Russioa denies USA allegations : says it is fully committed to nuclear missile pact
Russia says it is fully committed to nuclear missile pact, Reuters Staff, MOSCOW (Reuters) 9 Dec 17 – Russia said on Saturday it was fully committed to a Cold War-era pact with the United States banning intermediate-range cruise missiles, a day after Washington accused Moscow of violating the treaty.
The U.S. State Department said on Friday Washington was reviewing military options, including new intermediate-range cruise missile systems, in response to what it said was Russia’s ongoing violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
The warning was the first response by President Donald Trump’s administration to U.S. charges first leveled in 2014 that Russia had deployed a ground-launched cruise missile that breaches the pact’s ban on testing and fielding missiles with ranges of 500-5,500 kms (310-3,417 miles).
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said those allegations were “absolutely unfounded”……
Echoing previous Russian statements, Ryabkov said Moscow was fully committed to the treaty, had always rigorously complied with it, and was prepared to continue doing so.
“However, if the other side stops following it, we will be forced, as President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin has already said, to respond in kind,” he added.
The U.S. allegation has further strained relations between Moscow and Washington, and the State Department on Friday hinted at possible economic sanctions over the issue…… https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-usa-nuclear/russia-says-it-is-fully-committed-to-nuclear-missile-pact-idUSKBN1E30HZ
Israel’s 54-year-old nuclear reactor a safety risk
Aljazeera, by Harry Fawcett
The Dimona reactor, which began its life in 1963, is one of Israel’s most closely guarded secret installations.
A study made public last year found more than 1500 fissures within the reactor core.
Israel is estimated to have more than 100 nuclear warheads, the plutonium for which comes from its Dimona reactor…….http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/israels-54-year-nuclear-reactor-safety-risk-171209153124924.html
Revelations that Westinghouse knew of nuclear reactor problems
Sounding new nuclear alarms https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/editorials/sounding-new-nuclear-alarms/article_be2fb7ca-dc42-11e7-8c26-0305d23937e2.html Westinghouse knew, as far back as 2011, that its designs for two new nuclear reactors in South Carolina were virtually guaranteed to face construction delays and serious cost overruns.
A shocking document published on Friday by The Post and Courier reveals that a Westinghouse engineer raised several alarms about the viability of the reactor plans just two years after construction began.
Worse, it suggests that Westinghouse officials all but ignored the conclusions and proceeded with construction on the now abandoned reactors anyway.
“The AP1000 Design is not complete, although it is currently under construction,” reads the document. “This virtually assures large numbers of changes will occur to both systems and structures.”
The author estimated that related delays could cost as much as $300 million in “claims which will be difficult to defend.”
The report also drew attention to the fact that Westinghouse chose not to require a “professional engineer seal” on plans for the reactors, which could call into question both the designs’ legal status and whether they could be safely built.
That particular flaw, and the existence of the report, were both documented in a September article by The Post and Courier.
If state lawmakers and officials can prove that SCANA or Santee Cooper were aware of Westinghouse’s own internal concerns about the nuclear project as far back as 2011, it would be the most damning piece of evidence yet that the utilities acted imprudently in continuing to funnel money into the new reactors at customer expense.
Today, The Post and Courier is publishing a thorough investigation not just of the failure of the two South Carolina reactors, but of a number of other projects in other states that have cost electric ratepayers tens of billions of dollars.
The report paints a troubling picture of money and influence wielded to shape public policy that benefits electric utilities at the cost of their customers.
In South Carolina, the 2007 Base Load Review Act paved the way for a $9 billion nuclear disaster that could impact hundreds of thousands of ratepayers for the next six decades. The law passed with near unanimous support at the Statehouse.
At least 11 states have similar pieces of legislation. That leaves millions of people nationwide at risk of similarly devastating economic impacts.
Even if Westinghouse never mentioned its concerns to SCANA or Santee Cooper officials, the two South Carolina power companies certainly knew that they were facing problems. Cost overruns and delays plagued the project almost from the start.
Then in 2015, engineering firm Bechtel produced an alarming audit that raised numerous red flags about construction schedules, design flaws and other potentially fatal problems. But work continued and utility officials publicly touted the project’s progress.
That shameful duplicity insults the electric ratepayers of South Carolina, who are paying higher rates for the project, and are faced with years more without state intervention. The situation must be rectified by state lawmakers, regulatory officers and Gov. Henry McMaster when the Legislature returns to session in January.
And as today’s report confirms, other states should take notice.
Ontario frighteningly unprepared for nuclear emergencies
IFPress 7th Dec 2017,Ontario’s lack of readiness for nuclear emergencies is a frightening
situation that should alarm every resident, especially those in
Southwestern Ontario, says Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley. “The province
preaches to municipalities about emergency plans. It turns out the preacher
isn’t following his own gospel,” Bradley said Thursday. Bradley joined
a chorus of critics slamming the Liberal government a day after Ontario’s
auditor general revealed shortcomings in provincial emergency and nuclear
response plans, concluding it’s not ready for a large-scale emergency.
Southwestern Ontario is home to the world’s largest operating nuclear
plant, the Bruce nuclear complex near Kincardine.
http://www.lfpress.com/2017/12/07/sarnia-mayor-weighs-in-after-auditors-less-than–glowing-review-of-provincial-preparedness
There is no way to be prepared for nuclear war – International Red Cross and Red Crescent
Francesco Rocca: No one can prepare for nuclear war Aljazeera, 10 Dec 17, The incoming president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has expressed hope that dialogue will prevail in escalating tensions between North Korea and the West, saying that nothing could prepare the world for nuclear war.
“There is no training, no preparation that could cope with a disaster where we could assist if this weapon would be used,” Francesco Rocca told Al Jazeera.
“This is something I don’t even want to think about … I hope love for humanity will prevail.”
Rocca was elected as the new head of the IFRC by his peers from 178 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies at the humanitarian aid organisation’s general assembly in Antalya, Turkey, on November 6.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Rocca vowed to denounce actors who target humanitarian professionals and facilities, and called the international community’s response to the migrant crisis a “failure”. Here is the full interview……..http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/12/francesco-rocca-prepare-nuclear-war-171205132112294.html
December 10 Energy News
Opinion:
¶ “Utahns won’t benefit from more oil and gas production – just the companies that operate here” • The Trump administration’s retrograde policies to increase fossil fuel subsidies will damage our air, land, water and public health. Trump’s Energy, EPA, and Interior directors are moving to further privilege coal, gas and oil with taxpayer money. [Salt Lake Tribune]
Oil well on public land (Josh Ewing | Friends of Cedar Mesa)
¶ “India faces painful move to cleaner energy” • Hundreds of millions of people in India are forced to live with the fallout of the dirtiest fuels. It is not just air pollution that is killing people and animals. Coal waste is getting into fields and causing underground fires. The government blames a lack of funds to pay for greener power. [The Straits Times]
Science and Technology:
¶ The worst-case predictions regarding the effects of global warming…
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Victims of the Fukushima nuclear disaster to get fair and prompt justice? Investigation by Tsutomu Kirishima
Victims of Fukushima nuclear power plant accident issue a complaint class action against US based General Electric
While a trial asking for the responsibility of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident that occurred throughout the country, Japanese plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit in the US court pursuing the responsibility of US nuclear reactor manufacturers. At trial in the United States, the amount of compensation may exceed tens of billions to one trillion yen (upper costs are nearly 9 billion dollars) . Will it lead to relief of the victims? Journalist Tsutomu Kirishima investigated.
* * *
A complaint was filed in the United States District Court in Boston, Massachusetts in mid-November 2017. In the plaintiff column of the 49-page complaint written in English as “request for class action suit and jury trial”, three people living in Fukushima prefecture and Ibaraki prefecture and six corporations have names. The Defendant is General Electric Company (GE) headquartered in Boston.
【The complaint submitted is here】
GE is a manufacturer involved in the design, manufacturing and installation of nuclear reactors for TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. In the nuclear power plant accident on March 11, 2011, the nuclear reactor could not be cooled from the power loss due to the tsunami, and the 1,3 and 4 units exploded (NOTE unit 2 also exploded arclight2011) and led to meltdown. The Plaintiff argued that
“GE has been involved in the design, manufacture, and maintenance of nuclear reactors that caused meltdown, but has no responsibility for economic losses due to the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident.”
He is seeking compensation from the company for huge damage in the accident.
Although the claim amount is not written in the complaint, the local newspaper in Boston reported that “a class action suit of 56 billion yen against GE who designed the problematic destroyed reactors”.
Specific problems to mention are poor design of the nuclear reactor and negligence on installation.
In the 1960’s, which was the dawn of the nuclear industry, “GE designed a small, cheap reactor to set costs at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to reduce costs”.
Initially, the nuclear reactor building that should be built 35 meters above sea level was
“grounded by GE’s seawater pump so that water can not be pumped up to this height, and it was set at 10 meters above sea level.This is the cause of the tsunami damage, It has been pointed out. “
In addition, GE said that it was the responsibility of the nuclear accident, saying “Failure to install a safety device such as an independent backup power supply resulted in meltdown and the release of radioactivity.”
In fact, it is known that the Mark I reactor set up at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was of low safety.
Mr. Dale Bridenbaugh, who was involved in the design of the nuclear reactor as a former GE engineer, resigned GE with two colleagues in danger of safety in 1976 and was calling for the suspension of operations.
The plaintiff who filed the case this time are two doctors in Fukushima prefecture, four hospitals, small businesses and their managers.
Both were victims of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Damage Accident and said that they were suffering from operating damage from the impact of the accident, being forced to leave or face bankruptcy. One of the plaintiffs speaking with anger in his expression follows;
“The Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident took place six years ago and the town’s population has decreased and a major obstacle has been raised in work. Not only Tokyo Electric Power Company but also the desire to pursue the responsibilities of manufacturers who built the nuclear reactors I have sued for that. “
A class action lawsuit against the nuclear power plant maker has already been filed in Japan and is in progress.
Mr. Tsuyoshi Okubo who is co-director of caretaker at plaintiffs’ lawsuit plaintiff group explains.
“We filed a lawsuit against Hitachi, Toshiba and GE in January 2014. Although the Law on Nuclear Damage Compensation focuses our responsibility on electric companies, we believe manufacturers should pursue their responsibilities as well as electric companies Approximately 3700 current plaintiffs from 35 countries are in dispute with the Tokyo High Court of Appeal. “
Although the plaintiffs are different from this trial, why did you dare to sue a class action in the US this time? Ryan Goldstein, a lawyer familiar with the class action lawsuit in the United States of America, commented, “Because the mechanisms differ greatly in class actions between Japan and the United States.”
“In the class action (class action) in the United States, if a large number of people are suffering similar damage in the case or accident, some of the victims can make a lawsuit on behalf of the whole. The party increases by an order of magnitude as it automatically participates unless it indicates “intention to not participate in the lawsuit.” The judgment and the contents of the settlement apply to all people who participated in the case, so if the defendant is defeated We will incur huge damages. “
In the class action suits in Japan, each person forms a plaintiff group with the willingness to participate, so the scale of the US system is certainly more likely to expand.
According to a class action lawsuit on Takata’s defect airbags, major automakers have agreed to pay a settlement amount totaling 130 billion yen by September this year. Also in the past, class action suits appealed tobacco makers, astronomical settlement fee of 42 trillion yen also came out. As nuclear accident evacuees amount to more than 150,000 people, it is expected that the amount of compensation will be enormous.
Even if the jury does not proceed to trial, it is not unusual to settle with a settlement amount of tens of billions of yen. Because plaintiff lawyers are paid around 30% of settlement money and compensation as remuneration, there is a law firm specializing in class actions in the United States and we are constantly looking for plaintiffs that are likely to sue and matching plaintiffs It is said.
The first hurdle of the case is whether the court will certify that the plaintiffs of this case are composed of a certain range of people (classes) in common.
“To pose a class action,
[1] whether the class is sufficiently large,
[2] whether the members have a common problem point,
[3] the plaintiff’s representative is a typical class of the class It is necessary for the court to certify whether it is making a request etc. The time required for the work is about 1 to 2 years and it will not be half of the total complaints to be authenticated. “(Mr. Goldstin)
Once the class has been certified, the next step is to present a huge amount of document presentation, testimonial testimonials, expert testimonies, etc. in the US or Japan in the United States It is done at the embassy.
After that, it finally entered the trial by the jury and a judgment comes out, but it is about 3% of the total going so far. The defendant is afraid that it will issue a huge amount of compensation and that most cases will be settled. A lawyer who has worked on a class action lawsuit in the United States says:
“Where a person and a company intersect with plaintiffs’ representatives if they are caught, the contents of damage are also different between the two and judgment is made by the court that” they do not have a common problem “, and they are pre-paid at the stage of certification that is also a possibility. “
There are also indications as to whether they will not be in conflict with the “Convention on Compensatory Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC)” which was signed in April 2003 by six countries including Japan and the United States.
CSC concentrates on jurisdiction of lawsuits concerning nuclear damage in the accident originating country from the aspect of victims’ rapid and impartial relief. Regardless of whether there is negligence or not, liability is also concentrated on nuclear power companies. In other words, interpret literally, the trial for damages relating to the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident can only occur in Japan, and also against TEPCO. When I interviewed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they answered “I would like to refrain from comment”.
Mr. Okubo said.
“Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant No. 1 was built in a way that GE takes full responsibility from construction to operation start, and the manufacturer should take responsibility for accidents as well.”
※ Weekly Asahi December 15, 2017 issue
Source links in Japanese only
AERA.dot 2017/12/6 7: 00
https://dot.asahi.com/wa/2017120500030.html?page=1
https://dot.asahi.com/wa/2017120500030.html?page=2
https://dot.asahi.com/wa/2017120500030.html?page=3
https://dot.asahi.com/wa/2017120500030.html?page=4
FUKUSHIMA A RECORD OF LIVING THINGS
3/11 survivors may struggle to repay loans
Fukushima to scale down radiation tests on rice
Many children diagnosed with thyroid cancer after 3.11 disasters, families still worried
Safety of Fukushima food known less overseas
Delicacies from disaster-hit areas on the menu for Tokyo IOC banquet
The long work of achieving the abolition of nuclear weapons
A long road to abolishment of nuclear weapons, http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/op-ed/comment-a-long-road-to-abolishment-of-nuclear-weapons-1.23115603 JONATHAN DOWN / Times Colonist , DECEMBER 7, 2017 With the Doomsday Clock now set at 2.5 minutes to midnight, the key role of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons in building the historic UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is more remarkable than ever.
On July 7, 122 United Nations member countries adopted the treaty, and 50 nations have signed it since Sept. 20. It is anticipated that by the end of 2018, the treaty will become international law.
Recognizing that the risk of nuclear war is even higher today than during the Cold War, the Nobel Committee is honouring ICAN’s work with the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded in Oslo on Sunday. Canadian peace campaigner and Hiroshima bomb survivor Setsuko Thurlow, together with ICAN’s executive director Beatrice Fihn, will accept the prize.
However, although a Canadian activist will receive the Nobel in Oslo, Canada has turned its back on the treaty and refused to sign. Pressure from the United States is considered the main reason for this decision, which directly contradicts Canada’s international reputation as a supporter of nuclear disarmament. It also flouts the treaty’s vision of a world where nuclear weapons are stigmatized, prohibited and eventually eliminated.
Run almost entirely by enthusiastic, highly motivated young people from different parts of the world, ICAN clearly understands that 21st-century threats such as terrorism, cyber-security, failed states and climate change can’t be solved with nuclear weapons. Inflammatory rhetoric threatening “fire and fury” moves the world ever closer to the catastrophe of a nuclear war. Rather than acting as a deterrent, the threat of nuclear weapons encourages nations such as North Korea to accelerate their efforts to acquire their own nuclear arsenal.
ICAN-affiliated organizations are found in more than a hundred countries, including Canada, and the Nobel prize is a tribute to the millions of activists such as Thurlow who have worked to abolish the worst weapons of mass destruction. Victoria-based Vancouver Island Peace and Disarmament Network is affiliated with ICAN through member organizations, and several members participated in the negotiations leading up to the landmark treaty.
Canadians should be extremely proud of ICAN and the huge amount of work that has been done to advance the cause of global peace. We have a long way to go before nuclear weapons are finally abolished — but this year’s Nobel Peace Prize shows that the civil world is on the right track.
Jonathan Down is a pediatrician in Victoria and president-elect of Physicians for Global Survival, the Canadian affiliate of IPPNW. He is a member of the Vancouver Island Peace and Disarmament Network.
North Korea – open to talks with USA?
North Korea ready to open direct talks with US, says Russia’s Sergei Lavrov https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/07/north-korea-ready-direct-talks-us-sergei-lavrov
Pyongyang ‘wants above all to talk to the US about guarantees for its security’
Lavrov says he informed Rex Tillerson in Vienna on Thursday, Guardian, Julian Borger in Washington, 8 Dec 17, North Korea is open to direct talks with the US over their nuclear standoff, according to the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who said he passed that message to his counterpart, Rex Tillerson, when the two diplomats met in Vienna on Thursday.
There was no immediate response from Tillerson but the official position of the state department is that North Korea would have to show itself to be serious about giving up its nuclear arsenal as part of a comprehensive agreement before a dialogue could begin.
Lavrov conveyed the apparent offer on the day a top UN official, Jeffrey Feltman, met the North Korean foreign minister, Ri Yong-ho, in Pyongyang, during the first high-level UN visit to the country for six years. Feltman is an American and a former US diplomat, but the state department stressed he was not in North Korea with any message from Washington.
“We know that North Korea wants above all to talk to the United States about guarantees for its security. We are ready to support that, we are ready to take part in facilitating such negotiations,” Lavrov said at an international conference in Vienna, according to the Interfax news agency. “Our American colleagues, [including] Rex Tillerson, have heard this.”
The diplomatic moves come amid an increased sense of urgency to find a way of defusing the tensions over North Korea’s increasingly ambitious nuclear and missile tests. The standoff reached a new peak on 29 November, when North Korea tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Hwasong-15, capable of reaching Washington, New York and the rest of the continental United States. The missile launch followed the test of what was apparently a hydrogen bomb in September.
Pyongyang has said that current joint exercises by the US and South Korea involving hundreds of warplanes, along with “bellicose remarks” by US officials have “made an outbreak of war on the Korean peninsula an established fact”.
“The remaining question now is: when will the war break out,” a foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.
North Korean officials have said in recent informal meetings that they are particularly concerned by the threat of a surprise “decapitation” strike, aimed at killing the country’s leaders and paralysing military command and control systems before Pyongyang could launch its missiles.
The heightened tensions and threatening language have increased fears around the world that the two sides could blunder into war through miscalculation, mistaking war games for a real attack or misreading blurred red lines.
US and North Korean positions are currently far apart, with Pyongyang rejecting any suggestion that its nuclear disarmament would be on the table at any future negotiation. The regime wants the US to recognise it as a nuclear weapons power and cease its “hostile policies” to North Korea, including sanctions and military manoeuvres off the Korean peninsula.
For its part, the US has rejected a “freeze-for-freeze” proposal advanced by Russiaand China, by which North Korea would suspend nuclear and missile tests while the US would curtail its military exercises.
State department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Thursday that direct talks with North Korea were “not on the table until they are willing to denuclearize.”
However, the two sides have had informal contacts this year, involving Joseph Yun, the US special representative for North Korea policy. Those contacts, known as the “New York channel” were cut by the North Koreans after threatening remarks by Donald Trump during the UN general assembly in September. But there have been some recent signs that Pyongyang might be interested in restoring the channel.
At a meeting in Stockholm that brought together western experts and officials from Pyongyang in late November, a North Korean representative appeared to raise, for the first time, the possibility of a channel for military-to-military communication with the US.
“In an informal discussion that we had in Stockholm, an official made an observation that there isn’t at present a way for the US and North Korea to work together to prevent an accident. I thought that was an interesting observation that I had not heard them say before,” said Suzanne DiMaggio, a senior fellow at the New America thinktank who has played a leading role in back-channel contacts with Iran and North Korea, and who attended the Stockholm meeting.
“I think the US would be best served by putting aside the focus on denuclearisation and instead look at ways to prevent accidents, reduce risks and de-escalate. Those to me seem like achievable goals.”
Sue Mi Terry, a former CIA analyst who was director for Korea, Japan and Oceanic affairs at the national security council in the Bush and Obama administrations, said Washington might be amenable to such a military hotline being established.
“I think even this administration recognises that some sort of an open channel is needed for that, not to negotiate but to have a little more transparency,” she said. “I think everyone recognises that is needed.”
Terry, who was deputy national intelligence officer for east Asia at the national intelligence council from 2009 to 2010, said that it was also possible that Yun could re-establish the New York channel with Pyongyang. But she added there was little sign such contacts would lead to substantive negotiations in the current climate.
“This latest test put a big hole in the possibility of negotiation at this moment, she said. “Ambassador Yun might do that but it’s different with the White House. I’m not sure he has strong White House support.”
1 This Month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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