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POLICE RIOTS in LONDON & BRAZIL – JUNE 2013

nuckelchenblogde

Published on 21 Jun 2013

June 21, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Nuclear War – Robert Stone versus Robert F. Kennedy, Jr

Andrew Revkin

Published on 19 Jun 2013

After a Jacob Burns Film Center screening of “Pandora’s Promise,” a new documentary defending nuclear energy, the director, Robert Stone, engaged in a vigorous (this is an understatement!) debate with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the environmental activist and lawyer and solar-energy investor. (Posted with permission for Dot Earth.)

June 21, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Nukes in Europe: Secrecy Under Siege – by Hans M. Kristensen

 

 

 

The Cold War practice of NATO and the United States refusing to confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons anywhere is under attack in Europe. This week, two former Dutch prime ministers publicly confirmed the presence of nuclear weapons at Volkel Air Base in the Netherlands, one of six bases in NATO that still host US nuclear weapons.

http://blogs.fas.org/security/2013/06/secrecyundersiege/

June 13, 2013

lubbersThe first confirmation came in the program How Time Flies on the Dutch National Geographic channel where former prime minister Ruud Lubbers confirmed that there are nuclear weapons at Volkel Air Base. “I would never have thought those silly things would still be there in 2013,” Lubbers said, who was prime minister in 1982-1994. He even mentioned a specific number: 22 bombs.

vanagtThe second confirmation Lubbers was joined yesterday by another former Dutch prime minister, Dries van Agt, who also confirmed that the weapons are there. “They are there and its crazy they still are,” said va Agt, who was prime minister in 1977-1982.

As readers of this blog are aware (and anyone who have followed this issue over the years), it is not news that the US stores nuclear weapons at Volkel AB. But it is certainly news that two former Dutch prime ministers are now confirming it.

It is not a formal Dutch break with NATO nuclear secrecy norms but it is certainly a big crack in the dike that makes the Dutch government’s continued refusal to confirm or deny nuclear weapons at Volkel AB look rater, well, silly.

The instinct of the bureaucracy will be to ignore the statements to the extent possible and retrieve into past policies of neither confirming nor denying the presence of nuclear weapons. But the new situation also presents an opportunity to break with the past and attempt to engage Russia about increasing the transparency of non-strategic nuclear weapons in Europe. 

Privileged Information

Information about US nuclear weapons at Volkel AB is privileged information that Lubbers and van Agt would have had access to on a highly confidential basis as prime ministers under the bilateral US-Dutch nuclear weapons storage agreement code named Toy Chest (no pun intended).

After leaving office, Lubbers and van Agt would have had to rely on other people with access to such information to be told. A nod would be sufficient to confirm the general presence of weapons, but the specific number would be harder to get. Why Lubbers says 22 is unclear; perhaps that’s the number he recalls from 1994.

Back then, the Clinton administration’s 1994 Nuclear Posture Review decided to retain 480 nuclear bombs in Europe. How many of those were at Volkel AB is unknown, but when President Clinton six years later in December 2000 signed Presidential Decision Directive/NSC-74 that authorized continued deployment of 480 nuclear weapons in Europe, 20 of those were for Volkel AB.

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June 21, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Kazatomprom nuclear corporation plans to build a 36MW solar power station

Construction of solar plant in Western Cape begins

Image source ; http://thenetworks.co.za/2013/01/construction-of-solar-plant-in-western-cape-begins/

Staff Report

2013-06-20

SHYMKENT, Kazakhstan – Kazatomprom, Kazakhstan’s state-owned nuclear holding company, plans in 2014 to start building a 36MW solar power station in South Kazakhstan Oblast (SKO), CA-News.org reported June 19, citing a discussion between SKO Governor (Akim) Aksar Myrzakhmetov and Kazatomprom Board Chairman Vladimir Shkolnik.

 

The project is part of Kazakhstan’s plan to raise the amount of renewable energy resources in the country to 50 per cent by 2050, according to Ministry of Environment Protection. Currently about 15 per cent of Kazakh energy resources are renewable, mostly hydro-power.

Kazatomprom also will finance construction of a 200-pupil vocational high school in Shymkent within a couple of years, Shkolnik said.

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/newsbriefs/2013/06/20/newsbrief-15

June 21, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

India WILL have to wait to join sensitive nuclear export body

….The diplomats declined to comment on which countries remained sceptical. After an informal meeting in March in Vienna, participants said Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland seemed to be among those still having doubts.

China is also believed to have reservations, influenced by its ties to its ally Pakistan, India’s arch geo-political rival, which has also tested atomic bombs, analysts say…..

By Fredrik Dahl

VIENNA | Thu Jun 20, 2013 4:55pm IST

http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/06/20/nuclear-india-nsg-idINDEE95J0A620130620

(Reuters) – Some states still appear to be sceptical about letting nuclear-armed India into an influential body regulating sensitive atomic trade, diplomats said on Thursday, suggesting Indian membership may not be imminent.

The United States, Britain, France are among countries pushing for allowing India – a growing market for such commerce – to join the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a move that would boost the Asian nation’s status as an atomic power.

But others worry about the implications for wider efforts to prevent the spread of atomic bombs if a country that has refused to sign a global anti-nuclear weapons pact were to enter a group which has a key role in countering proliferation of these arms.

If India joined the group, set up in 1975 to ensure that civilian nuclear technology exports are not diverted to make atomic arms, it would be the only member that is outside the 189-nation nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

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June 21, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Poland WILL delay launch of nuclear plants with 3rd largest shale gas reserves

…Optimistic estimates suggest that Poland could have up to 1.92 trillion cubic metres (67.8 trillion cubic feet) of exploitable deposits, possibly the third largest reserves in Europe after Norway and the Netherlands….

Photobucket

Jun 18, 2013

With a population of 38 million, Poland uses about 14 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year, of which 60 percent is imported from Russia.

Poland relies on coal-fired plants—fuelled mostly by its own plentiful supplies—for 90 percent of its electricity and is keen to find alternatives which could help it limit in line with EU limits.

In a bid to diversify its gas sources, it is building its first sea terminal for liquefied gas (LNG), gas storage facilities and connecting its distribution system to neighbouring countries.

Warsaw had also planned for its first two to come online by 2024 to feed the needs of its growing energy market.

“I’m not ruling out nuclear in our energy mix, but later than planned,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters in Warsaw.

“This is primarily due to the expected growth of natural gas as an energy source, including domestic shale gas,” he added.

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June 21, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment