Climate change to hit nuclear power projects? Carbon-based June 21, 2009″…………….Most of the UK’s nuclear plants are on the coast, so as to get access to sea-water for cooling. In future, some of these sites may be inappropriate as locations for new plants, as has been proposed, due to the risk of flooding and storm-sea ingress. The Nuclear Consultation Group, which includes leading UK experts in the field of environmental risk, said, in response to Governments new Criteria for the Siting of proposed new nuclear plants, that ‘the Strategic Siting Assessment process is flawed and inadequate. It is inconceivable that the selection of sites on vulnerable coasts in southern England represents good sense’, given that ‘the risks from climate change in the form of sea level rise, storm surge and coastal erosion at the favoured sites are serious and increasing over time’……………………… Climate Scientists are now predicting that sea levels could rise by 1 metre or more by 2100, and maybe up to 2 metres, and with increased storm surges likely as well, that could pose threats to many locations around the world- the UK included. The Institution of Mechanical Engineering, which recently published a report on ‘Climate Change, Adapting to the Inevitable’, said that coastal sites like Sizewell might have to be abandoned or relocated in the long term….

War laws need an upgrade  The Canberra Times STEVEN FREELAND 24/06/2009 

“…………………………….Human rights groups now calculate that approximately 90percent of all casualties in armed conflicts are civilians, of which 40percent are children. Summary executions, torture and widespread rape and killings still occur on a daily basis in many conflicts.

With regards to restricting the use of certain destructive weapons, the rules do not go far enough.

There is, for example, still no comprehensive ban on the use of nuclear weapons in conflict situations each of the five permanent members of the Security Council, plus countries like India, Pakistan and Israel, already have nuclear capability and fears exist about Iran and North Korea.

Between 1945 and 1996, when the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was finalised, more than 2000 nuclear tests were conducted, but still the treaty is not in force.

Militarization of Space: Threat of Nuclear War on Earth Media Monitors Network by Rick Rozoff June 23, 2009″…American space researcher Matt Hoey stated that an arms race in space would be “increasing the risk of an accidental nuclear war while shortening the time for sanity and diplomacy to come into play to halt crises.”

On June 17, immediately after the historical ninth heads of state summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Yekaterinburg, Russia on the preceding two days, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao announced that their nations were drafting a joint treaty to ban the deployment of weapons in outer space to be presented to the United Nations General Assembly.

A statement by the presidents reflected a common purpose to avoid the militarization of space and said:

“Russia and China advocate peaceful uses of outer space and oppose the prospect of it being turned into a new area for deploying weapons.