Trump withdraws from Open Skies Treaty, throws more doubt on the future of the New START nuclear treaty
 Open Skies withdrawal throws nuclear treaty into question, The Hill, BY REBECCA KHEEL – 05/25/20
President Trump‘s move this week to withdraw from an international pact meant to prevent accidental war has added to concerns about the fate of a separate arms control treaty with Russia. The Trump administration says formal talks with Moscow on extending the New START agreement, which places limits on deployed nuclear warheads, will start imminently. But after Trump announced Thursday he is withdrawing from the Open Skies Treaty, arms control advocates raised fresh doubt about the future of New START, which is set to expire in February. Trump has shown deep skepticism toward international agreements — and those negotiated under the Obama administration in particular — but the administration insists it hasn’t given up on arms control….. he person Trump has tapped to negotiate an extension or replacement has made no guarantees, saying at a think tank event this past week he’s “not going to speculate” on whether the treaty will be extended “at this very early stage” and arguing the United States could win an arms race if need be. “We know how to win these races and we know how to spend the adversary into oblivion,” Marshall Billingslea, the special presidential envoy for arms control, said during a Hudson Institute webcast. “If we have to, we will, but we sure would like to avoid it.” The wrangling over the decades-old arms control regime comes as much of the world’s attention is focused instead on the coronavirus pandemic, which Democrats have accused Trump of using as a cover to withdraw from Open Skies with little attention. “The president should be focused on combating the coronavirus, not dragging America toward a costly and potentially devastating nuclear arms race,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) said in a statement on Trump’s move to pull out of Open Skies….. New START caps the number of deployed nuclear warheads the United States and Russia can have at 1,550 a piece, and it places limits on deploying weapons that can deliver the warheads and creates a verification regime that includes 18 on-site inspections per year. The agreement, which was negotiated by the Obama administration, is set to expire Feb. 5, 2021. But the treaty includes an option to extend it for another five years without needing the approval of either country’s legislature. Arms control advocates have sounded the alarm about the future of New START since last year after Trump withdrew from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a pact that banned Russia and the United States from having ground-launched missiles of a certain range. Now, those warnings are intensifying. In a statement opposing Trump’s Open Skies withdrawal, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) also highlighted “the uncertainty surrounding its commitment to New START,” calling the combination of both “very alarming.” The Open Skies Treaty, which was first proposed by former President Eisenhower but didn’t enter into force until 2002, allows its more than 30 signatories, including the U.S. and Russia, to fly unarmed observation flights over each other. The intention is to provide transparency about military activities to avoid miscalculations that could lead to war. The Trump administration formally submitted its notice of intent to withdraw Friday, kicking off a six-month period before the withdrawal is final. ……. Russia, meanwhile, has previously offered to extend the treaty immediately without any preconditions and has also recently expressed a willingness to include some of the new weapons Washington is concerned about. But on the heels of the U.S. withdrawal from Open Skies, Ryabkov on Friday cast doubt on New START’s extension…… Derek Johnson, executive director of Global Zero, which advocates for the elimination of nuclear weapons, argued Trump’s move on Open Skies “does not bode well for New START.” “Rather than accept Russia’s offer to extend New START immediately and without preconditions, the Trump administration has proposed instead to negotiate a new trilateral agreement that includes China. Without extending New START, this proposal is either a fool’s errand or a deliberate farce,” Johnson said in a statement. “Getting China’s nuclear forces under control is a worthy goal, and sustained efforts are required to do that — but if New START goes the way of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces and Open Skies Treaties, the possibility of a bigger deal goes with it.” https://thehill.com/policy/defense/499240-open-skies-withdrawal-throws-nuclear-treaty-into-question |
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Federal report: 2019 Seattle radiation leak could have been disastrous, was a ‘near miss’
 2019 Seattle radiation leak a ‘near miss’ to disaster, federal report finds
In May 2019, radiation leaked from a device at Harborview Research and Training. At first called a “minor” breach, investigators warn it could have been much worse. K5 Chris Ingalls May 23, 2020, SEATTLE — A March report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) says a radiation leak at the Harborview Research and Training Building one year ago was “preventable” and “a near miss to a significant event” that could have devastated the Seattle area.
“It is a wake-up call for all of us,” said Dr. Jacob Kamen, a radiation expert at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, who reviewed the 175-page report at KING 5’s request. When radiation leaked from a medical device that a contractor was decommissioning on May 2, 2019 it was called a “minor” breach at the time. But the DOE investigation revealed a stunning lack of oversight by federal regulators and a federally licensed contractor who pushed “…mission completion over safe conduct.” Greg Wolf, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which led the investigation, said the report was meant to be blunt so the same safety breakdowns would not happen again. “In this joint investigation NNSA took an unflinching look at the incident and concluded that it was preventable. It was largely a result of weak and partially implemented oversight processes,” Wolf said……. Video released by the DOE at KING 5’s request shows a serious mistake as the contractor uses an electric hand saw to cut into an aluminum tube that holds the cesium capsule. ……. the Seattle incident shows how much damage even a small amount of radioactive material can cause. “So just imagine if a tiny fraction can do such contamination in a building for a year – what would it do if it’s used by someone with malicious purposes in downtown Seattle? Just imagine how bad it would be,” Kamen said. Kamen says cesium could be used as a “weapon of mass disruption.” It would not necessarily result in a large body count, but it could contaminate city blocks and shut down the economic engine – much like coronavirus is doing now. Kamen is one of the leading voices calling for the disposal of medical devices – like irradiators – from low security facilities across America…… The Harborview Research and Training Building remains closed during a cleanup that is nearing $9 million. Research projects that could be salvaged and medical training have been transferred to other locations…… https://www.king5.com/article/news/investigations/harborview-training-research-radiation-leak/281-d91e61fe-4e3e-4d4d-b6a1-9993be5e93c5 |
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Sizewell nuclear planning application should be rejected until coronavirus lockdown restrictions are lifted
 East Anglian Daily Times 24th May 2020, EDF Energy could be set this week to submit its final plans for a new £14billion nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast to the Government– despite widespread anger over the timing of the application. Community leaders across east Suffolk, along with many influential organisations and a host of celebrities have demanded that the power giant puts its plans for the new Sizewell C twin reactor on hold until after the coronavirus lockdown restrictions are lifted. They fear that current bans on public
meetings and people getting together even in small groups, plus the continued closure of libraries, will prevent many from seeing the full plans, debating them and giving their views. Central Suffolk and North Ipswich MP Dr Dan Poulter has written to Government ministers urging them to reject the planning application, known as the Development Consent Order, until after the Covid-19 crisis. News that the application is about to be made has left them deeply disappointed and saying it is the most inappropriate time to do so. https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/sizewell-c-dco-submission-wednesday-may-27-1-6668608 |
UK’s new nuclear plants – nearly all parts are sourced and/or funded from China and France
David Lowry’s Blog 24th May 2020, Letter from David Lowry to The Times: Your important revelation follows Johnson’s assertion to MPs on Wednesday that he is pursuing “measures
to protect our technological base.” The initiative, “Project Defend,”
is aimed at creating a new national resilience framework, which, The Times
reports, will address the current over-reliance on China for “medical and
other strategic imports.”
One such strategic import is civil nuclear
technology, on which UK is 100 per cent reliant on foreign suppliers for
the critical core reactor infrastructure, with the Hinkley C nuclear plant
under construction by French state generator, Electricite de France ( EdF)
using French technology, supported by French and Chinese capital
investment.
The next new nuclear plant in line for construction, at
Sizewell C in Suffolk, will have 20per cent of its costs paid for by
Chinese state company China General Nuclear.
The third new plant, at
Bradwell in Essex, is planned to entirely built using 100 per cent Chinese/
French designed technology, mostly imported, and backed by 62 per cent
Chinese funding. It would also be operated by a primarily Chinese technical
team. Only smaller parts for these new plants will be sourced from the UK
supply chain.
http://drdavidlowry.blogspot.com/2020/05/uk-china-nuclear-relations-need-reset.html
Iran tops the list of countries which accepted inspections of the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2019.
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‘The goal of opponents is to undermine confidence and cooperation between Tehran and IAEA’
JCPOA ensuring Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful, says Russia, Tehran Times May 25, 2020 “The purpose of #JCPOA is to restore confidence in exclusively peaceful nature of nuclear program of #Iran,” Ulyanov tweeted on Monday.“The deal fulfils this task,” he wrote. “No sign of military dimension was found. The goal of opponents is opposite- to undermine confidence and cooperation between Tehran and #IAEA.” In an earlier tweet on Sunday, the Russian envoy wrote, “Opponents of #JCPOA call for a ‘renewed coalition of pressure on Tehran’. In their article in Newsweek, published on Sunday, they try to instruct #IAEA what it ‘must’ and ‘should’ do. IAEA is independent. It’s Board of Governors and Secretariat will decide for themselves on how to proceed.” The Newsweek article that Ulyanov referred to, titled “The IAEA must report its latest findings on Iran’s nuclear weapons program”, called for a renewed coalition of pressure on Tehran in order to “address the regime’s nuclear program from its roots.” “World powers should make clear to Iran that it can no longer conceal its nuclear past and potentially its present—or swift international penalties will follow,” added the article written by Jacob Nagel, former acting national security advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Andrea Stricker, a research fellow at FDD. This is while Iran tops the list of countries which accepted inspections of the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2019. “Last year, the Islamic Republic received 21 percent of the entire visits that were made to various nuclear sites across the world by inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA),” Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s ambassador to the Vienna-based international organizations, said earlier this month. He was citing the IAEA’s 129-page 2019 Safeguards Implementation Report. “The agency continued to verify and monitor the nuclear-related commitments of the Islamic Republic of Iran under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” read the 129-page report prepared for diplomats that accounts for resources spent on enforcing the landmark 2015 agreement among world powers…….. |
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Finland’s new nuclear reactor hit by valve leak
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Finland’s new nuclear reactor hit by valve leak, SwissInfo Ch MAY 25, 2020 HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finland’s long-delayed Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) nuclear reactor was hit by another setback after the nation’s safety watchdog reported valve problems in a component involved in the cooling process.
The reactor in western Finland was built by a consortium of France’s Areva and Germany’s Siemens and had been due to start producing electricity in November this year. “A leak was observed in the mechanical control valve of one of the pressuriser safety valves,” nuclear watchdog STUK said in a statement on Monday, adding that a full investigation is required before it can issue a nuclear fuel loading permit. “This is very serious,” STUK’s head of inspection, Iiro Paajanen, told Reuters, adding that the leak was in part of the reactor’s primary circuit and involved in its cooling. However, Areva said the issue is unlikely to cause further delay for the reactor, which was originally due to be completed in 2009. ….. Although Finland’s government issued an operating permit for the 1.6 gigawatt reactor in March 2019, OL3 needs final approval from STUK to load fuel and start production. “At present, the plant unit still has several outstanding issues before a loading permit can be issued,” STUK wrote in its January-April safety report. Reporting by Anne Kauranen and Tarmo Virki; Editing by Alexander Smith and David Goodman) https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/finland-s-new-nuclear-reactor-hit-by-valve-leak/45783642 |
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Canadian farming community not happy about taking on nuclear wastes
Teeswater area debating taking on ‘forever’ nuclear waste project, Scott Miller CTV News London 25 May 20, WINGHAM, ONT. — Anja van der Vlies is worried about the future of her 1200 dairy goat operation, if Canada’s most radioactive nuclear waste is buried a couple side roads away from her family’s farm.
“It’s fairly close to where we farm. If I just look at the radius of 10 kilometres from the proposed site, so much food is being prepared here. What’s going to happen to that?”she says.
Right next door, dairy farmer Ron Groen has posted signs around his property sharing his concerns about the proposed project, just north of Teeswater.
“The waste is going to be radioactive for a million years, so basically the waste will be eternally radioactive and our kids, grandkids, 33,000 generations after us living in and around town will have to worry about this problem,” he says.
About 1200 acres of farmland north of Teeswater has been optioned by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization to potentially build Canada’s first permanent nuclear waste facility.
Over five million used nuclear fuel bundles, would be buried 500 metres under these Bruce County farms, if the community agrees to it.
Darren Ireland is one the landowners, whose agreed to option his land for the project.
“For me, it’s about five generations. This area has struggled for years to keep things going. I look at this as something, that we could be looking at for five generations, that’s huge,” he says.
The mayor of the municipality of South Bruce, Robert Buckle, also sees upside to the project…….
Signs opposing the project starting going up around the area around March. A local group has formed to keep nuclear waste out of South Bruce’s soil.
“The sooner we can stop this, the better for our community,” says van der Vlies…….
Two communities remain in the running to house Canada’s most radioactive waste. Ignace, in Northern Ontario, and the Municipality of South Bruce, north of Teeswater. One site will selected, no later, than 2023. https://london.ctvnews.ca/teeswater-area-debating-taking-on-forever-nuclear-waste-project-1.4953737
Sweden gets a new Nuclear Emergency Plan
Nuclear Engineering International 22d May 2020, Sweden’s Radiation Safety Authority (SSM) announced this week, that inaccordance with an SSM proposal, the government had decided on new emergency zones for operations with ionising radiation.
For Swedish nuclear power plants, this means an internal and an external emergency zone as well
as a planning zone with an approximate extent of 5, 25 and 100 kilometres
respectively. “The change is important in order to improve the
possibility of implementing effective protective measures in connection
with a nuclear accident,” SSM said.
In 2017, SSM, in collaboration with the Swedish Agency for Social Protection and Emergency Preparedness, the County Administrative Boards in Uppsala, Kalmar, Hallands, Södermanland,
Västmanland and Skåne and the municipality of Lund and the Rescue
Services South, reported an assignment to the government where the agency
proposed to make emergency preparedness zones.
The Government has now
decided on a new regulation (2003: 789) on accident prevention, which means
that the emergency zones for nuclear facilities are being redone, in
accordance with that proposal. In the zones, iodine tablets should be
pre-distributed, the population should be able to be alerted quickly and
there must be a planning for evacuation and indoor stay. Evacuation of the
internal emergency zone must be prioritised over evacuation of the external
emergency zone.
A planning zone will also be introduced where there will be
a planning for evacuation based on radiation from the ground cover
radiation, a planning for indoor living and a planning for limited extra
distribution of iodine tablets. “This means, when the emergency zones are
fully implemented, that Sweden meets international requirements for
emergency preparedness for these operations, while lessons learned from the
nuclear accident in Fukushima have been taken care of, said SSM specialist
Jan Johansson.
https://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsnew-emergency-zones-for-swedish-nuclear-power-plants-7936755
Lithuania, Belarus sign nuclear incident notification agreement
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Lithuania, Belarus sign nuclear incident notification agreement
Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-26 01:02:32|Editor: huaxia VILNIUS, May 25 — The nuclear safety authorities of Lithuania and Belarus signed an agreement on early notification of a nuclear accident and on the exchange of important nuclear safety information, Lithuania’s State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate (VATESI) announced here on Monday.
In order to protect the public by minimizing the potential radiation-related risks and consequences, the two authorities agreed to exchange key information immediately after a nuclear incident or when the monitoring systems indicate a radiation dose-rate level that could be hazardous to the public health, said a VATESI press release. ….. Lithuania’s authorities have regularly raised questions about the environmental and nuclear safety of the Ostrovets nuclear power plant in Belarus…..http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-05/26/c_139087159.htm |
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The folly of removing US caps on Russian nuclear fuel imports
1.This Month
EVENTS
11 March ONLINE Ten Years Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: Rio de Janeiro International Uranium Film Festival Free Online Screening and Debate.
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13 – March – Protest – France ROUEN (76) – HAUTE-NORMANDIE – RASSEMBLEMENT] Fukushima plus jamais ça : arrêt du nucléaire civil et militaire
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