nuclear-news

To October 7 – the week in nuclear/climate news

The 2017 Nobel Peace Prize has just been awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).  This global campaign began in Melbourne 10 years ago, and look where it went from there! Retrieving Australia’s past reputation for work towards nuclear disarmament, ICAN’s dedicated team just kept going. Today, I can feel proud to be Australian,  despite the Australian government’s present craven record on disarmament.

Contrasting with that positive news, we have Donald Trump’s latest ominous utterance – “the calm before the storm”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU62DZ_Xf0M Who knows what he means?  At least in the 1979 Peter Sellers film “Being There” that particular  dimwitted President knew that he was talking about gardening.

NUCLEAR  Text of Nobel Peace Prize award to anti-nuclear campaign ICAN. Why Trump’s Words on North Korea Matter – normalising nuclear war.

Debunking the myths about nuclear fusion – The ITER Power Amplification Myth.

International Atomic Energy Agency predicts slowdown in nuclear power.

Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) can’t compete, unless ordered en masse.

CLIMATE. Stark Evidence: A Warmer World Is Sparking More and Bigger Wildfires – Degraded Tropical Forests Now Release More Carbon Than They Store.   40 large Catholic institutions put their money where fossil fuel investment isn’t.

USA. Nuclear

• USA needs to negotiate, exchange some concessions for limited concessions from North Korea. Trump severely criticised by Nobel peace prize winner ICAN, over nuclear standoff .  Defense Secretary Mattis says that staying in Iran deal is in U.S. national security interest. Donald Trump to declare that Iran nuclear deal is not in the national interest. Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017 – US Congressmen Lieu and Markey. USA nuclear weapons sales business looking good: lucrative sales of missile to Japan planned.
• Donald Trump signs Bill to make it easier for the mentally ill to buy guns. America’s National Rifle Association briefly suspends advertisements for guns
• Dear oh dear!   USA hasn’t enough plutonium for both space exploration and nuclear weapons.  A plan to ‘economically’ send ‘ordinary citizens’ into space.
• Essential for the public to know about the hazards of RADON.
•  Piketon, Ohio, fighting radioactive disposal site.  Proposed STRANDED nuclear waste Bill, to compensate communities for economic losses due to being stuck with radioactive trash.
• –Keeping uncompetitive nuclear and coal plants going – is Rick Perry’s unwise energy plan. America’s power markets will be wrecked by foolish subsidy for failing coal and nuclear plants-Westinghouse “committed” to developing Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) BUT CAN THEY GET THE FUNDING?
• 650 truckloads of grout to fill collapsed radioactive tunnel at Hanford. Nuclear workers’ safety an issue, as Waste Isolation Pilot Plant again threatened by tunnel collapse.
• USA Climate. Hurricane Nate intensifies, heading for New Orleans.   Turkey Point Nuclear Power Station not adequately prepared for sea level rise.   Puerto’s electrical system could be restored with solar panels and Tesla batteries – Elon Musk. Trump administration will propose repealing Obama’s key effort to combat climate change.

CHINA. Bill Gates partners with China’s government nuclear companies to develop his small nuclear reactor dream

EUROPE. Europe plans to save Iran nuclear deal , despite Donald Trump. European States anxious about Britain’s ‘nuclear revival’ in Hinkley project. Iodine tablets for Dutch provinces near nuclear power stations. Norway grants immigration to Israeli nuclear whistleblower.

NORTH KOREA.   North Korea threatens Japan – with ‘nuclear clouds over suicidal Japan’.   North Korea’s environment paying a heavy price for Kim’s nuclear bomb tests.

SOUTH KOREA. Catastrophic outcome if North Korea were to attack Seoul and Tokyo.

IRAN. Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran is working well: Trumps is dishonest.

UK.

• UK Navy officer bungled: torpedo fired into nuclear dockyard. A nuclear close call.
• UK government likely to scrap the present funding plan for Hinkley nuclear power project.
• UK woodland site to be taken over by £16 billion Sizewell C nuclear power station, despite earlier promises.  Cumbria’s £10bn nuclear new build will not be delivered on schedule.  Theresa May “committed” to new nuclear , but not to funding Moorside project.

Brexit is mucking up Britain’s Small Modular Nuclear Reactor dreams

JAPAN. The World’s Biggest Nuclear Plant Approved to be Restarted in Japan.   Japanese opposition party will phase out nuclear power – Japan nuclear stocks down. New, unexpected way in which Fukushima is polluting the ocean. 

Japanese beaches 60 miles away have become major source of radioactivity after Fukushima. Radioactive Water “Possibly” Leaked From Reactors For Months “By Error” Says Tepco.

– Fukushima after six years and half: the forgotten victims.

CANADA. Radioactive dump plan near Ottawa River is meeting growing opposition.  Investors beware of uranium mining company Cameco.

NEW ZEALAND. Education on nuclear disarmament – New Zealand is the leader.

SWEDEN. Very high radiation levels in Europe’s wild boars: record high in boar shot in Sweden.

GERMANY. German authorities puzzled over increase in radioactive particles in air.

FRANCE. EDF wrestling with problems on the Hinkley Point nuclear power project.

INDIA. Nuclear submarine accident – India’s nuclear-powered submarine, INS Chakra, damaged. Farmers in 575 villages unite against Chutka nuclear project in Madhya Pradesh.

October 7, 2017 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes