nuclear-news

Last week in August – nuclear, climate, pandemic news

During August, with the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, my websites have focused on nuclear weapons. And so have prominent websites like Beyond Nuclear International.  In the wider media world, attention has been on the coronavirus pandemic, with some attention going to the climate crisis, and weather extremes. We know that the pandemic is a global threat to human society. Most people are aware of global heating.

Yet as a subject of concern, nuclear weapons and the risk of nuclear war, seem to be taboo. During this month of commemoration of those horrible nuclear bomb events of 1945, governments of the nuclear-armed nations continue to spend obscene amounts of tax-payers’ money on nuclear weapons. The Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom released its very sobering report on this.— Assuring Destruction Forever: 2020 edition.

The nuclear industry struggles on, fraught as it is with scandals, bribes, corrupt politics and lies.  At least from USA, you occasionally get to hear about this: the mind boggles at what it’s like in Russia and China.   Of course, the Internet is awash with pro nuclear propaganda –   nuclear helping fight coronavirus, nuclear “solving” climate change, nuclear waste giving us new batteries, Bill Gates teaming up with some other nuclear gee-whiz gimmick -providers –   all to be done at tax-payer cost, of course.

Some bits of of good news  –  Some evidence that – People have lasting immunity To COVID-19, even after mild cases.   Scientists Uncover Secret In Centuries-Old Mud, Drawing A New Way To Save Polluted Rivers.

Nuclear nations have handled COVID-19 the worst .  Global coronavirus update – India’s huge jump in infections, but USA still leads in cases.

Welcome to the ‘Pyrocene,’ an Epoch of Runaway Fire.    Major holes in ozone hole treaty must be addressed to avert stronger climate change.

Big oil looks to solve its problems by flooding Africa and Asia with plastic.

“Super Swarm” drones– weaponry as destructive as nuclear weapons.

The corrosion of radioactive waste disposal canisters based on in situ tests .

Analysing the evidence on effects of ionising radiation on wildlife.

Minigrids – the clean energy revolution across Africa and Asia.

ANTARCTICA. Ice melting at a surprisingly fast rate underneath Shirase Glacier Tongue in East Antarctica.

MIDDLE EAST. Expansion of nuclear power in the troubled Middle East – not a good idea.

JAPAN. Evacuation orders for Fukushima radioactive areas to be lifted without decontamination.  Strong opposition in Hokkaido to taking on nuclear waste.

EUROPE. Nuclear and gas industries desperate to win EU endorsement AND FUNDING, as clean and green.

USA.

• You can have four more years of Trump, or you can have a habitable planet. But you can’t have both.    Trump re-elected would mean unsafe climate for the world, democracy’s end in USA.  Not all scientists are objective, especially nuclear scientists running for election.  Compromise, compromise: U.S. Democrats almost merging into Republicans.
• If the arms treaty with Russia ends USA will spend even more than the planned $1.2 trillion on nuclear weapons.    U.S. Air Force pursues ‘dual-use’ conventional nuclear weapons. “conventional nuclear”?
• Sentencing date for Kings Bay Plowshares activists moved to October 15 and 16.
• The Shoeshone people – theirs the most nuclear bombed territory on Earth.
• Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost considers legal action over corruption tainted nuclear bailout law.      Ohio nuclear corruption: Democrats want lawmakers to take action on House Bill 6.  Ohio House Democrats will try a “rarely used tool”a discharged petition to repeal nuclear bailout law.– Householder and HB 6: A Nuclear ‘Environmental Nightmare’ Fueled By ‘Corruption‘,
• Exelon demanding Illinois state subsidies for 2 nuclear power stations.    Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA) tried to become part-owner of Plant Vogtle in 2019.
• NuScam’s small nuclear project could fall through – spelling trouble for the whole nuclear industry.   Lehi City Council backs out of NuScam ‘small’ nuclear reactor project.  Two U.S.cities cut their losses, pullout of dodgy NuScam “small” nuclear reactor project.
• America needs to abandon the idea of Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste dump: both Trump and Biden have.   Local opposition to Holtec’s temporary storage for nuclear waste in New Mexico.   Army dismantling long dead nuclear power plant at Fort Belvoir.
• Radiation hazard at Dead Horse Bay, Brooklyn.
• Derecho (Extreme wind) Damage Results in Early Retirement of Duane Arnold Nuclear Power Plant.
•  Climate science deniers jump on to Far Right with QAnon conspiracy group.

CHINA. The Chinese viewpoint on nuclear deterrence and cyberattacks. Scientists conduct first in situ radiation measurements 21 km in the air over Tibetan Plateau.

UK.

• The Assange extradition hearing – a continued travesty of justice.
• Sizewell nuclear plant to take 20 years to build, emitting 5.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.  East Suffolk Council dithers over Sizewell C nuclear project, many questions unanswered.
•   EDF’s Hunterston ageing nuclear power station kept going in effort to prolong all EDF’s old reactors.  Cracks in UK’s Hunterston and other very old nuclear reactors.  A series of safety problems bring EDF’s decision on early shut down of Scotland’s Hunterston nuclear station. The closure of Hunterston B will not cause power network outages.
• Frank Barnaby, nuclear weapons scientist and global hero.

FRANCE. Water shortage, drought, necessitate shutdown of France’s Chooz Nuclear Plant.

KAZAKHSTAN. Kazakhstan’s moves toward a world free of nuclear weapons,

CANADA. Canadian Public asked for views on transport of used nuclear fuel.

RUSSIA. Russia releases previously classified film of “Tsar Bomba” the most powerful nuclear bomb blast E\eve.

IRAN. Iran to grant IAEA inspectors access to suspected ex-nuclear sites.

ALGERIA.  Nuclear colonialism. ICAN says that France must clean up its nucleat test wastelands in Algeria.

BELARUS. Safety of Belarus nuclear power station in question after IAEA report.

SPAIN.  Response plan for nuclear emergencies in Castilla-La Mancha.

PHILIPPINES. Philippines wary of nuclear power: costs to be borne by tax-payer.

AUSTRALIA.  Australia entangled in the military-industrial-intelligence-security complex .

August 31, 2020 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes