Pride and pragmatism: The UAE’s nuclear strategy, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 2 JUNE 2014 Lauren Carty When the United States and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed an agreement for nuclear cooperation in 2009, the terms of the deal were quickly heralded as a gold standard for US nuclear negotiations and nonproliferation goals. Not only did the UAE agree to forgo uranium enrichment and nuclear waste reprocessing—an unprecedented concession in a bilateral agreement of this type—but the United States also retained the right to order the UAE to remove special fissionable material “if exceptional circumstances of concern from a nonproliferation standpoint so require.”
For its part, the United States agreed that it would not extend terms more favorable than these to any other non-nuclear-weapon state in the Middle East in a peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement. The Emirates, however, probably did not foresee the United States backing off its high standards in future agreements with countries outside the Middle East, such as the 2014 agreement with Vietnam that is awaiting Congress’ likely approval. In spite of the Emirates’ subtle animosity over the more flexible US-Vietnam agreement, they have taken it in stride, and have actually used it as an opportunity to lead and exert dominance over the Arab world, as well as to boast of their commitments to sustainability and clean energy technologies.
A double standard? Unlike any other US nuclear agreement to share certain nuclear technologies with its allies, the 2009 arrangement included the stipulation that the UAE must import low enriched uranium rather than building its own enrichment facilities. Some analysts were puzzled when, five years later, the United States entered into a nuclear cooperation deal with Vietnam that allowed the country to enrich uranium. If the gold standard had been established with the UAE in 2009, why did the United States not apply it to Vietnam? Outmaneuvering China is one answer to this question, along with the fact that Vietnam hardly has the infrastructure to undertake a viable enrichment program. These considerations gave the United States incentive to create nuclear foreign policy on a case-by-case basis.
Whatever the reasons for the discrepancy, the UAE is fully aware that it received the short end of the stick………
Nuclear power is just part of the UAE’s strategy for meeting future energy demands. Abu Dhabi—one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE—has become the headquarters for the International Renewable Energy Agency, an organization of 163 countries including the United States and the European Union. Another emirate, Dubai, looks to gain recognition for its environmental sustainability efforts, aiming to be in the top 10 carbon-neutral cities in the world by the end of the decade……http://thebulletin.org/pride-and-pragmatism-uae%E2%80%99s-nuclear-strategy7219
June 5, 2014
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
politics international, Saudi Arabia |
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“My daughter died because of the thorium and depleted uranium. She’d regularly visit her in-laws in the Salto di Quirra. Once, on the drive back from there, a missile exploded in a quarry nearby, raising a huge cloud of yellow dust that got in the car. For days after that, she’d wash her hair but the dust would not go away. That’s how she got leukaemia. She died, her brother in law died, her son got sick – the only one who survived. It took the doctors 16 months from the time of her death to provide us with her medical records. After her body and that of her brother in law were exhumed, I have finally had confirmation of my doubts.”
http://blogs.essex.ac.uk/hrc/2014/06/02/the-sardinian-minority-and-quirra-syndrome/
By Claudia Tavani
“The military bases are Europe’s dump place: they killed the territory, they killed the people. They are causing an extermination by leukaemia.” – Mariella Cao, President, Comitato Gettiamo le Basi.
Sardinia, an Autonomous Region of Italy, is the second largest island of the Mediterranean. Although it is scarcely populated, with roughly 1.7 million inhabitants, it is host to 60% of Italy’s military lands, comprising a total of 24,000 hectares. This land is used by the military for live fire exercises and weapons testing, with activity taking place in 3 main areas: Quirra (which is host to the “Poligono missilistico sperimentale Interforze Salto di Quirra” (PISQ), the biggest scientific military base in Europe), Capo Teulada and Capo Frasca.
Despite NATO regulations requiring that after each experiment areas are cleaned to eliminate contamination, this is not taking place. Italian laws acknowledge the economic and social impact of the experiments on populations involved and call for an equal distribution of scientific military bases on the national territory. Yet, as demonstrated by the percentage of land used, the impact of the experiments is markedly higher in Sardinia than elsewhere in Italy. It is suspected that these tests are having an adverse health impact on the local population, and recently, the term “Quirra Syndrome” has been used to refer to the increase in deaths and diseases now affecting a large number of people and animals living in areas used by NATO forces to run scientific experiments.
The PISQ is built in a scarcely populated area, used by local sheperds to graze their sheep, as agreed in a contract with the military. Analysis run by the Azienda Sanitaria Locale (ASL, the State medical and veterinary authority) and subsequently leaked to the press shows a clear link between the deaths and deformities registered in animals and the military experiments. Medical investigations also indicate a clear link between the experiments and the high incidence of leukaemia and other tumours among local shepherds and their families. Out of less than 150 inhabitants, lymphoma and leukaemia have killed 21 in the Quirra area. Davide Utzeri, a resident of San Vito, in the Quirra area, interviewed by Marco Corrias recalls:
“My daughter died because of the thorium and depleted uranium. She’d regularly visit her in-laws in the Salto di Quirra. Once, on the drive back from there, a missile exploded in a quarry nearby, raising a huge cloud of yellow dust that got in the car. For days after that, she’d wash her hair but the dust would not go away. That’s how she got leukaemia. She died, her brother in law died, her son got sick – the only one who survived. It took the doctors 16 months from the time of her death to provide us with her medical records. After her body and that of her brother in law were exhumed, I have finally had confirmation of my doubts.”
Research begun by ASL in 2010 shows that 65% of shepherds working within 2.7km of the shooting range of the PISQ and 30% of those having flocks in the military area of the plateau have contracted a tumor, confirming a serious health concern that continues to be denied by the authorities.
The publicity to the case given by the local press and the Committee Gettiamo le Basi (an organisation whose goal is the demilitarisation of Sardinia, and the protection of its environment and the health of the Sardinian minority) led the Public Attorney Mr. Domenico Fiordalisi to start an investigation in January 2011 (there had been no reaction to requests for investigation up until this point). This investigation sought to exhume the bodies of shepherds in the area for further analysis and as an interim measure the grazing of animals in polluted areas was prohibited. According to this investigation, out of 167 suspect deaths in the area, at least 100 can be linked to the military experiments. In 2013, it was also discovered that toxic waste was illegally being disposed of in the land where animals were taken to pasture by local shepherds. A 2013 study (Air Pollution and Cancer)by the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organisation underlines the link between cancer and the presence of polluting agents.
The local inhabitants initially protested against the prohibition on grazing of animals, as this left already impoverished shepherds with no source of income. However, consequent to the initial investigations by the Public Attorney, the inhabitants of the area have no more doubts about the responsibility of the State and the military for the deaths and illnesses and have started a civil action.
Concurrent to the civil measures being undertaken Gettiamo le Basi has forwarded a report and a number of supporting documents to the European Parliament, with the aim of bringing the issue to the EU forum and of demanding that the EU take responsibility for investigating the Quirra Syndrome and its impact on the health of Sardinians and for its role and the role of its members in what it calls the ‘genocide’ of the Sardinian people, since EU and NATO members also benefit from the use of the military bases.
Having viewed the reports, and monitored the situation and recent developments I would argue that a number of the rights of the Sardinian minority have been violated, first and foremost the right to health and the right to life, but also the right to enjoy their own culture and follow a traditional lifestyle and the right to receive information. Investigations are currently ongoing to assess the extent of the environmental damage, and on 18 November 2013 the Court of Lanusei asked for an adjournment, to allow the appointed expert to conduct further research in the area (see here). So far, twenty persons are under investigation, for allegedly allowing en environmental disaster, and for allegedly contributing to the use of dangerous armaments, and the illegal disposal of dangerous toxic waste. Among them, there are high officers of the Italian army and the former mayor of Perdasdefogu. Although investigations are ongoing, I cannot feel optimistic for a swift trial, given how long these normally take in Italy and due to the continuous adjournments in order to allow more investigations. It almost seems that calling for more investigations is a tactic to make sure that the trials do not take place. Meantime, Sardinians are beginning to accetp the existence of the Quirra syndrome as a normal part of life. Ironically, as Gettiamo le Basi points out, the basis of Teulada and Quirra are currently being strengthened.
Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are the author(s) alone.
June 4, 2014
Posted by arclight2011part2 |
Uncategorized |
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Strontium reaches 500 Billion Bq/m³ in basements at Fukushima — Record levels reported at 5 locations near ocean — U.S. Senior Scientist: “We see strontium becoming more of concern… food chain will have to be studied more carefully” http://enenews.com/strontium-reaches-500-billion-bqm3-in-basements-at-fukushima-record-levels-reported-at-5-locations-near-ocean-u-s-expert-we-see-strontium-becoming-more-of-concern-food-chain-will-have-to?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
JIJI PRESS,May 29, 2014: [TEPCO] said Thursday that it plans to improve a cesium adsorption system […] to enable it to remove strontium. The move is aimed at reducing risks when radioactive water leaks from storage tanks […] TEPCO plans to begin test operation of the improved SARRY system at the end of August. Highly radioactive water [is] accumulating in the basements of the No.1 to No. 4 reactor buildings [with] strontium levels standing at 40 million to 500 million becquerels per liter [500 billion becquerels per metric ton (Bq/m³)].
Tepco, Detailed Analysis Results in the Port of Fukushima Daiichi NPS, around Discharge Channel and Bank Protection — Underground Water Obtained at Bank Protection (pdf):
Results Published May 28, 2014 (Bq/liter):KUSP, May 30, 2014: [Ken Buesseler, Senior scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution] doesn’t worry about cesium-containing fish swimming across the ocean and appearing in other fisheries. The situation is different for strontium-90 […] Strontium behaves like calcium, and it can replace calcium in your bones. “Instead of [cesium’s] 50 days, think of more like 500 days, a couple of years, before it would be released back through natural processes,” he says. […] In the ocean near the power plant, levels of strontium-90 have grown since the accident. But Buesseler says he hasn’t seen alarming numbers for strontium in fish yet. “Down the road, as we see strontium becoming more of concern, that isotope in the food chain will have to be studied more carefully,” he says. Buesseler hopes to monitor strontium levels in the ocean and seafloor near Japan in the future. Should that strontium move across the Pacific Ocean, it will take three years for it to reach the West Coast of the United States.
Full KUSP broadcast here
June 4, 2014
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Fukushima 2014 |
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While the American reactor industry continues to suck billions of dollars from the public treasury, its allies in the corporate media seem increasingly hesitant to cover the news of post-Fukushima Japan. In reality, those gutted reactors are still extremely dangerous. An angry public, whose children are suffering, has thus far managed to keep all other nukes shut in Japan. If they keep them down permanently, it will be a huge blow to the global nuke industry—one you almost certainly won’t see reported in the American corporate media. 
Fukushima Is Still a Disaster Truth Dig, Harbey Wasserman 3 June 14 The corporate media silence on Fukushima has been deafening even though the melted-down nuclear power plant’s seaborne radiation is now washing up on American beaches. Ever more radioactive water continues to pour into the Pacific. At least three extremely volatile fuel assemblies are stuck high in the air at Unit 4. Three years after the March 11, 2011, disaster, nobody knows exactly where the melted cores from Units 1, 2 and 3 might be. Amid a dicey cleanup infiltrated by organized crime, still more massive radiation releases are a real possibility at any time. Radioactive groundwater washing through the complex is enough of a problem that Fukushima Daiichi owner Tepco has just won approval for a highly controversial ice wall to be constructed around the crippled reactor site. No wall of this scale and type has ever been built, and this one might not be ready for two years. Widespread skepticism has erupted surrounding its potential impact on the stability of the site and on the huge amounts of energy necessary to sustain it. Critics also doubt it would effectively guard the site from flooding and worry it could cause even more damage should power fail. Continue reading →
June 4, 2014
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
media, USA |
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Nuclear safety inspectors first to flee stricken Fukushima plant June 03, 2014 Asahi Shimbun, By SHINICHI SEKINE/ Staff Writer Safety inspectors with the government’s nuclear watchdog body were the first to flee when disaster struck the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011.
The exodus of Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) officials compromised communications between the government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. at a critical juncture.
This unexpected turn of events shows that the government itself was not sure what role it should play in the nuclear crisis.
The plant manager, Masao Yoshida, who died last year of esophageal cancer, was questioned by the government’s Investigation Committee on the Accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations several months after the accident. The Asahi Shimbun obtained a copy of his testimony.
According to his testimony, on March 15, 2011, four days after the Fukushima plant was hit by the magnitude-9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, 90 percent of the workers in the plant withdrew to the Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant some 10 kilometers away, ignoring Yoshida’s order to remain in and around the compound of the No. 1 facility.
Before that, however, NISA inspectors fled the site immediately after the accident even though they should have stayed to assess what steps were needed to deal with the accident. They went to makeshift government headquarters set up about five kilometers from the No. 1 plant.
On March 15, the makeshift facility was transferred to Fukushima city, some 50 kilometers away. With all government safety inspectors absent from the No. 1 nuclear power plant, the government had no direct means to grasp what was happening there. As a result, it was forced to depend entirely on TEPCO for information.
But channels of communication between the government and TEPCO did not go smoothly. This chaotic situation prompted the prime minister, Naoto Kan, to go to TEPCO’s head office in Tokyo. That was the catalyst for the government and TEPCO to jointly set up headquarters in Tokyo, 230 kilometers away, to deal with the nuclear accident.
The government’s investigation committee’s reports based on Yoshida’s recall of the events highlight the withdrawal of the No. 1 plant’s workers to the No. 2 plant even though the government’s safety inspectors were the first to flee……..http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201406030026
June 4, 2014
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
- Fukushima 2011, Fukushima continuing |
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Renewable Energy Growth Greater Than Nuclear Decline in Germany Clean Technica, JamesWimberley 3 June 14,
Foreigners lecturing Germans that they should keep their nuclear reactors running are wasting their time. The well-heeled nuclear lobby in Germany has completely failed to sell its product to a firmly anti-nuclear public, and has given up, so why should a few foreign bloggers make a difference?
FWIW, I agree with the argument – ten years of avoided coal power is not to be sniffed at. But the Energiewende is a package: phase out nukes and gas first, then coal. and replace them with renewables.
The real purpose of publicists like Adams is to convince Americans that the Energiewende is a hoax so that they will support their own domestic nuke-building. This objective is less hopeless, but not by much. Wall Street and the Administration have lost interest. Republicans in Congress will defend existing nuclear subsidies, but don’t have any appetite for upping them to the Hinkleyish scale needed for a significant revival of the American nuclear industry. Move on, there’s nothing to see here.http://cleantechnica.com/2014/06/03/renewable-energy-growth-germany-nuclear-decline/
June 4, 2014
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Germany, renewable |
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Nuclear Crisis: Can the Sane prevail in Time? OpEd News, By Jim McCluskey (about the author) 3 June 14, “….Supporting Sanity In my previous article, ‘Nuclear Weapons: Hope At Last,’ I pointed to the international meetings in Oslo and Mexico at which the non-nuclear states determined to take matters into their own hands and protect themselves and the planet by bypassing the madness of the nuclear states. The conferences focus on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons use and the nightmarish consequences. Dates have now been fixed for the third of these conferences. It will take place in Austria on 8-9 December in Vienna. It is expected that the Vienna conference will take the matter of a Nuclear Weapons Treaty much further forward. The treaty would ban the existence of nuclear weapons. Moreover, after Vienna, South Africa has mentioned the possibility of hosting a fourth conference on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons. If the combined efforts of the non-nuclear states are successful in achieving an international ban on the existence and use of nuclear weapons then the nuclear-armed states will be under great pressure to follow suit. Continue reading →
June 4, 2014
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
2 WORLD, weapons and war |
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Pickering nuclear reactors can exceed design operating limit Canada’s nuclear regulator will allow reactors at the Pickering nuclear station to operate past their design limit. The Star, By: John Spears Business reporter, Published on Tue Jun 03 2014 Canada’s nuclear regulator says reactors at the Pickering power station will be allowed to operate beyond their stated design limit.
But the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has ordered Ontario Power Generation to present further detailed information about the station at a meeting in August.
One of the six active reactors at Pickering would have had to shut down later this month had the commission not made its decision, released Tuesday. Others are also nearing their limit.
The pressure tubes in the reactors – which hold the uranium fuel – have a design life of operating for 210,000 “equivalent full power hours.” OPG is not allowed to operate them past that limit.
OPG has asked the nuclear safety commission to extend the operating limit to 247,000 hours. The company wants to extend Pickering’s life to about 2020, but wants to do so without performing the expensive and lengthy task of replacing all the pressure tubes in the reactors……….
Environmental groups that had appeared before the commission had argued that the limit shouldn’t be exceeded because OPG’s emergency plans for a serious nuclear accident and a wide-spread release of radiation are inadequate.
“The fact they’re asking OPG to do this additional work for August is pretty significant,” said Theresa McCleneghan of the Canadian Environmental Law Association…….
Shawn-Patrick Stensil of Greenpeace said it’s “irresponsible” to still be running the Pickering plant.
People living near the plant don’t know enough about emergency plans in the event of an accident, he said.
He said the commission’s decision to extend the hours of operation is “kicking the can down the road.”
The province doesn’t need the output of the reactor that was about to hit the 210,000-hour limit Stensil said.
In fact, he noted that even with the warm weather on Tuesday, Ontario was exporting 2,000 megawatts of power – or the equivalent of about four Pickering reactors.
June 4, 2014
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Canada, safety |
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Are You Ready For Nuclear War? By Paul Craig Roberts (about the author) OpEdNews 6/3/2014 Pay close attention to Steven Starr’s guest column, “The Lethality of Nuclear Weapons.” Washington thinks nuclear war can be won and is planning for a first strike on Russia, and perhaps China, in order to prevent any challenge to Washington’s world hegemony.
The plan is far advanced, and the implementation of the plan is underway. As I have reported previously, US strategic doctrine was changed and the role of nuclear missiles was elevated from a retaliatory role to an offensive first-strike role. US anti-ballistic missile (ABM) bases have been established in Poland on Russia’s frontier, and other bases are planned. When completed, Russia will be ringed with US missile bases.
Anti-ballistic missiles, known as “star wars,” are weapons designed to intercept and destroy ICBMs. In Washington’s war doctrine, the US hits Russia with a first strike, and whatever retaliatory force Russia might have remaining is prevented from reaching the US by the shield of ABMs.
The reason Washington gave for the change in war doctrine is the possibility that terrorists might obtain a nuclear weapon with which to destroy an American city. This explanation is nonsensical. Terrorists are individuals or a group of individuals, not a country with a threatening military. To use nuclear weapons against terrorists would destroy far more than the terrorists and be pointless, as a drone with a conventional missile would suffice.
The reason Washington gave for the ABM base in Poland is to protect Europe from Iranian ICBMs. Washington and every European government knows that Iran has no ICBMs and that Iran has not indicated any intent to attack Europe.
No government believes Washington’s reasons. Every government realizes that Washington’s reasons are feeble attempts to hide the fact that it is creating the capability on the ground to win a nuclear war.
The Russian government understands that the change in US war doctrine and the US ABM bases on its borders are directed at Russia and are indications that Washington plans a first strike with nuclear weapons on Russia.
China has also understood that Washington has similar intentions toward China. As I reported several months ago, in response to Washington’s threat, China called the world’s attention to China’s ability to destroy the US should Washington initiate such a conflict.
However, Washington believes that it can win a nuclear war with little or no damage to the US. This belief makes nuclear war likely.
As Steven Starr makes clear, this belief is based in ignorance. Nuclear war has no winner. Even if US cities were saved from retaliation by ABMs, the radiation and nuclear winter effects of the weapons that hit Russia and China would destroy the US as well.
The media, conveniently concentrated into a few hands during the corrupt Clinton regime, is complicit by ignoring the issue. The governments of Washington’s vassal states in Western and Eastern Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan are also complicit, because they accept Washington’s plan and provide the bases for implementing it. The demented Polish government has probably signed the death warrant for humanity. The US Congress is complicit, because no hearings are held about the executive branch’s plans for initiating nuclear war.
Washington has created a dangerous situation. As Russia and China are clearly threatened with a first strike, they might decide to strike first themselves. Why should Russia and China sit and await the inevitable while their adversary creates the ability to protect itself by developing its ABM shield? Once Washington completes the shield, Russia and China are certain to be attacked, unless they surrender in advance.
The 10-minute report below from Russia Today makes it clear that Washington’s secret plan for a first strike on Russia is not secret. The report also makes it clear that Washington is prepared to eliminate any European leaders who do not align with Washington. A transcript is provided by Global Research.
Readers will ask me, “What can we do?” ….. Dr. Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury for Economic Policy in the Reagan Administration. He was associate editor and columnist with the Wall Street Journal, columnist for Business Week and the Scripps Howard News Service. He is a contributing editor to Gerald Celente’s Trends Journal. He has had numerous university appointments. His book, The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West is available here. His latest book, How America Was Lost, has just been released and can be ordered here. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Are-You-Ready-For-Nuclear-by-Paul-Craig-Roberts-Evil_Humanity_Nuclear-Fabrication_Nuclear-Powers-140603-980.html
June 4, 2014
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
USA, weapons and war |
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Renewable Energy Growth Greater Than Nuclear Decline in Germany http://cleantechnica.com/2014/06/03/renewable-energy-growth-germany-nuclear-decline/ Energiewende Germany wrote this on Twitter:
Renewables have grown more than nuclear been shut down. Coal? In decline again.
Rod Adams, who tries to delay deployment of renewable energy since he rightly perceives it as dangerous competition to his preferred nuclear option, challenged that:
@EnergiewendeGER Do you have credible sources for that assertion?
This is a good occasion to have a new look at the figures. The renewable side of the statistics is best documented in this PDF published by Bernard Chabot at RenewablesInternational a couple of days ago, based on data released by the German Ministry of Economy in this report (in German language).
But first we need to get data for the nuclear decline, so as to find a suitable time frame for measuring the renewable growth.
The mid-term decline of nuclear in Germany is easily documented by looking at the figures released by Arbeitsgemeinschaft Energiebilanzen.
Nuclear peaked in 2001 at 171.3 TWh. It has been relatively stable for the five years until 2006, where it scored 167,4 TWh. From there on it’s a rapid decline. 148,8 TWh in 2008. 140,6 TWh in 2010. 108,0 TWh in 2011. 99,5 TWh in 2012. And 97,3 TWh in 2013.
That’s a decline of 74 TWh in the 12 years since 2001, and a decline of 42.9 TWh since 2010 (the last year before the Fukushima accident).
So has renewable grown more than that in those years?
Renewable scored around 36 TWh in 2001 and 152.6 TWh in 2013. That’s an increase of 116.6 TWh, which beats the nuclear decline since 2001 by a large margin.
The figure for renewable energy in 2010 was 104.8 TWh, which means an increase of 47.8 TWh, again beating the nuclear decline since 2010, though the margin is smaller in this case.
So, to answer Rod Adams’ question, there are reliable sources for the assertion that nuclear decline has not been able to keep up with renewable growth in Germany.
I am not sure if the opposite result would be worth much as a pro-nuclear argument, since it would mean that nuclear is declining even faster than it already is. That’s not a competition you really want to win if you are pro nuclear energy.
While I’m at it, there are some other interesting points found in the report by Bernard Chabot.
For one, Germany is well on track to reach the target of 35% renewable energy electricity generation in 2020. The figure for 2013 was already at 25.4%.
Solar capacity was at 35.9 GW at the end of last year, beating wind with 34.7 GW. That solar capacity figure is way ahead of the national renewable energy action plan Germany filed with the EU in 2010 (Table 10 at page 116), where the government expected only 27.3 GW in 2013. The number for wind is only slightly higher than expectations (33 GW).
June 4, 2014
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Germany, politics |
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Nuclear Crisis: Can the Sane prevail in Time? By Jim McCluskey (about the author) OpEdNews 6/3/2014 “………Through much of recorded history it has been accepted as normal that, periodically, large groups of men should meet and hack each other to pieces. This was the method of choice for resolving disputes. In the last few hundred years, with the aid of science, our capacity for killing other members of our species has been accelerating way beyond reason. It has now reached an apogee. We are at the end of the process. We can now, in a few hours, incinerate every human being in existence. What an accomplishment! What an epitaph! We have two thousand nuclear weapons held on hair-trigger alert, already mounted on board their missiles and ready to be launched at a moment’s notice. This could happen at any time; perhaps when one of the nine nuclear states elects the ultimate psychopathic and/or narcissistic individual as their leader — one who believes that a first strike will enable him to win a nuclear war and rule gloriously thereafter.
Ian Hughes is a physicist and psychologist. He has just written a book entitled ‘Imperfect Design: How Our Psychology Threatens Our World’2. In the book he describes how psychologists and psychiatrists have recently identified three psychological disorders from which a small proportion of humans suffer. This psychologically diseased minority has tended to dominate the normal majority. The disorders can make the bearers a danger to the rest of us. And when such individuals get into power, with the destructive forces already referred to at their disposal, this danger could not be more acute and urgent. The disorders are Psychopathy, Paranoid Personality Disorder, and Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
Psychopaths lack the ability to empathize with others. They relate to people in a similar way to relating to things. Many psychopaths have demonstrated their ability to kill without conscience.
Narcissists suffer from the belief that only they are important and thus are unable to appreciate the concept of equality. They have a sense of entitlement. They are entitled to more wealth, more power, more of everything than everyone else.
Paranoid Personality Disorder sufferers live in fear. They are hyper-sensitive and see everything and everyone as a threat……..Tragically, in our corporate culture the psychopaths have a home in organizations that embrace their own values……..And the government itself in many instances exhibits psychologically dysfunctional behaviour.
The most dire example of all this keeps us all in a state of conscious or unconscious dread. The existence and deployment of nuclear weapons keep the survival of the human race on a knife edge. This is not rational behavior. ………most of us do not wish to prepare for the incineration of millions of fellow human beings to make us feel ‘secure’. This sounds as extreme as paranoia can get……….
At the same time as suffering from extreme paranoia the US leaders have an attitude of ‘exceptionalism’. They have a ‘manifest destiny’. They invade and attack other parts of the world at will (provided these are parts of the world that are unable to effectively fight back). The believe that they can do this ‘by right’. Narcissism. The narcissism of the leaders of the nuclear states takes many forms. Switzerland has no nuclear weapons but its government has built nuclear shelters for all its citizens. The US government decided not to build nuclear shelters for its citizens and then went on to spend more on building them exclusively for the government than it spent on all variety of needs and services for the rest of us.6………..
Leaders of Nuclear States Show Contempt for Us All
The nuclear states who are signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (UK, US, Russia, China, and France) undertake to get rid of their nuclear weapons. The treaty came into force in 1970. Every five years there is a Review Conference to see how this is going. Before the Review Conference there are a number of Pre-Review Conferences (referred to as PrepComs) to decide what will be discussed at the Review Conference. The third (!) Pre-Review Conference for the 2015 Review Conference has just concluded — without adopting any agreed recommendations! All the nuclear states are renewing their nuclear arsenals. The British government has declared that it is building an arsenal for the next fifty years. The nuclear-armed states illustrated their commitment to making progress with disarmament by pleading that they had made a glossary of nuclear definitions! This ludicrous pantomime is treating the public with contempt. It is clear that the nuclear states have no intention of honouring the Non-Proliferation Treaty…….http://www.opednews.com/articles/Nuclear-Crisis-Can-the-Sa-by-Jim-McCluskey-Nuclear-Deterrence_Nuclear-Disarmament_Nuclear-Powers_Nuclear-Technology-Theft-140603-43.html
June 4, 2014
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
2 WORLD, psychology - mental health, weapons and war |
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Slovakia tightens regulation on uranium mining, Global Post, BRATISLAVA, June 3 (Xinhua) — As of June 15, uranium mining in Slovakia will be possible only if the inhabitants of the affected municipalities allow it in a referendum, according to an amendment to the Geological Act approved by Parliament on Tuesday…….Wave of resistance against uranium mining in Jahodna has emerged in Slovakia in last two years, with more than 100,000 people signing a petition to that effect. According to the new legislation, any company interested in mining will have to ask the six affected municipalities to hold a referendum…..http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/140603/slovakia-tightens-regulation-uranium-mining
June 4, 2014
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
EUROPE, opposition to nuclear, Uranium |
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Renewable energy road system http://www.motoring.com.au/news/renewable-energy-road-system-43899 3 June 14, Solar-powered road surfacing enjoys its day in the sun as inventors raise funding
An American couple has launched a crowdfunding campaign to support the development and eventual roll-out of multifunctional solar cells as a replacement for conventional bitumen-surfaced roads.
Continue reading →
June 4, 2014
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
general |
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neither Nuclear Matters or the CASEnergy Coalition are bona fide organizations with staffs and brick and mortar offices. They are nothing more than PR agency-managed websites with high-profile paid spokespeople in tow.
columnists and other commentators fail to reference Exelon or misrepresent Nuclear Matters to enhance its credibility.
Nuclear Giant Exelon Launches Front Group to Cover Its Assets Elliott Negin HUFFINGTON POST 2 June 14, Nuclear power, which accounts for 19 percent of the nation’s electricity generation, is facing some serious challenges. Not only did its hoped-for renaissance fizzle out, four reactors shut down last year, another is closing this fall, and the nuclear giant Exelon says it will announce plant closings by the end of this year if market conditions don’t improve.
Indeed, market conditions have not been good for Exelon, which owns 23 reactors at 14 plant sites, making it the largest nuclear plant operator in the country. Although the company netted $1.16 billion on revenues of $23.5 billion from all of its energy holdings in 2013, none of the Chicago-based company’s six Illinois nuclear plants turned a profit in the last five years, according to a recent Chicago Tribuneinvestigation. At least three of those plants are reportedly on the chopping block……
To try to stanch the bleeding, Exelon recently launched a front group, Nuclear Matters, to sell the public on the need to keep the remaining U.S. fleet of some 100 reactors running. According to its website, the group rests its argument largely on the fact that nuclear plants run 24/7 and don’t emit carbon or traditional air pollutants, and insists that efforts to address global warming will be foiled if any reactors close. The website also lists some of the commonly cited reasons for the industry’s current plight, but, echoing Exelon, also blames federal and state policies that support wind and solar power, which it claims “distorts” electricity markets. Not only is that a dubious assertion, it’s especially ironic given the nuclear industry would not be economically viable without more than 50 years of federal subsidies, many of which continue to this day.
A New York public relations firm, Sloane & Company, is managing Nuclear Matters for Exelon. Since the group’s launch in March, the agency has placed full-page ads and op-eds in a range of publications and recruited an impressive array of former public officials to plead the company’s case. Former Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) were on board at the beginning as co-chairs. They were soon joined by former Secretary of Commerce and White House Chief of Staff William Daley, former Energy Secretary and Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.), former Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), and former Clinton Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Carol Browner, who served as the Obama administration’s climate adviser and is board chair of the League of Conservation Voters.
Why start a front group? For the same reason the industry trade association Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) hired the Hill & Knowlton PR agency eight years ago to create the faux grassroots Clean and Safe Energy Coalition and tap former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman to be its primary spokesperson. Who is the public going to believe? A former EPA administrator or NEI CEO Marv Fertel? A former U.S. senator or Exelon CEO Christopher Crane? More than likely the former government officials, especially if they don’t disclose the fact that the nuclear industry is paying them to advance its agenda. Continue reading →
June 3, 2014
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
spinbuster, USA |
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the nuclear business stinks in the United States. It’s gotten so bad that French nuclear giant EDF inked a deal last year to gradually dump its U.S. nuclear operations thanks to dwindling profits and dimming prospects that it will get to build new reactors.
There are far better, more sustainable alternatives that will keep the lights on. Among the best is wind power. Believe it or not, wind is quickly gaining market share in Texas. According to government projections, plummeting costs for solar panels could make sun-powered utilities more competitive than natural gas within a single decade,
Sorry Carol Browner, and your new friends in the nuclear industry. In terms of safety and money, building new reactors amounts to a lose-lose proposition.
A gust of nuclear-powered hot air from the industry
http://bristolpress.com/articles/2014/05/31/opinion/doc538a72d3949cd339945913.txt May 31, 2014 By EMILY SCHWARTZ GRECO and WILLIAM A. COLLINS Have you heard how nuclear power is a low-carbon solution that could ratchet down climate change? Even former Environmental Protection Agency chief Carol Browner is touting the industry for its supposed reliability, low-cost and diminutive carbon footprint.
For years, including when she served as President Barack Obama’s climate czar, Browner shared the widespread green view best summed up by this slogan: No nukes is good nukes.
Now, she’s shilling for Nuclear Matters. This atomic lobbying outfit, funded by industry giants like Exelon, is trumpeting nuclear reactors as a climate panacea in full-page New York Times ads and any media outlet willing to listen to members of its “leadership council,” which includes a gaggle of senators-turned-lobbyists like Judd Gregg, Evan Bayh, and Blanche Lincoln. As the saying goes, everything has its price. But what’s driving this nuclear-powered media shopping spree? After decades without any new construction, a total of five new reactors are slated to open by 2018 in Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia.
Those projects were supposed to usher in a nuclear construction boom that’s not materializing for several reasons. One is safety. Another is the rise of fracking. A gusher of natural gas offers another dangerous alternative to coal-fired power plants that’s exposing the myth of nuclear energy’s so-called affordability as a flat-out lie.
For more than three years, the global media has tuned in with varying degrees of intensity to the steady drumbeat of fallout (literally) from Japan’s Fukushima catastrophe. After other ideas failed, the government over there is shifting into sci-fi overdrive with a plan to create a mile-long underground frozen wall to contain the destroyed power plant’s radiation.
Hey, if that doesn’t pan out, Japan can order its scientists to genetically engineer a Godzilla creature that guzzles radioactive seawater. The fact is that safety concerns have made Japan go nuclear-free, at least for now, by shuttering the reactors that used to generate 30 percent of the country’s electricity. Continue reading →
June 3, 2014
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
spinbuster, USA |
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