Nuclear news – week to 9th February

Same old same old, but new, angst about being close to the nuclear brink. Russia is upset at America’s new Nuclear Posture Review. Many commentator’s are alarmed as it escalates the arms race. No doubt, weapons companies are salivating at the thought of it, and America’s tax-payers ought to be concerned at its beyond $1.2 trillion cost.

I know that this newsletter is now supposed to be leaving out climate stories. But it’s hard. Here we are, worrying about nuclear bombs, – while climate change is bringing us its own “weather bombs”.

USA- Russia New START Treaty takes effect – with central limits on strategic arsenals for 7 years.

USA.

Once again, they’re contemplating a WINNABLE WAR !
The American Bomb was the white MEN’s bomb. US disarmament ambassador Robert Wood’s tirade at UN attacking North Korea, Russia AND China. USA Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis changes his mind – now wants massive increase in nuclear weapons.
Why it is very dangerous to put low-yield nuclear weapons on submarines. Chairman of USA nuclear weapons oversight agency steps down amid internal turmoil. The Trump administration’s planned nuclear upgrade is being undermined by cost overruns.
San Onofre nuclear waste moved closer to beach.
Utility Sues Nuclear Energy Institute For Extortion.
City Council opposes construction of a Piketon nuclear waste facility.
Oyster Creek stuck with 50 years’worth of stranded nuclear wastes.
What’s next for the West Lake Landfill.
Research into effects of uranium waste exposure on Native Americans.
Radiation still a stumbling block to space travel. Elon Musk’s Space Tesla Will Be Destroyed by Radiation.

INDIA. India keeping up in the nuclear arms race – 2 Nuclear Capable Ballistic Missile in one Week.

FRANCE. France in the nuclear weapons race – to spend 37 bn euros on upgrading nuclear arsenal. Terrorism: Radical Islamists in the nuclear industry? Questioning France’s National Agency for the Management of Radioactive Waste (Andra). France’s nuclear culture of lies about serious nuclear accidents. The alarming state of France’s nuclear reactors. Costs of France’s Flamanville nuclear power project have exploded, and delays ballooned. France heading for a renewable energy revolution, with offshore wind power.

UK. Cost of replacing Britain’s nuclear submarines rockets by £1billion. 2,200 Massive steel containers produced – to house Sellafield’s piles of radioactive trash. UK government promoting the nuclear industry – funding £7.5 million National College for Nuclear. A new report on Sellafield highlights the likely nuclear damage to Ireland.

JAPAN. Abe, ex-Prime Minister Kan go head to head in nuclear debate. Tepco ordered to pay $30,000 each to 318 people of the Minamisoma’s Odaka District class action suit. Desperate to save its failing nuclear business, Toshiba looks to Ukraine. The penultimate storage of contaminated waste.

Fukushima nuclear disaster: lethal levels of radiation detected in leak seven years after plant meltdown in Japan Fukushima 49.17% thyroid deficiency in the 295 000 young people under 18 years examined between 2011 and 2014. The mammoth task of cleaning up Fukushima’s radioactive nuclear reactor wrecks has only just begun.

SWEDEN. Sweden agonises over nuclear waste burial project that no community wants.

TAIWAN. Taiwan’s problem in searching for geological location for nuclear waste dump.

ITALY. Depleted uranium “helped sow deaths and illnesses” in Italian soldiers.

UKRAINE. Clean-up to start on tons of liquid radioactive trash from all 4 of Chernobyl’s nuclear reactors.

RUSSIA. Russia postponing new nuclear reactors because of costs. Death of a hero who saved White Sea from nuclear disaster.

UAE. United Arab Emirates moves on in plan to develop nuclear power.

SAUDI ARABIA. A new arms race – for the Middle East? Saudi Arabia’s nuclear power plan is not economic.