The past week in nuclear and climate news

How good it would be to be able to ignore Donald Trump! But he sees to it that this is pretty much impossible, in any current affairs media. On the nuclear scene, many worry a lot:

about his choice of Steve Bannon on the National Security Council – “Unsupervised by people who know what they’re doing. Trump and Bannon could bring the world closer to a nuclear holocaust.“
Pentagon urges Trump to expand nuclear weapons, ready for “limited” atomic war.
Thanks to Trump’s comments on climate change and nuclear arms we are once again close to nuclear war.
USA intelligence agencies to study whether the Russian and Chinese leadership could survive a nuclear attack
Dangerous steps by Russia and Trump on nuclear arms control

Meanwhile the global nuclear industry is in financial crisis. And Fukushima nuclear reactor radiation at highest level since 2011 meltdown.

Trump is having his impact on climate change news and action, too.

Joint Statements on Climate Change from National Academies of Science Around the World.

Antarctic Sea Ice Likely to Hit New All-Time Record Lows Over Coming Days.

Delays, ballooning costs, stall Next-Generation Nuclear Reactors

UK.

Decision to leave Euratom leaves Britain’s nuclear industry floundering. Britain’s nuclear safety at risk as they pull out of Euratom. Fake charity (nuclear lobby) The Weinberg Foundation is whining about Britain leaving Euratom.
British government now being urged to guarantee Moorside nuclear funding. Blow to UK nuclear strategy as Toshiba considers pulling out of Cumbria plant. Europe’s biggest nuclear construction project now hangs in the balance.

JAPAN. Radiation in Fukushima reactor containment vessel at deadly level: TEPCO. Fukushima nuclear disaster: Worker sues Tepco over cancer. Niigata governor Ryuichi Yoneyama stands firm against restart of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant.

Hitachi to take a 70 billion yen hit after U.S nuclear project fails. Toshiba’s financial woes continue – about to be sued by trust banks. Toshiba to withdraw from nuclear plant construction, chairman to quit.

IRAN. Iran tested ballistic missile, but did not breach nuclear agreement

USA. US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis warns NKorea against nuclear attack . Fear of nuclear war leads Texans to build expensive bunkers. America’s EPA head announces pullout from a global pact to cut emissions. A Washington State judge uses doubt on climate change as legal cause to block a climate activist’s defense.

FRANCE. France’s next President to face costly propping up of the nuclear industry. China decides against taking stake in Areva .

INDIA. Toshiba to withdraw from Indian nuclear projects.

SOUTH AFRICA Only government-owned nuclear companies have responded to Eskom on nuclear marketing.

GREENLAND. Greenland – environment future threatened by mining for uranium and rare earths.

February 4, 2017 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes

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1.This Month

Why Nuclear is NOT a Solution to Climate Change

No to Nuclear Power petition

We, the undersigned, call on theUK Government to:

• Cancel all plans for new reactors,

• Phase out all nuclear power production,

• Commit to developing an energy system based on renewable energy.

Major disasters at Windscale, Chernobyl and Fukushima show the dangers associated with nuclear reactors while studies reveal their routine operation leads to increased local child leukaemia. They produce large volumes of radioactive waste, much of which will remain dangerous for millennia to come. And nuclear power and nuclear weapons industries are inextricably linked: nuclear power grew out of the nuclear weapons programme.

The costs of new nuclear are extremely high and rising, compared with the low costs of the renewables which continue to decline. Yet the Government gives large subsidies to nuclear not the renewables.

We need safe, healthy, inexpensive, and sustainable energy sources, not the dangerous diversion of nuclear power. Renewable energy offers a clear alternative to nuclear. Sign here: https://cnduk.org/actions/no-to-nuclear-power-petition/