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Ecological risks of China’s floating nuclear power plants in South China Sea

China’s Floating Nuclear Power Plants Pose Risks in South China Sea, VOA, August 31, 2018  Ralph Jennings, 

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Floating Chinese nuclear power plants stationed in the South China Sea would help Beijing fortify its claims in a decades-old maritime sovereignty dispute, but come with environmental risks, scholars say.

China plans to power some of its claimed islets with nuclear energy, the U.S. Department of Defense recently told Congress in an annual report on Chinese military activities. Beijing had indicated last year it was planning to install “floating nuclear power stations” that would start operating before 2020, the report says.

That development would bulk up China’s maritime claim after about a decade of land reclamation in parts of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea and the sending of military units to some of the artificial islands, analysts say. Rival maritime claimants Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam lack similar means to electrify their holdings.

“You are literally facilitating increase of physical control of the South China Sea,” said Collin Koh, maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

“I think the more immediate concerns of anyone, be they claimants, be they non-claimants, is a huge ecological risk, and taking into account that Chinese nuclear energy technology may not necessarily be one of the best in the world,” he said………

Ecological risks

China is unlikely to do an environmental impact study on any nuclear-power barges before installing them, Koh said. A “runaway reactor” could lead to a “major ecological disaster,” he said. The U.S. Defense Department report notes that the sea is prone to typhoons, during which most vessels seek shelter.

Pirates and terrorists at sea could also disrupt a nuclear power barge, said Andrew Yang, secretary-general of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies think tank.

“It certainly requires a different kind of infrastructure building, because it’s a floating nuclear power plant, never been doing it before, and the maritime conditions (are) putting a lot of potential risks or uncertainty in terms of maintaining such an installation,” Yang said. https://www.voanews.com/a/china-s-floating-nuclear-power-plants-risks-south-china-sea/4551979.html

September 3, 2018 Posted by | China, oceans, safety | Leave a comment

New documentary claims that Hitler had nuclear weapons ambitions, only thwarted by an accident

NUCLEAR NAZI How Adolf Hitler’s plan to build an atomic bomb and destroy London was only thwarted when ferry carrying key ingredients sunk https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7150860/how-adolf-hitler-atomic-bomb-london-only-thwarted-by-ferry-ride/

The discovery shines light on Hitler’s ambitions to become a nuclear power and nuke Britain,By Harvey Solomon-Brady 1st September 2018

ADOLF Hitler’s plans to blow up London with a nuclear bomb very nearly succeeded, a new documentary has revealed.

A Nazi ship with the secret mission of transporting heavy water – an ingredient used for nuclear reactors – has been found by scientists and naval historians in Norway. The 170ft Hydro ferry, which Winston Churchill ordered to be sank in 1944, has been dragged up from the bottom of a 460-ft-deep Norwegian lake near Oslo.

Churchill was unaware of the ship’s purpose but ordered its sinking anyway, a choice that is now believed to have saved Britain’s capital city.

The National Geographic series Drain the Oceans sees teams discover 40 barrels of heavy water when they virtually lifted the vessel.

This quantity of heavy water would have been more than enough to catapult Germany on her way to becoming a nuclear power. Naval historian professor Eric Gove told the Daily Telegraph: “After the war, those involved in the German nuclear programme said that the loss of heavy water was absolutely decisive. It stopped their reactor programme in its tracks.”

Norway became a target of the Allies after it began producing water in 1934, above Lake Tinn at Vemork.

Five years later in 1939 the country began its ‘uranium club’. Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann had placed Germany at the head of the pack in the nuclear race after they discovered fission.

Fission is the radioactive decay process where an atom’s nucleus splits into smaller parts.

The scientists needed heavy water in order to control the fission process.

After Hitler invaded Norway in 1940, he ordered his troops to move straight for the nuclear plant in Vemork.

Consequently, Operation Gunnerside was launched in 1943 after Britain feared Hitler would use this substance against his enemies.

Despite blowing up the plant while the Hydro was sunk, the Norwegians did not destroy all the Germany supply of heavy water the Nazis began to move the following year by train and ferry. However, Churchill was already a move ahead.

He and his generals had already ordered their Norway counterparts to attach a bomb to the vessel.

The mission was later documented in The Heroes of Telemark.

Drain the Ocean will appear on National Geographic every week from September 6.

September 3, 2018 Posted by | Germany, history, weapons and war | Leave a comment

How a UK submarine could carry out a nuclear strike, depending on a radio programme

How a 60-year-old BBC radio show may be one of the only things keeping the world from nuclear war https://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/How-a-60-year-old-BBC-radio-show-may-be-one-of-13198577.php Sinéad Baker,, August 31, 2018  
  • The UK’s nuclear arsenal is housed on four submarines, with one of those submarines on patrol at all times.
  • During their isolated missions, crews watch for signals that the UK still exists — and may launch a counter-attack if they believe their country has been destroyed.
  • One of these signs is whether BBC Radio 4 is still broadcasting the “Today” programme, Britain’s flagship news and politics show.
  • If the submarine commander believes Britain has been destroyed, he may be under orders to launch a nuclear strike.

Deep underwater, on submarines equipped with nuclear missiles, British crews are constantly prepared to fire their weapons, and potentially play a part in bringing about the end of the world. Sailors on the four Vanguard-class submarines which patrol the waters and hold the UK’s nuclear deterrent operate under strict protocol for working out when to act and what to do — part of which is said to include listening to BBC radio.

According to a prominent British historian, the broadcast of BBC Radio 4’s “Today” programme is one of the official measures the Royal Navy uses to prove that the United Kingdom still exists. “Today” has been broadcast at around breakfast time since 1958 and is the highest-profile news programme in British media.

Lord Peter Hennessy, a history professor who joined the UK’s House of Lords in 2010, said that if it can’t be heard for three days in a row, then it could signify Britain’s demise, and trigger their doomsday protocol.

According to Politico, Hennessy says: “The failure to pick up the BBC Today program for a few days is regarded as the ultimate test.”

If no sign comes through, the commander and deputy will open letters that contain instructions from the prime minister and execute their final wishes.

These letters, each known as a “Letter of Last Resort’ are secret instructions, written when a prime minister enters the office and sealed until an apocalypse. They tell the UK’s submarine commanders what to do with the country’s nuclear weapons if the country has been destroyed.

Writing these letters is one of the first tasks undertaken by any new prime minister. They are locked inside a safe inside another safe, and placed in the control rooms of the nation’s four nuclear submarines, Politico reports. The safes will only be accessible to the sub’s commander and deputy.

Matthew Seligman, Professor of Naval History at Brunel University, told BBC Newsbeat that there are “only so many options available.”

“Do nothing, launch a retaliatory strike, offer yourself to an ally like the USA, or use your own judgment.

“Essentially, are you going to use the missiles or not?”

The UK has four submarines that are capable of carrying the country’s Trident nuclear missiles. At least one of these has been on patrol at all times since 1969, the government says.

There are 40 nuclear warheads and a maximum of eight missiles on each submarine.

Only the prime minister can authorize the launch of the country’s nuclear weapons.

September 3, 2018 Posted by | UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Even before Wylfa nuclear station approved, Horizon Nuclear Power wants to demolish buildings, clear area

North Wales Chronicle 31st Aug 2018 , Horizon Nuclear Power is seeking planning permission to carry out the 15
month long process that includes clearing field boundaries, demolishing
buildings and “relocating species”, covering an area the equivalent of
almost 500 football pitches. The plans, to be discussed by Anglesey
Council’s planning committee next week, also include building car parks
and offices at the site on the outskirts of Cemaes.

Recommended for approval by officers, Horizon has endeavoured to begin the work even before
the fate is known of the necessary Development Consent Order (DCO)
application for the nuclear plant itself. A process that could take at
least 18 months for the Planning Inspectorate to decide upon, the DCO will
also include a substantial public consultation period.
http://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/news/16611204.740-acre-site-for-wylfa-newydd-recommended-for-approval/

September 3, 2018 Posted by | business and costs, politics, UK | Leave a comment

Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele berates world leaders who fail to take climate issue seriously

World leaders who deny climate change should go to mental hospital – Samoan PM https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/31/world-leaders-who-deny-climate-change-should-go-to-mental-hospital-samoan-pm

Tuilaepa Sailele berates leaders who fail to take issue seriously, singling out Australia, India, China and the US, Guardian, Kate Lyons, 31 Aug 18 The prime minister of Samoa has called climate change an “existential threat … for all our Pacific family” and said that any world leader who denied climate change’s existence should be taken to a mental hospital.

In a searing speech delivered on Thursday night during a visit to Sydney, Tuilaepa Sailele berated leaders who fail to take climate change seriously, singling out Australia, as well as India, China and the US, which he said were the “three countries that are responsible for all this disaster”.

“Any leader of those countries who believes that there is no climate change I think he ought to be taken to mental confinement, he is utter[ly] stupid and I say the same thing for any leader here who says there is no climate change.”

Speaking at the Lowy Institute, just days before the beginning of the Pacific Islands Forum in Nauru, the Samoan prime minister seemed to take a swipe at Australia’s commitment to minimising the impact of climate change, which he called the “single greatest threat to the livelihood, security and wellbeing peoples of the Pacific

“While climate change may be considered a slow onset threat by some in our region, its adverse impacts are already felt by our Pacific islands peoples and communities,” said Sailele. “Greater ambition is necessary to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees centigrade and Pacific island countries continue to urge faster action by all countries.”

Sailele said addressing climate change required “political guts” from leaders. “We all know the problem, we all know the causes, we all know the solutions. All that is left would be some political courage, some political guts to get out and tell the people of your country, ‘Do this, this, this, or there is any certainty of disaster.’”

Sailele’s speech comes as leaders of Pacific nations are preparing to meet at the Pacific Islands Forum in Nauru next week, where Australia is expected to face questions about its emissions targets.

Australia’s new prime minister, Scott Morrison, is under pressure from some members of his party to abandon Australia’s commitment to reducing emissions under the Paris agreement.

His immediate predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull, was due to attend the forum, but Morrison has announced he is sending his new foreign minister, Marisa Payne, a move the opposition Labor party condemned as “an insult to our neighbours” as well as “a serious strategic mistake”.

Saliele’s speech also touched on China’s rising influence in the Pacific, saying the region had become “an increasingly contested space”. “The big powers are doggedly pursuing strategies to widen and extend their reach, inculcating a far-reaching sense of insecurity.”

September 3, 2018 Posted by | climate change, OCEANIA, politics international | Leave a comment

Inadequate radiation testing of Hinkley mud: Plaid calls for further testing

Glamorgan Gem 30th Aug 2018 , Plaid Cymru councillors in Barry have warned against disposing more than
300,000 tonnes of mud from Hinkley Point a few miles off the coast from
Cardiff, Penarth and Barry. Earlier this year Natural Resources Wales (NRW)
said sample results of the dredged material had demonstrated it is safe,
but campaigners claim it has been “insufficiently tested”.
NRW gave the French company EDF a licence to move mud from the construction site at
Hinkley Point C and release it at ‘Cardiff Grounds’ in the Severn
Channel where it can be dispersed. Plaid points out that concerns have been
raised by marine scientist Tim Deere-Jones that the mud has not been tested
for radioactivity at a depth lower than five centimetres and that the wrong
tests have been carried out. Cllr Nic Hodges, who represents Barry Island
and Barry’s West End on the Vale Council, spoke at a rally outside the
Senedd in Cardiff Bay on Bank Holiday Monday, calling for further testing.
http://www.glamorgan-gem.co.uk/article.cfm

September 3, 2018 Posted by | environment, UK | Leave a comment

United Arab Emirates sets up new police department, in readiness for nuclear emergencies

New UAE Police Unit Will Cater To Nuclear Emergencies, by Utilities Middle East staff Sep 02, 2018

The new unit will cooperate with local and federal departments to review emergency nuclear response plans, coordinate with local and foreign partners to conduct training and exercises to upgrade readiness for emergencies.

Abu Dhabi Police has established a new unit to respond to nuclear emergencies ahead of the launch of the UAE’s first nuclear power reactor.

Located at Ruwais Police Station of the Dhafra Police Directorate (Criminal Security Sector), the new unit’s terms of reference include preparation and review of response nuclear security plans, establishment of nuclear and radioactive risks registry and provision of material and human resources to run the unit, state news agency WAM reported…..https://www.utilities-me.com/news/11708-new-uae-police-unit-will-cater-to-nuclear-emergencies

September 3, 2018 Posted by | safety, United Arab Emirates | Leave a comment

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