nuclear-news

Climate and nuclear news this week

From the news media, you would hardly know it, but two big international meetings are happening. In New York,  delegations from more than 130 States are working  to finalize the text  for the “Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons”.  In Hamburg, the G20 summit is about to be held, with climate change as a central issue. Meanwhile, as I write, the “important”  news item is, as usual, occupied by Donald Trump, who apparently has tweeted rudely, again – ho hum.

A warning from climate experts – just 3 years left to start real action against climate change.

Investigative journalism lives!  The Center for Public Integrity’s Nuclear Negligence examines safety weaknesses at U.S. nuclear weapon sites operated by corporate contractors.

G20 summit July 7-8. Paris climate deal is ‘non negotiable‘- Angela Merkel.

Sea-Level Rise: Bubble, Bubble, GigaTons of Methane Trouble -Paul Beckwith.  Global Warming Effects Map – Effects of Global Warming.  Climate change refugee numbers – 2 billion by 2100?

UKRAINE Cyber attack knocks out the radiation monitoring system of Chernobyl nuclear plant.

GREENLAND. Greenland ice melting – a big contributor to sea level rise.

EUROPE. Three European nations spanned in human chain demanding closure of Belgian nuclear reactors.

USA.

• A U.S. business nuclear network hacked: this could lead to more serious nuclear risks.
• Ex-nuclear commanders from around the world urge Trump towards talks with North Korea, not military action.
• Nuclear catastrophe narrowly avoided at Los Alamos National Laboratory.  Nuclear weapons industry – profits and the health toll.
• SA White House in discussions with bankrupt Westinghouse nuclear – may provide tax-payer support.
• Troubled SCE and G, Santee Cooper nuclear project could soon be scrapped  
• Trump’s plans for nuclear revival amount to “only a study”: funding cut, including for small reactors.
• In uranium market’s permanent downhill slide, companies beg for tax-payers to rescue them.
• Havasupai – “people of the blue-green waters” fighting uranium mining around Grand Canyon.
• Judge rules against companies wanting to store plutonium on New Mexico-Texas border.
•  Trump taking America backwards – the opposite of “energy dominance”.
• Fear and Loathing Within America’s Environmental Protection Agency.
• The promise of 100 Percent Renewable Energy Grid could soon be realised.

UK. UK govt has set up a new team to plan UK’s withdrawal from Euratom.  Financial problems for Britain’s nuclear power projects.  South Korea’s Kepco would rescue Britain’s Moorside nuclear project, but only with its own reactors.  Bradwell nuclear wastes reclassified as “low level”: failed technology now used for disposal. Hackers trading passwords used by managers at British nuclear power plants. Britain’s Hinkley Point nuclear project to cost billions more than was forecast.

JAPAN. Former Nuclear Power Plant Executives to Stand Trial for the Fukushima Disaster and the Deaths of Over 40 People.

INDIA. 37 sites close, as world’s largest coal company winds down. Low morale in India’s nuclear industry: exodus of scientists.

FRANCE.  Activists halted nuclear waste ship for several hours.   Flamanville nuclear reactor 3 likely to go ahead, despite weak spots in its steel. French Nuclear regulator requires more inspections of Flamanville EPR reactor pressure vessel anomaly.

SOUTH KOREA. Fall in South Korea’s nuclear shares. Kepco not now likely to buy out bankrupt Westinghouse nuclear. South Korea  suspends construction of 2 nuclear reactors.

RUSSIA. Russia’s fears of nuclear war: underground bunkers prepared. Russia’s nuclear marketing may create unhealthy dependency in Middle East nations.

GERMANY. “There’s more value today in helping reduce consumption than in selling energy itself”.

CHINA. China “looks to small nuclear reactors” – but it’s not really a very good look.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa’s govt and nuclear power utility Eskom undermine renewable energy development.

AUSTRALIA. Karina Lester tells the Anangu story, and of the Aboriginal fight against nuclear waste dumping.

IRAN. Donald Trump leads the world to war against Iran.

CZECH REPUBLIC. Angry reaction to nuclear power plant’s bikini contest for selecting female interns.

June 30, 2017 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes