nuclear-news

Moorside – Engie
[Machine Translation] The French group is trying to abandon its projects in Turkey and Great Britain. A split of the Belgian subsidiary is envisaged. Nuclear power is soon over for Engie. For a few months, the French energy company has begun a major strategic shift by focusing on renewable energies. But this volte-face requires first of all to get rid of its historical activities. According to several sources close to the management, the group seeks to emerge from its two major nuclear projects in Turkey and Great Britain. “Engie wants to give it up because it no longer has the resources to finance such expensive projects,” says one of these sources, “but this is problematic because we have to get out of partnerships with Areva and Toshiba.” In 2013, Engie won a € 17 billion contract in Turkey for four medium-power reactors (Atmea) in cooperation with Areva…

Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Station has the most powerful single nuclear reactor in the US, when it’s working, which it isn’t and apparently hasn’t for the last 3 months. Problems were reported, intermittently, in the months preceding its shutdown. Grand Gulf Nuclear first operated over 31 years ago – July 1, 1985. That is old for a car, but this is a nuclear power station! Ionizing radiation adds additional material stresses.

Nonetheless, the US NRC has just decided that Grand Gulf will be allowed to operate until 2044, or 59 years, even though a special inspection report regarding serious safety concerns is still pending, and even though it’s not working.

Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Station at 0% Electric Output All Reactor Status over last 365 Days found here in one list: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/reactor-status/PowerReactorStatusForLast365Days.txt

“On Halloween, October 31st, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that it had “begun a special inspection…

PRESS NOTICE RADIATION FREE LAKELAND 7.12.16

AUSTRIA THANKS RADIATION FREE LAKELAND

FOR OPPOSING THE BIGGEST NUCLEAR DEVELOPMENT IN EUROPE

Cumbrian nuclear safety group Radiation Free Lakeland have received a letter of thanks from Austria’s Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management.

The letter states: “In the name of the Federal Chancellor we want to thank you for your commitment regarding the nuclear power plant in Moorside. Europe needs citizens who advocate the exit from nuclear energy to ensure the sustainability of energy supply and critically engage themselves in social, economic and political issues.

As you might know, Austria has already expressed its opposition to the use of nuclear energy within a referendum in1978 and is also going to adhere to a policy in favour of a global shift away from this form of energy generation in the future. For the Austrian Federal Government it is clear…

World:

¶ Sudan’s ecosystems and natural resources are deteriorating. Temperatures are rising, water supplies are scarce, soil fertility is low and severe droughts are common. Experts say that without quick intervention, parts of the African country – one of the world’s most vulnerable – could become uninhabitable as a result of climate change. [CNN]

Dust storm approaching Khartoum

¶ The Kremlin has announced that commodities trader Glencore and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund are together buying a 19.5% stake in Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil company, at a price is $11.3 billion. The Russian government is selling state assets to help balance the budget amid a two-year recession partly caused low oil prices. [BBC]

¶ The European Union will start to phase out coal subsidies and reduce its energy usage by 30% before 2030 pursuant to the terms of a major clean energy package announced in November. It…

By Bianca Britton

Sudan’s ecosystems and natural resources are deteriorating.
Temperatures are rising, water supplies are scarce, soil fertility is low and severe droughts are common. After years of desertification, its rich biodiversity is under threat and drought has hindered the fight against hunger.

This burden is affecting not only the country’s food security and sustainable development, but also the homes of many Sudanese families.

Dust storms — known locally as “Haboob” — have also increased in this region. Moving like a gigantic thick wall, it carries sand and dust — burying homes, increasing evaporation to a region that’s struggling to preserve water supplies, as well as eroding valuable fertile soil.

Experts say that without quick intervention, parts of the African country — one of the most vulnerable in the world — could become uninhabitable as a result of climate change.

Increasing temperature

“North Africa is already hot and is…

Why we’re all everyday climate change deniers | Alice Bell
Illustration by Andrzej Krauze.

After Donald Trump won last month’s US presidential election, hot takes speedily declared it game over for the planet. But as Al Gore said at the weekend, “despair is just another form of denial”.

About this, he is entirely right. Now is not the time to cry into your graphs of melting Arctic sea ice. That only helps the people who profit from delay on climate change.
Because climate denial isn’t just something other people do – bad people, sad people, stupid people. It’s not just a niche hobby practised by the president-elect and weirder bits of the internet. It’s mainstream.

Yes, there are those marginal, attention-seeking types who see a bit of light climate denial as banter. You know the type, that annoying guy your mate went to uni with, Ukip candidates, embarrassing relatives.
Then…

Opinion:

¶ “Texas is the Best. And Worst. #1 in both Wind Energy and Carbon Pollution.” • Texas is the number one producer of carbon pollution in the US. But these days, you can barely drive an hour without running into a new wind farm going up or a convoy of trucks carrying turbine blades. [The Equation: Blog of the Union of Concerned Scientists]

Oil extraction in a cotton field (Photo: Wikimedia)

¶ “Turns Out That Breitbart Article the House Science Committee Tweeted Out is a Con Job” • Texas Republican Lamar Smith is the oxymoronic Chairman of the House Science Committee, whose official government Twitter account tweeted out, “Global Temperatures Plunge. Icy Silence from Climate Alarmists.” [eNews Park Forest]

¶ “Trump’s Lies Threaten Wind Techs: Fastest-Growing US Job” There are reasons why Trump’s vendetta against what he calls “the windmills” hurts his own voters. First…