is getting a huge pay rise while everybody else is paying huge rate increases … it just doesn’t make sense.”

In August, the cabinet approved a 14 per cent pay hike for NB Power CEO Lori Clark, who now earns $623,653.

ACORN’s main demand is for a rebate program specifically geared towards low-income earners, similar to one that exists in Ontario…………………………………..

The ACORN picket happened two days after another unplanned power outage at the Point Lepreau nuclear plant with a likely cost of $50 million. An analysis published in the Telegraph-Journal suggests that the latest nuclear plant outage will cost an average of $127 for each NB Power customer.

ACORN’s Taylor said if the nuclear plant’s problems mean that rates will continue to rise, “this is a massive problem, and they need better solutions which they are clearly not doing right now.”

NB Power has previously stated that it is “committed to providing safe, reliable energy for our customers while keeping rates as low as possible” and that its goal “is always to work with customers to avoid disconnecting service.” .. https://nbmediacoop.org/2026/09/04/pay-hike-for-nb-power-ceo-while-ratepayers-struggle-doesnt-make-sense-nb-acorn/

September 7, 2026 Posted by | business and costs | Leave a comment

US and allies push IAEA board to report Iran to UN Security Council, diplomats say

By Francois Murphy and John Irish, September 5, 2026,
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-allies-want-iaea-board-report-iran-un-security-council-diplomats-say-2026-09-04/

  • Summary
  • Board declared Iran in breach in June of last year
  • Israel started bombing its nuclear sites the next day
  • A standoff over access to those sites continues
  • Reporting Iran to the council escalates the clash

VIENNA/PARIS, Sept 4 (Reuters) – The United States, Britain, France and Germany are seeking a resolution by the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s ‌board next week reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council for the first time in 20 years, according to diplomats and the proposed text seen by Reuters.

If passed, the resolution would follow up on one adopted on June 12 of last year declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for not ​fully cooperating with an investigation into uranium traces found at undeclared sites.

Israel started bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities the next ​day, soon joined by the U.S. Iran’s uranium-enrichment plants were destroyed or badly damaged.

Iran has not let ⁠International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors return to the bombed sites since then or verify what remains of its stocks of enriched uranium, ​some of which was enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from weapons grade.

FRESH DIPLOMATIC ESCALATION

A resolution by the IAEA’s 35-nation ​board reporting Iran to the Security Council would also be the culmination of a standoff over IAEA access to those sites, since the board has passed two resolutions in the past year demanding Iran declare its enriched uranium stocks and grant the IAEA full access to verify them.

“(The board) requests the (IAEA) ​Director General to transmit this resolution and the previously adopted resolutions … to all Members of the Agency and to the Security Council ​and the General Assembly of the United Nations,” said the latest resolution draft seen by Reuters.

It also “reiterates its call upon Iran to urgently remedy ‌its non-compliance ⁠with its Safeguards Agreement by taking all steps deemed necessary by the Agency and the Board, so that the Director General can provide the necessary assurances regarding the correctness and completeness of Iran’s declarations”.

The draft has not yet been formally submitted to the board and negotiations over the exact wording are ongoing, diplomats said. Whenever the four powers have submitted a draft resolution on Iran in ​recent years, it has passed.

Concrete action ​by the Security Council against ⁠Iran is unlikely since Tehran’s allies Russia and China are permanent, veto-wielding members.

IAEA CONCERNS OVER ENRICHMENT

Iran has often retaliated following IAEA board resolutions against it by escalating its nuclear activities or scaling back ​cooperation with the IAEA, but its options for both are currently extremely limited.

It is unclear what ​other repercussions there ⁠might be on Tehran’s conflict with the U.S.

As a party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran has the right to develop nuclear technology, including enrichment, for peaceful purposes. Iran says it would never produce nuclear weapons.

It is, however, the only country to enrich to 60% without making ⁠a bomb. ​The IAEA has said the amount it has enriched to that level is ​of serious concern.

September 7, 2026 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Putin says Ukraine peace deal is possible, calls for full restoration of U.S.-Russia relations

[your]NEWS, Thu, 03 Sep 2026 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Moscow sees “a chance” for peace with Ukraine and wants to restore full relations with the United States, citing continued contacts with Washington and ongoing communication between Russian and Ukrainian intelligence services.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that there is “a chance” to reach a peace agreement with Ukraine and signaled that Moscow also wants to rebuild its relationship with the United States after years of confrontation.

Speaking Sept. 3 during a session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said Russia remains appreciative of international efforts aimed at ending the war but maintained that Moscow and Kyiv must ultimately reach an agreement directly.

Moscow is “grateful to everyone who is trying to contribute to resolving this issue,” Putin said, adding that in his view there is “a chance” of achieving peace, according to Russian state news agency TASS. For the fighting to end, Putin said, “Russia and Ukraine must first reach an agreement” between themselves.

He acknowledged that “all other countries are ready to support and assist” the two sides in reaching such an agreement.

Despite the continuing war, Putin revealed that Moscow and Kyiv have maintained lines of communication through their respective intelligence services.

He said it was difficult to determine “to what extent these contacts are leading to a peace agreement,” but confirmed that communication between the two governments has not completely ceased.

Putin also used his remarks in Vladivostok to address the future of relations between Russia and the United States.

He confirmed that Moscow remains in contact with Washington and said he hopes those channels remain open.

The Russian president pointed to cooperation involving U.S. and Russian intelligence services as well as officials appointed by President Donald Trump, saying the process is “working” and expressing hope that it will “ultimately lead to a positive outcome.”

Putin said Russia wants a broader normalization of relations with Washington.

Moscow is “in favor of restoring relations with the United States in full, but this does not depend solely on us; it depends on the American side,” he said.

Putin nevertheless indicated that he believes Trump is personally interested in improving ties. He said Trump is “determined to engage in such positive, constructive work.”

Putin’s comments came one day after Trump said any future face-to-face meeting between the two leaders should take place in connection with an actual peace agreement.……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

During an Aug. 24 Independence Day speech in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said Ukraine wants peace but would not capitulate.

Those positions remain at the center of the diplomatic challenge.

Putin says Moscow sees a possible route toward agreement and favors restoring full relations with Washington, while Trump has increasingly tied future high-level diplomacy with the Kremlin to tangible progress toward ending the conflict.

Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has publicly endorsed negotiations while insisting that peace cannot come through Ukrainian surrender…………………. https://www.sott.net/article/508247-Putin-says-Ukraine-peace-deal-is-possible-calls-for-full-restoration-of-US-Russia-relations

September 7, 2026 Posted by | politics international, Russia | Leave a comment

EDF Extends Reactor Outage Until January After Corrosion Signs


The Gravelines nuclear power station in Dunkirk, France. Electricite de France
SA extended a maintenance outage at one of its 57 nuclear reactors through
January next year, reducing power output during a key part of the heating
season. The prolonged halt at the Gravelines 5 reactor in northern France
will last seven weeks longer than initially planned until Jan. 25. That may
underpin European power prices, which have jumped in recent weeks due to
surging gas prices tied to the Iran war.

 Bloomberg 3rd Sept 2026,
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-03/edf-extends-reactor-outage-until-january-after-corrosion-signs

September 7, 2026 Posted by | safety | Leave a comment

How drones reinvented the proxy war

Drone technology, once confined to
great powers like the United States and China, has irrevocably spread to
smaller states and non-state actors. In the early 2000s, it would have been
unthinkable for small insurgent groups to develop sophisticated
drone-building programs and deploy unmanned aircraft against their
opponents. A generation later, this technology has become cheaper and far
more accessible. Syria’s civil war demonstrates how local initiative
combined with inexpensive drones imported from second-tier producers can
bring game-changing results.

 Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 2nd Sept 2026,
https://thebulletin.org/2026/09/how-drones-reinvented-the-proxy-war/

September 7, 2026 Posted by | weapons and war | Leave a comment

I inadvertently misled parliament over a British nuclear scandal. Now I’m calling for justice

Tobias Ellwood, 3 Sept 26,
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/02/british-nuclear-tests-compensation-for-veterans

Thousands of service personnel took part in dangerous cold war-era nuclear tests. The government owes them the truth – and compensation.

In December 2018, as defence minister, I inadvertently misled parliament. Asked whether blood samples had been taken from service personnel for radiological monitoring during the nuclear bomb tests, I relayed the line provided to me by the Ministry of Defence: it was “unable to locate any information” suggesting blood samples had been taken for radiological monitoring at the tests.

I now know the reality was very different – these samples were taken across the armed services branches. But those veterans seeking compensation for serious illnesses developed after radiation exposure have been unable to access them. This is among the greatest scandals in Britain, and it must be addressed.

More than 20,000 armed forces personnel took part in dozens of nuclear tests and nearly 600 radiation experiments, the majority between 1952 and 1967. This was for the entirety of the cold war. The science was deemed necessary. How effective were our own bombs and, just as importantly, how well could our military function if the Soviet Union used theirs against us? Test after test was conducted in the Australian desert, at Christmas Island in the Pacific, and we also sent service personnel into the atomic clouds of allies and enemies. Yet their medical records for the period are missing.

Other nuclear nations, such as the US, France and the Soviet Union, did the same. Yet they acknowledged that it happened and created dedicated compensation schemes for nuclear test veterans who subsequently developed serious illnesses. Britain stands apart here. In Britain, the burden was placed on veterans to prove their case. But how do you claim what happened decades earlier when potentially vital records are missing or inaccessible?

In 2007, about 1,000 nuclear test veterans and families took the MoD to court seeking compensation. Pilots had been instructed to fly through mushroom clouds. Service personnel sailed and crawled through fallout. Others witnessed nuclear explosions, in some cases just two miles from ground zero. Surely our service personnel deserved better?

This is where the scandal turns ugly. To deal with the veterans’ litigation, the MoD instructed the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) to collate relevant documentation into a searchable database called Merlin. More than 28,000 documents were eventually assembled, covering radiation, precautions, health monitoring and what was known about the possible biological effects of the tests. Yet the veterans’ lawyers had no practical access to this vast archive. Thanks to the extraordinary investigative journalism of Susie Boniface, historical documents began emerging referring to blood and urine testing.

When I saw the evidence, I raised it in November 2022 as chair of the defence committee. The MoD finally acknowledged that the AWE held copies of blood-test results and urine-radioactivity measurements for “a small number of individuals”. That took me straight back to my parliamentary answer four years earlier.

I challenged the then defence secretary, Ben Wallace. If this information existed within the MoD, why had ministers not been given the full picture? He agreed that withholding relevant medical information would be “deeply wrong” and undertook to investigate.

The dam was beginning to burst. Searches of Merlin for “blood” and “urine” subsequently identified 151 documents. Then another extraordinary twist. A software change meant the AWE could no longer provide a historical audit trail showing who had accessed Merlin.

September 7, 2026 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

Nuclear microreactors move towards operational capability for military, space energy solutions

Robert Dougherty, Space Connect, 04 September 2026

Advanced nuclear microreactors are moving towards operational capability as military and space energy solutions, according to recent comments from Antares Nuclear co-founder and CEO Jordan Bramble.

Bramble, speaking to a US House science committee on 2 September, confirmed that the microreactors are expected to have major implications for military energy resilience, national security, and space power.

Antares Nuclear’s Mark-0 reactor reportedly reached criticality on 4 June this year at Idaho National Laboratory, and the company plans to operate its Mark-1 reactor at INL for six months in 2027, followed by military deployments at Fort Bragg and Joint Base San Antonio in 2028.

He also credited the US ADVANCE Act of 2024 and 2025 presidential executive orders with streamlining regulatory processes and establishing a Department of Energy Reactor Pilot Program.

“As Antares ramps up production, we are actively exploring commercial applications to provide resilient power to compute capabilities, remote oil and gas hubs, austere mining environments, fulfilment and distribution centres, and more,” Bramble said.

“We are also building nuclear power for space. In December 2025, President Trump signed his Space Superiority executive order 14369, which was followed in April 2026 by the National Science and Technology Memorandum-3, the National Initiative for American Space Nuclear Power. We at Antares are responding to this charge.

“The same heat-pipe architecture, passive safety, TRISO fuel, and manufacturability that define our terrestrial microreactor form the design basis for space applications. This dual-use approach aligns directly with NASA’s plans for lunar fission surface power and the Space Reactor-1 Freedom pathfinder. Let me be clear, Antares is eager to build to support NASA’s planned 2028 nuclear electric propulsion demonstration mission as well as lunar surface reactors ready for launch by 2030.”

Bramble speculated around first deployment of an advanced small modular reactor at a military installation by 2028, aligning with an existing executive-order target for an Army-regulated reactor………………………………… https://www.spaceconnectonline.com.au/industry/7263-nuclear-microreactors-move-towards-operational-capability-for-military-space-energy-solutions

September 7, 2026 Posted by | Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, space travel | Leave a comment

Devonport nuclear submarine dock upgrades could be accelerated


 Navy Lookout 3rd Sept 2026

The MoD hopes to speed up two major dock renewal projects at Devonport following the site operator’s release from 12 years of enhanced nuclear safety oversight. A parliamentary answer this week confirmed that acceleration of work on 10 and 14 Dock is being explored as part of the £7.1Bn Project Royal Oak investment in the base.

Responding to a written Parliamentary question, Defence Minister Luke Pollard, who is also MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said: “opportunities to accelerate work on 10 and 14 Dock are being explored”. Following the nuclear regulatory review, delivery of both projects is being driven forward. Work on 10 Dock was originally scheduled to be completed in late 2027, but the current target date for handover is unclear.


The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) review concluded in March 2026 and returned Devonport Royal Dockyard Limited (DRDL) to routine regulatory attention. The site had been under ‘enhanced attention’, effectively special measures, since 2014 over concerns about ageing facilities, organisational capability and control of work. ….. With enhanced oversight lifted, there should be fewer regulatory obstacles to progressing complex nuclear construction work at the site.

Faster progress cannot come soon enough. The RN currently has just three facilities able to take a nuclear submarine out of the water: the shiplift at Faslane and 9 and 15 Docks at Devonport. 9 Dock is occupied by HMS Victorious in deep maintenance, while HMS Audacious only vacated the refurbished 15 Dock in June after becoming the first Astute-class boat to dock at Devonport. HMS Astute will take her place as she begins a lengthy mid-life validation period.

Under a £750M contract awarded in 2023, 10 Dock is being modernised to provide a second Devonport dock certified for both SSN and SSBN maintenance. Any acceleration would directly benefit submarine availability.

Work on 14 Dock addresses a different but equally longstanding bottleneck. Its recommissioning will allow submarine defuelling to resume at Devonport for the first time since 2004, when the old facilities were judged to fall short of modern standards. Of the 14 decommissioned boats stored afloat in 3 Basin, 10 still contain nuclear fuel, while their storage and maintenance costs around £30M annually. The old defuelling cranes have been replaced by a Reactor Access House that moves on rails over the reactor compartment, with roughly one boat per year expected to be defuelled once operations begin.

As part of Project Royal Oak, £7.1Bn will be invested in Devonport naval base and dockyard over the next decade, the largest share outside Faslane of the £26Bn naval infrastructure programme confirmed in July’s Defence Investment Plan. The scale of the investment reflects historic underinvestment as well as evolving operational requirements.

The upturn in work is visible in DRDL’s newly filed accounts for the year to 31 March 2026, with revenue rising 6.7% to £1.87Bn, driven by increased submarine maintenance across both the Astute and Vanguard classes. Operating profit reached £131M despite a one-off £5.9M charge relating to a closed group pension scheme, while profit after tax jumped from £76M to £132M, helped by a lower tax charge and higher interest income.

DRDL’s long-term order book fell from £2.1Bn to £1.7Bn, reflecting completion of Year 5 of the Future Maritime Support Programme (FMSP), only partly offset by a six-month bridging contract. This gives added importance to the Gateway Agreement now being negotiated with the MoD, a successor contract intended to run from September 2026 until March 2032, covering the period in which SSN-AUKUS work begins to build.

DRDL is a Babcock subsidiary and employs around 10,200 people, with staff costs of £670M. The Secretary of State for Defence also continues to hold a £1 special golden share in the company, providing powers to overrule ordinary shareholders in extreme circumstances. https://www.navylookout.com/devonport-nuclear-submarine-dock-upgrades-could-be-accelerated/

September 7, 2026 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

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