The week in nuclear news
The global corona virus – deaths nearly 1.5 million. Global heating moves on – Arctic events affect the world. BUT- the nuclear threat is also still with us, always there, and must not be forgotten.
With the assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, the world is yet again teetering on the brink.
Some bits of good news – Britain Helps World’s Most Remote Inhabited Islands to Establish Biggest Marine Sanctuary in the Atlantic.
Today’s Google headlines on nuclear issues – weapons and Iran dominate the stories.
The global energy revolution.
The Australian government”s intimidation of whistleblowers – the torture of Julian Assange.
Correcting 5 wrong opinions about the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Living with the Nuclear Prohibition Treaty: nuclear weapons states would be unwise to attack it.
Nuclear power hinders fight against climate change.
Standard nuclear reactor designs are still too costly, and safety features are only a third of nuclear costs.
Solar energy is bullish in the market; the same can’t be said for nuclear.
The creeping carbon costs of digital communication.
Book review: The Case for Degrowth.
Extradition hearing of Julian Assange – defence witnesses destroy myths, demonstrate his integrity
JAPAN. Japanese local governments depend on “nuclear money”. No. 2 reactor at Tohoku Electric Power Co’s Onagawa nuclear power plant for restart, despite problems. Surveys to identify nuclear waste disposal site begin in Hokkaido.
Fukushima. Destructive potential of over a million tons of radioactive water into the Pacific. Fukushima nuclear reactor no.1 – debris prevented from falling into fuel storage pool. Nuclear disaster: Fukushima schools frozen in time. Survey finds that most Fukushima evacuees do not intend to return.
TAIWAN. Taiwanese protest plan to dump water from Japan nuclear plant into sea.
UK
- Depressing news for the nuclear lobby in UK, Western Europe – Boris Johnson’s government adding nuclear power to its long list of failures. UK government losing enthusiasm for new nuclear power stations, as grim financial realities set in. British MP’s continue to botch it in the ever more costly saga of Britain’s “old” nukes and “new” nukes. Inaccuracies in Boris Johnson’s document supporting nuclear power development. Britain’s enthusiasm for nuclear power stations is waning.
- Large and small nuclear reactors should not be included in UK’s ‘clean, green’ 10 point plan. British govt’s foolhardy plan to pay up for non existent Rolls Royce small nuclear reactors. UK government wastes tax-payer money on small and large nuclear reactors that will never be cheap or safe.
- Sizewell C nuclear plant ‘not value for money’, and would sabotage the govt’s pledge for nature. Destruction of habitat, Coronation Wood to be felled, for Sizewell C nuclear project, British govt produced no evidence that nuclear plants are essential, in secret deals for the convenience of the nuclear industry. 30-day public consultation about UK’s Sizewell nuclear reactor project. Bankrupt AREVA, resuscitated as ‘Framatome’, joins the the Sizewell C nuclear build Consortium. £525 million pledged to build UK small nuclear reactors, no funding package yet revealed for £20 billion Sizewell plant. UK government’s plans for Sizewell and Wylfa nuclear stations are wavering, with doubts about costs.
- Decommissioning and wastes. Hazardous plan for Peel Ports to take over the decommissioning of Britain’s dead nuclear submarines . Hinkley Point B nuclear reactor offline now, and will be shut down earlier than planned. Both Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B nuclear power stations will close early due to cracks in graphite cores. £132billion and counting – Britain’s nuclear decommissioning mess could take 120 years. UK tax-payers foot huge bill for incompetence of Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). UK’s beautiful Lake District – no “final solution” for the nuclear waste problem.The Irish sea – plagued by dumped munitions and radioactive trash.
- Cheap and effective, but solar energy is omitted from UK govt’s 10 point plan. Mayor of London announces solar and energy efficiency projects funded by ‘Green New Deal.
USA.
- Could a mad, unhinged US president, push the nuclear button? Trump still has the awesome power to launch America’s nuclear arsenal. It is likely that Trump gove the nod for assassination of Iran nuclear scientist. European security officials fear that Trump may trigger a war against Iran. Trump’s Impact on Nuclear Proliferation, Treating Foreign Policy as a Business. Trump administration pulls out of Open Skies treaty with Russia.
- Investigative journalism – Joe Biden’s ” transition team”includes men with strong links to the weapons industry– Beware the “madness of militarism” – Biden likely to appoint war-loving Michèle Flournoy as Defense Secretary. For Joe Biden – an early trial problem – the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
- With Joe Biden in Charge, No More Flashy Kim Jong Un Summits. –The Biden- Harris administration can change nuclear weapons policy, make it safer, and much cheaper. President Joe Biden will have just 16 days from Inauguration Day to rescue the new START Treaty
- How a nuclear weapons officer came to support the Treaty Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons.
- A New U.S. Missile Defense Test May Have Increased the Risk of Nuclear War. Closer to nuclear war – as USA tests ICBM intercept. Resuming nuclear testing is unnecessary — and unsafe
- Prison, big fines, for Catholic anti nuclear activists. Anti-Nuclear Pacifists Get Federal Prison Terms for Nonviolent Protest. A mock B61-12 nuclear bomb dropped for the first time.
- USA revives plan for fast reactor, despite terrorism risks .
- USA looks to get $18billion now, maybe $40billion later, in flogging off nuclear reactors to Poland.
- Former CEO of failed V.C. Summer nuclear project pleads guilty to fraud charges. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has filed a second lawsuit to stop bailout of nuclear reactors. Ohio likely to require nuclear reactor audit before renewing bailout.
- 30 more years for Wisconson’s old nuclear power station? Is this a good idea?
- Dismantling Duke Energy’s Crystal River nuclear plant.
- Unanswered questions cloud the future of NuScam’s Small Modular Nuclear Reactor project. Concerns in Utah cities about costs and safety of NuScam’s small nuclear reactor scheme.
- The intractible problem of San Onofre’s, and indeed, America’s, nuclear waste.
- NRC approves financially dodgy sale of Indian Point Nuclear Station to Holtec.
- Lack of safety documents in Los Alamos National Laboratory’s handling of radioactive wastes. Waste Isolation Pilot Plant – building of ventilation shaft is halted, due to Covid-19 and planning problems. Danger to San Onofre nuclear waste, from ocean’s king tides. Why we shouldn’t be talking about nuclear waste “disposal”.
- Slowly moving lawsuit on the health impacts of a national nuclear laboratory.
INDIA. Cybersecurity breach at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) undetected for over 6 months.
EUROPE. The effect on Europe of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
FRANCE. Orano, formerly Areva, targeted by judicial investigation for corruption. Corruption investigation into AREVA’s sale of Nigerian uranium. New comic book investigates the dilemma about France’s nuclear wastes.
Extended shutdown for work on Flamanville nuclear reactor build. Greenpeace launches legal appeal against French nuclear safety authority allowing extension of lifetime of nuclear reactors. Concern in France over lack of expert inspection of nuclear sites.
CANADA. Canada’s environmental groups join to oppose experimental Small Nuclear Reactors (SMRs). Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, the nuclear industry’s latest pipe dream. Canadian government’s misplacing funding into unviable small nuclear reactors for North West Territories. Safety dangers of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). In the face of public opposition, Ottawa delays small nuclear reactor plan. Ontario could get clean renewable energy from neighbouring provinces, with no need for nuclear power.
IRAN. Architect of its nuclear programme assassinated – Iran vows retaliation. Tehran’s UN ambassador says rival Saudi Arabia is looking for an excuse to build nuclear weapons and blaming Iran. Iran admits breach of nuclear deal discovered by UN inspectorate. Iran slams European criticism on expanding nuclear programme. What’s behind the assaisnation of Iran’s top nuclear scientist? UAE, Jordan Condemn Killing of Iranian Nuclear Scientist, Call for Self-restraint.
BANGLADESH. Bangladesh draws up a nuclear disaster response plan.
GERMANY. Uranprojekt –The Nazi Nuclear Program.
RUSSIA. Russia’s latest nuclear icebreaker had to abort maiden Arctic voyage. Russia claims to have successfully tested an “unstoppable” nuclear missile.
UKRAINE. First canister of used nuclear fuel loaded into Chernobyl storage facility. Comprehensive research now shows that irradiated areas near Chernobyl have fewest mammals.
SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi minister says nuclear armament against Iran ‘an option’.
NORTH KOREA. North Korea sparks new nuclear weapons fears.
ROMANIA. European Commission approves Romania’s purchase of nuclear reactors.
RWANDA. Growing opposition to nuclear power in Rwanda.
AUSTRALIA. Investigative journalism – Australian children targetted for propaganda by the weapons industry. – Australia’s Department of Defence captured by foreign weapons makers Thales, BAE.
Today’s Google headlines on nuclear issues – weapons and Iran dominate the stories.
30 Nov 20, Todays news headlines – 92 articles on nuclear issues.
41 of these concerned nuclear weapons and issues around international diplomacy, and the upcoming Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
By far the most often mentioned topic was the assassination of Iran’s top nuclear weapons expert, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh ( pictured at left).
In general, articles about nuclear weapons tend to be factual accounts of national policies and weapons development. There are also articles with strong opposition to nuclear arms and testing.
Articles on so-called non military nuclear issues. Most (29) of these have been in support of, or promoting nuclear power. During the past week there has been a plethora of articles enthusing over small nuclear reactors (SMRs) . Today, of the 19 articles advocating new nuclear power, 9 were focussed on small nuclear reactors. Other pro nuclear themes were – reassurance that radiation is not such a worry, space research, fusion, hydrogen, and nuclear as climate solution.
Anti-nuclear articles (18) argued against new nuclear power, especially small reactrors, on grounds of costs, wastes, safety , climate uselessness, comparison with renewables.
4 “neutral” articles just set out information on decommissioning reactors, UK policy,health issues.
UAE, Jordan Condemn Killing of Iranian Nuclear Scientist, Call for Self-restraint

The United Arab Emirates condemned on Sunday the killing of top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and called on all parties to exercise self-restraint to avoid sliding the region into new levels of instability, the state news agency reported on Twitter.
Jordan, a staunch U.S. ally also condemned the assassination of Fakhrizadeh, state media reported, and called for collective efforts to avoid an escalation in tensions in the Middle East region.
Why we shouldn’t be talking about nuclear waste “disposal”
All casked up with nowhere to go https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2020/11/29/all-casked-up-with-nowhere-to-go/ November 29, 2020 by beyondnuclearinternational
Why we shouldn’t be talking about nuclear waste “disposal” By Linda Pentz Gunter, 29 Nov 20
Let’s get one thing clear right off the bat. You don’t “dispose” of nuclear waste.
The ill-suited, now canceled, but never quite dead radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain was not a “disposal” site.
The radioactive mud being dredged from the sea bed at the Hinkley C nuclear site in the UK, is not going to get “disposed of” in Cardiff Grounds (a mile off the Welsh coast).
When Germany dumped radioactive waste in drums into the salt mines of Asse, it wasn’t “disposed” of.
Taking nuclear waste to Texas and New Mexico border towns and parking it there indefinitely is not “disposal”.
To talk about radioactive waste “disposal” is simply dishonest. It’s disingenuous at best and deliberately misleading at worst.
In Cardiff Bay, that radioactive waste will get “dispersed.” At Asse, the waste leaked out of the barrels and “dispersed” into water that has flooded the site.
At Yucca Mountain, were it to get a renewed green light, water will eventually carry off those radioactive particles, sending them into groundwater and drinking water downstream of the dump.
“Once you have made radioactive waste, then you are looking at long-term isolation, not disposal,” says Paul Gunter of Beyond Nuclear. “And its cost. And if you are looking to manage the liability of cost, then don’t make it.”
That’s the easiest kind of radioactive waste to “dispose” of. The kind you haven’t made. Because, as Gunter says, “there is no alchemy for radioactive detritus.” Once we’ve made it, it’s with us pretty much forever.
Federal agencies and nuclear corporations continue to wrestle over what to do with the already tens of thousands of tons of high-level radioactive waste (at least 90,000 at last count) generated by America’s commercial nuclear power plants — all casked up with nowhere to go (and a lot of it still in the fuel pools). Because, absent alchemy, that waste is always going to be somewhere, even if we can’t see it.
Once upon a time, the general public understood this. In 1986, when the US Department of Energy was looking for a geological burial site for commercial nuclear waste, it began giving serious consideration to the “granite state” of New Hampshire.
New Hampshire towns — some of which would have been seized and razed by eminent domain to make way for the repository — rose up in opposition. A stunning 100 of them signed a resolution that not only opposed the burial, storage, and transportation of high-level nuclear waste in New Hampshire, but also its production.
A law was eventually passed in New Hampshire that forbade siting a nuclear waste repository in the state, but not banning its generation. The construction of the Seabrook nuclear power plant on the New Hampshire coast progressed, and today the single unit of the two originally planned is duly generating radioactive waste for the state of New Hampshire, with still no place to go.
In fact, the law banning a repository in New Hampshire was quietly, almost covertly, overturned in the New Hampshire state legislature in 2011, a fact uncovered by State Rep. Renny Cushing while writing legislation in 2016. (Cushing is a founder of this country’s first anti-nuclear power group, the Clamshell Alliance, which vigorously opposed the construction of Seabrook.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLeYKkA2V7EA German four-part animation piece, humorously demonstrated the impossibility of disposing of radioactive waste. This is the second segment.
In a characteristically stealthy way, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has ensured there will be no repeat of that New Hampshire defiance. Today, under what was once called the Nuclear Waste Confidence Decision, but is now termed the “Continued Storage of High-Level Waste”, (presumably because no one dare claim any “confidence” about finding a waste solution), an intervention against a reactor license renewal can be disallowed if it is based on contentions challenging the absence of a long-term radioactive waste solution.
This means that our aging fleet of nuclear reactors are free to generate yet more radioactive waste, some of them for another 20 or even 40 years, even though there is still no sign of land when it comes to finding a safe, long-term management plan for what to do with it.
That’s remarkable hubris this far into the nuclear game. Even if one could (very reluctantly) forgive the initial optimistic procrastination — when Fermi achieved the first chain reaction in 1942, but everyone decided the waste problem would be solved later — there is no forgiving it now, 78 years on. That’s more than ample time to have realized that continuing to make more of a lethal substance that you can never dispose of is scientifically and morally reprehensible.
We cannot dispose of radioactive waste. But we can dispose of nuclear power. We should hesitate no longer and do just that.
Linda Pentz Gunter is the international specialist at Beyond Nuclear and writes for and edits Beyond Nuclear International.
The Australian government”s intimidation of whistleblowers – the torture of Julian Assange
Torture of Julian Assange by Australian governments sends powerful message to whistleblowers, Michael West Media by Lissa Johnson | Nov 26, 2020
Australia has used a range of torture techniques against Julian Assange, writes Dr Lissa Johnson. Governments have isolated and demonised him; flatly rejected evidence of ill-treatment; refused to respond to specific allegations; and divested themselves of any responsibility. Leaders can’t, or won’t, accept the difference between psychological torture and ‘a legal matter’.
Julian Assange has set a number of firsts for Australia, including:
- The first Walkley award winner whose journalism has attracted a possible 175 years in US prison.
- The first journalist to be prosecuted as a spy by the US government, under its 1917 Espionage Act.
- The first citizen of an ostensibly democratic state (Australia) whom a UN official has found to be the target of a campaign of collective persecution and mobbing by other so-called democratic states.
As the UN Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, observed:
In 20 years of work with victims of war, violence and political persecution I have never seen a group of democratic states ganging up to deliberately isolate, demonise and abuse a single individual for such a long time and with so little regard for human dignity and the rule of law.
As part of this mobbing and collective persecution, Assange is the first Australian journalist to be tortured for journalism in the UK.
On 9 May 2019, Professor Melzer visited Assange in Belmarsh prison, accompanied by two medical experts specialising in the assessment and documentation of torture. On 31 May, Melzer reported that they had found Assange to be suffering all symptoms typical of prolonged exposure to psychological torture.
On 1 November 2019, Melzer warned that, unless the UK government urgently changed course, it may soon end up costing his life.
What torture?
Julian Assange is being held in ‘Britain’s Guantanamo’, Belmarsh prison, a high-security facility designed for those charged with terrorism, murder and other violent offences. He has been held in solitary confinement for 22 to 23 hours a day.
He knows that US-aligned security contractors have written in emails that he will make a nice bride in prison, and needs his head dunked in a full toilet bowl at Gitmo. He knows he is headed for life in US supermax prisons, where prisoners are held in perpetual solitary and chains.
‘If this man gets extradited to the United States, he will be tortured until the day he dies’, Profesor Melzer has cautioned.
To heighten the torment, Assange has been prevented from preparing his defence against extradition in violation of his human rights as a defendant.
He has been granted negligible access to his lawyers and is prevented from researching his own defence. The only purpose is to render him helpless, intensifying his trauma.
A Message from the Australian Government
Assange’s experience sets an example to anyone thinking of airing the dirty secrets of those in power: the genuinely dirty secrets, such as wantonly slaughtering and torturing innocent people and covering it up.
Like all public torture, it sends a message to onlookers: this could happen to you.
And the message from the Australian government to any Australian journalists looking on? You’re on your own.
The US government is seeking to retrospectively apply its own Espionage Act to non-US citizens in foreign lands, while simultaneously withholding the free speech protections of its Constitution. The upshot would be that non-US citizens, and non-US journalists, would be vulnerable to prosecution wherever they may be, whenever the United States saw fit.
Should a host country oblige, that journalist’s only hope would be the protection of their own government. And the message from the Australian government? Not a chance.
A climate of consent
But can the government do anything to stop the torture of Assange in the UK? Or are its hands tied?
Australia ratified the Convention Against Torture in 1989. It therefore has a positive duty to take ‘effective legislative, administrative, judicial and other measures to prevent acts of torture’ of its citizens. According to the Federal Attorney-General’s website, however, that duty applies to ‘territories within Australia’s jurisdiction’.
So who is responsible for protecting Australian citizens from torture overseas?
Australian officials can raise concerns with their overseas counterparts when they are concerned about gross violations of citizens’ rights as happened in the cases of Melinda Taylor, James Ricketson, David Hicks and Peter Greste.
They could also make a submission to the Committee against Torture that a state is ‘not fulfilling its obligations under this Convention’.
n Assange’s case, however, the government has opted for ‘consent and acquiescence’ under Article 1 of the convention. Consent and acquiescence is listed alongside inflicting and instigating torture as part of the very definition of torture.
‘Standard’ fare
DFAT representatives say repeatedly that Assange’s treatment In the UK is perfectly normal. ‘Standard’. ‘No different’ from the treatment of other UK prisoners. Routine, in other words. Nothing to see here.
When reminded that Assange had been handcuffed 11 times, stripped naked twice and moved between five holding cells after the first day of his extradition hearing, a DFAT representative described this as ‘standard prison to court and court to prison procedure’.
What the official failed to explain is that treatment is only ‘standard’ and normal for prisoners charged with terrorism or other violent offences.
It is not remotely normal for journalists with no criminal history, and no history or risk of violence, to be detained under the most punitive conditions that UK law enforcement has to offer.
As an exercise in “consent and acquiescence” DFAT representatives performed their duties well.
Sanitising, normalising language minimises and trivialises abuse………….
‘Not our responsibility’ has been the Australian government’s refrain. Australian government officials ‘don’t provide running commentaries on legal matters before the courts in other parts of the world’, asserted the Foreign Minister.
Australia is ‘not a party to the legal proceedings in the United Kingdom’, stressed a DFAT official when asked why Australia had not intervened in Assange’s case during Senate Estimates. ‘We have no standing in the legal matter that is currently before the courts.’
Perhaps the Australian government doesn’t understand the seriousness of the abuses taking place in the UK. Perhaps ministers and their advisors are unaware of the difference between psychological torture and a ‘legal matter’. Psychological torture is, after all, not commonly well understood.
It is possible that the Australian government merely fails to grasp the gravity of ignoring Professor Melzer’s warnings. However, when the group Doctors for Assange wrote to the Australian government in December 2019, they detailed the medical and psychological basis of their concerns for Assange’s life and health…………..
New normal in Australia?
Assange is not the first person in Australia to be subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Australia’s abuse of asylum seekers and refugees has been found to violate the Convention Against Torture. Aboriginal Australians, among the most incarcerated groups on earth, have been dying in custody, buried under acquiescent consent, for decades, and historically for hundreds of years.
The Human Rights Measurement Index 2019 has given Australia a 5.5 out of 10 rating for ‘freedom from torture’, noting, ‘Torture is a serious problem in Australia … a large range of people [are] at particular risk of torture or ill-treatment, with Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders at the top of the list’…….
Through sending a message to journalists worldwide by torturing Assange, the abusive licence deployed against other persecuted groups is being expanded to take in journalism. The targeting of journalists around the world matters because journalists cut across the acquiescence and consent, remove the deadbolt on the torture chamber door, turn down the music, and expose what is going on inside. Every persecuted and abused group or person needs them, to break the cycle of violence by breaking the silence.
We do torture here. It is our problem. In Julian Assange’s case, the biggest problem appears to be that torturing journalists is becoming the new normal in Australia.
This edited extract is reproduced from A Secret Australia: Revealed by the WikiLeaks Exposés, edited by Felicity Ruby and Peter Cronau, Monash University Publishing, December 2020. https://www.michaelwest.com.au/torture-of-julian-assange-by-australian-governments-sends-powerful-message-to-whistleblowers/
Japanese local governments depend on “nuclear money”
Japanese town’s approval of nuclear reactor restart reflects subsidy dependence , https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20201129/p2a/00m/0na/001000c 29 Nov 20, TOKYO — Japanese local governments’ dependence on “nuclear plant money” distributed by the national government was starkly highlighted recently when one town granted their approval for a reactor restart at one power plant badly damaged in the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
TOKYO — Japanese local governments’ dependence on “nuclear plant money” distributed by the national government was starkly highlighted recently when one town granted their approval for a reactor restart at one power plant badly damaged in the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
However, the Japanese government has taken measures such as changing both the subsidies’ name and their governing mechanisms after the 2011 disaster, so that local governments can still get the money even when the power plant in their jurisdiction has been off-line for long periods. At least some 115 billion yen (around $1.11 billion) has been distributed as subsides and aid from the national government to local hosts of nuclear power plants this fiscal year alone. According to the town of Onagawa, it received about 530 million yen (approximately $5.1 million) in subsidies based on the Three Power Source Development Laws in fiscal 2010, the year before the Great East Japan Earthquake. That has increased following the disaster, with subsidies reaching over 1.4 billion yen (roughly $13.5 million) in fiscal 2017 and 2018. This included payments totaling 1.08 billion yen (roughly $10.4 million) connected to two reactors at the plant in service for more than 30 years.
Onagawa’s total fiscal 2019 spending stood at 34 billion yen (roughly $327.4 million). If the fixed property taxes paid for the nuclear power plant (about 2.7 billion yen, or roughly $26 million) are added to the subsidies stemming from the Three Power Source Development Laws, money derived from the nuclear plant accounts for over 10% of the town’s annual revenue. “We are being greatly helped in terms of finance,” a municipal government official commented. Of the monies based on the Three Power Source Development Laws, Onagawa reaped about 350 million yen (about $3.37 million) more than previously in one subsidy for enhancing the area around the plants — a category designed to gain cooperation from communities hosting the plants. In fiscal 2019, the subsidies were put toward the salaries of seven local social welfare council employees (about 28 million yen, or roughly $270,000), updating a hospital’s electronic medical record system (about 77 million yen, or some $742,000), and renovating a gymnasium, tennis court and baseball field (about 240 million yen, or roughly $2.31 million), among other purposes. Such subsidies can be used for various purposes under the name of enhancing public services. According to municipal project guidelines, although there were many cases where local tax revenue accounted for around 10-20% of expenses, renovation costs for the athletic facilities were covered entirely by the subsidies. Onagawa’s situation is hardly unique. Local governments hosting nuclear power plants generally rely heavily on the large subsidies. National government policies contribute greatly to the increasing subsidies handed out even as nuclear power stations remain shuttered. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry reviewed regulations following the nuclear disaster such that the plants would be deemed as “in operation” to a certain extent even while their reactors were off-line. Takeo Kikkawa, professor at International University of Japan, suggested that the national government “may have been distributing generous subsidies even when the plants were suspended to make it easier for local governments to approve reactor restarts.” According to the Onagawa government, reforms that allowed local bodies to receive more funding based on the years a power station has been in service was also one of the factors behind the town’s increased subsidy take. Central government figures have raised concerns over this particular change to the subsidy system, including that the economy minsitry is doing it “for its own convenience.” Furthermore, public relations and research-related subsidies received by Onagawa to cover nuclear power plant tours, information circulars and other costs, among other purposes, recovered to the same level as before the 2011 disaster (around 10 million yen annually, or roughly $96,300) since fiscal 2015. A senior official at a major electric power company commented, “Thorough PR activities are indispensable for getting reactors restarted.” It was revealed in the town’s project assessment report that a large majority of the contracts to enhance public services and conduct PR-related activities were negotiated without any competition. Once the No. 2 unit at the Onagawa nuclear station is back on-line, the town is also set to receive subsidies from the nuclear fuel tax, collected from the power company based on the nuclear plant’s performance. The community also reaps further benefits when employees of power companies, including subcontractors, frequent local eateries and other businesses during regular inspections. Hideaki Tanaka, a tax law professor at Meiji University, commented, “This nuclear plant money is an extreme example of the government’s subsidy and aid regime.” And so the town of Onagawa’s approval of the restart at their local nuclear plant could be considered inevitable, so dependent on nuclear money have host municipalities become. (Japanese original by Yuki Takahashi, Business News Department)
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It is likely that Trump gove the nod for assassination of Iran nuclear scientist
Observer 29th Nov 2020, As the president lashes out wilfully during his last days in office, it seems likely that he at least gave the nod to this killing. Iran’s leaders, mindful of previous, unexplained killings of its nuclear experts, have been quick to blame Israel for Fakhrizadeh’s death. But American and regional analysts suggest that if Israel was involved, it would only have acted after getting the nod from Trump.
This explanation makes sense for several reasons. Like last January’s assassination of the Revolutionary Guard general Qassem Suleimani, Friday’s outrage is an extraordinarily provocative act. It risks goading Iran into armed retaliation against its most prominent enemies – Israel, Saudi Arabia and US forces based in the region. The assassination, in this sense, is tantamount to a declaration of war.
UK’s beautiful Lake District – no “final solution” for the nuclear waste problem.
Radiation Free Lakeland 28th Nov 2020, Millom Rock and Deer Parks, This is a lovely description of a walk in an amazingly beautiful area.unbelievable it could be seriously considered as a nuclear waste dump. This quarry and surrounding area is being seriously considered by Radioactive Waste Management (a government quango) for the “disposal” of heat generating nuclear wastes.
In order to justify new nuclear build such as that at Hinkley Point, there needs to be a “final solution” for the
nuclear waste. This is no solution it is an excuse. A very dangerous excuse.
https://mariannewildart.wordpress.com/2020/11/28/millom-rock-deer-parks/
Dismantling Duke Energy’s Crystal River nuclear plant
Work begins soon on dismantling Duke Energy’s Crystal River nuclear plant
The utility’s contractor began the decommissioning process this fall, which will ramp up in 2021. By Malena Carollo Nov. 27
CRYSTAL RIVER — Decommissioning of Duke Energy Florida’s nuclear plant is finally underway.Accelerated Decommissioning Partners — Duke Energy’s decommissioning contractor — began its work this fall to dismantle the shuttered nuclear portion of the Crystal River Energy Complex…… The nuclear portion of the plant was shut down in 2009 after Duke Energy’s predecessor, Progress Energy Florida, failed at a do-it-yourself repair to the building housing the reactor, cracking its 42-inch-thick concrete walls in the process…… https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/2020/11/27/what-does-it-take-to-decommission-duke-energys-nuclear-plant/ |
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What’s behind the assaisnation of Iran’s top nuclear scientist?
The operation behind the assassination of the Iranian nuclear program founder, The Hybrid War Institute,
Eyal Pinko, 29 Nov 20,
On Friday morning, November 27, Muhsin Fakhrizadeh, considered the founder of Iran’s nuclear program, was assassinated…….. It is not the first-time assassination attempts were made to kill Fakhrizadeh, who survived a similar assassination attempt five years ago. Sixty years old Fakhrizadeh, who holds a doctorate in physics by his profession, was a key figure in the Iranian nuclear program and is considered one of its ancestors. Besides, Fakhrizadeh has been involved in other Iranian strategic plans, such as developing Iran’s air defense system and developing the missile upgrade program, known as Iran and Hezbollah’s missile precision project………
Once a clear and high-quality intelligence picture has been produced, which will allow an understanding of the target’s life routine and planned events, a relevant operational plan to thwart him will create, including the timing of the attack, ways, and means of access and withdrawal from the attack. …….. The recent assassination of Fakhrizadeh comes just a few weeks before the regime change in the United States, and the understanding that President-elect Joe Biden is expected to ease the nuclear sanctions imposed by Trump on the Iranian regime as part of his “maximum pressure” progra ……….
Senior Iranians, who were quick to accuse Israel of assassination, promised that Iran would not remain silent, and a painful Iranian response was expected. Fakhrizadeh’s senior status and key role in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile development raises the likelihood of an Iranian response. As Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s military adviser, Hossein Dehghani, said, “In the last days of a provocative ally, Israel is striving to increase pressure on Iran to go to war. We will pursue the shahid’s killers and make them regret their actions.” Dehghani is one of the prominent candidates for Iran’s presidency in the elections that are expected to take place in the country next year.
Simultaneously, the change of the administration in the United States and the Iranian hope for the expected changes with the entry of Biden into office is a brake and a deterrent to the Iranian response. An Iranian response at this time may be against Israeli elements only and at low intensity. As a recall, Iran has previously stated that it will respond sharply to the United States for the assassination of Qasem Soleimani and has not yet implemented its threat in practice. It will now be a shaky deadline for it to react, at least until the Biden administration stabilizes.
For Israel, if it is the one behind the assassination operation, it is likely that the assassination operation will not significantly delay or halt Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear developments. But it could create a deterrent to Israel taking all measures to prevent Iran from reaching nuclear capability, even when it is expected that the US political support for these efforts will decrease significantly during Biden’s administration.. https://www.hwi.institute/post/the-operation-behind-the-assassination-of-the-iranian-nuclear-program-founder
Growing opposition to nuclear power in Rwanda
![]() Lawmaker voices fears about safety of nuclear plants in densely populated Rwanda, but top official says nuclear is inevitable. KIGALI, Rwanda, 29 Nov 20, Plans by the tiny landlocked African country of Rwanda to build nuclear reactors with Russian help are facing stiff opposition in the country. Frank Habineza, a lawmaker and member of the Democratic Green Party, has warned that nuclear energy could do the country more harm than good. “Living near a nuclear energy plant is like living near a nuclear bomb which can explode and cause destruction of life and property to the nation and its neighboring countries,” he said. He said in light of Rwanda’s high population density, there is no place to set up the plant without compromising the safety of Rwandans and their neighbors. After Russian state-owned nuclear company Rosatom Global reached an agreement last year to set up the plant by 2024, the Rwandan cabinet approved establishment of the Rwanda Atomic Energy Board – an institution to coordinate nuclear science and technology activities in the country. In December 2018, Rwanda and Russia agreed on a roadmap for an inter-governmental agreement on the use of nuclear energy…… After Russian state-owned nuclear company Rosatom Global reached an agreement last year to set up the plant by 2024, the Rwandan cabinet approved establishment of the Rwanda Atomic Energy Board – an institution to coordinate nuclear science and technology activities in the country. In December 2018, Rwanda and Russia agreed on a roadmap for an inter-governmental agreement on the use of nuclear energy. …………. Experts say, however, it takes 10 years and billions of dollars to commission a nuclear power station. They argue that off-grid renewable projects are safer than nuclear energy, as they do not involve environmentally hazardous radioactive waste, and no huge financial costs are incurred in connection to the national grid. Experts raise concerns Lawmaker Habineza said nuclear energy is an old technology with proven risks to the environment. He said many developed nations such as Germany and Sweden are de-nuclearizing due to the dangers involved. “Nuclear waste and water pollution from a nuclear plant would cause serious environmental challenge to the country, its neighbors, and the world at large,” he argued. “More than that, raw materials needed to operate the nuclear center, such as uranium, emit harmful levels of radiation, which pose a great risk to the population and the environment.”….. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/rwanda-opposition-grows-to-russian-backed-nuclear-plants/2059467 |
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Closer to nuclear war – as USA tests ICBM intercept
US’ successful ICBM intercept test brings us closer to a nuclear war and proves Moscow’s concerns were well grounded, 17 Nov 20, Rt.com, Scott Ritter – is a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and author of ‘SCORPION KING: America’s Suicidal Embrace of Nuclear Weapons from FDR to Trump.’ He served in the Soviet Union as an inspector implementing the INF Treaty, in General Schwarzkopf’s staff during the Gulf War, and from 1991-1998 as a UN weapons inspector. Follow him on Twitter @RealScottRitter
On Tuesday, the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced it conducted a test of an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) System-equipped Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the USS John Finn, against what was termed a “threat-representative Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) target” using a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA interceptor. The test object was launched from Kwajalein Atoll, in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, toward an area of the Pacific Ocean northeast of Hawaii. According to the MDA, the SM-3 Block IIA missile successfully intercepted its target.
The successful test is but the latest in a series intended to prepare the SM-3 Block IIA missile and its associated systems–the Aegis Baseline-9 Weapons System and Command and Control Battle Management Communications (C2BMC) network–for operational duty as America’s frontline missile defense capability……..
Russia has long held that the deployment of anti-ballistic missile systems in Europe represented a major alteration of the strategic balance of power, insofar as it empowered a potential US/NATO nuclear first strike scenario, in which US nuclear-armed missiles would be launched against Russian strategic nuclear forces in an effort to preemptively destroy them. Europe would then avoid the certainty of mutually assured destruction by hiding behind the US missile defense shield, which in theory would be capable of shooting down the handful of Russian missiles that might survive such an attack. ………..
The combination of low-yield nuclear weapons on board US submarines lurking off Russia’s coast with US destroyers equipped to shoot down Russian ICBMs is the stuff of any Russian nuclear planner’s worst nightmare. Russia will most likely be compelled to reexamine its alert posture to account for the increased possibility that the US may seek to launch a preemptive decapitation attack using low-yield nuclear weapons.
This means that Russia will be compelled to react quickly to any detection event suggestive of such a strike, reducing the time for leaders to consider the possibility of error before giving the order to launch. In short, while the US may claim that the SM-3 Block IIA is a defensive weapon that creates stability in regional and global security, the exact opposite is the case–the SM-3 Block IIA increases the chance for inadvertent nuclear war between the US and Russia. This is never a good outcome. https://www.rt.com/op-ed/507015-icbm-intercept-aegis-russia/
Resuming nuclear testing is unnecessary — and unsafe
Resuming nuclear testing is unnecessary — and unsafe https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2020/11/29/21720975/letter-resuming-nuclear-testing-is-unnecessary-and-unsafe, By Marc Coles-Ritchie, Salt Lake City , Nov 29, 2020,
Our beautiful state of Utah should not again have to suffer the consequence of being downwind of nuclear testing. Over 1,000 nuclear weapons tests were conducted by the U.S. government in the latter half of the 1900s, which had devastating health and environmental consequences. We cannot risk harming more people with new nuclear testing.
There is no military or technical need to resume nuclear testing now. Our government affirms every year through the Stockpile Stewardship Program that our nuclear arsenal is safe and reliable and that testing is not needed.
Any new U.S. testing would likely lead other nuclear weapons states to resume their own nuclear weapons testing — or worse, the use of such destructive weapons. Funding nuclear testing in the U.S. sends a dangerous message to the rest of the world.
£132billion and counting – Britain’s nuclear decommissioning mess could take 120 years
Safety dangers of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs)
Nuclear power isn’t the answer to Nunavut’s energy problems, expert says. Nicole Bogart CTVNews.ca Writer, @nlynnbogart, November 27, 2020 TORONTO — Despite growing interest from the federal government and nuclear proponents, the Canadian Environmental Law Association warns that the safety implications of small modular reactors (SMRs) may outweigh the environmental pay off.
Theresa McClenaghan, executive director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association, says despite proponents’ claims that Canada’s North is a promising market for the small, transportable reactors, the technology isn’t suited for remote locations.
“They’re very inappropriate for remote locations. They’re very inappropriate for anywhere,” McClenaghan told CTV’s Your Morning Friday.
“You’d be talking about creating new kinds of waste that we don’t already have in Canada… [and] having to worry about very long distance transportation.” ……
The federal government has invested in research into the technology and is set to release an SMR action plan with a focus on Canada’s North by the end of this year.
Alberta, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Ontario have all signed a memorandum of understanding regarding development of small modular reactors…….
McClenaghan says the government is missing key concerns, including the security of the reactors.
“A very serious concern that no one is talking about is non-proliferation risks – and the risk of a diversion of the materials to weapons,” she said.
“That’s a serious risk for any nuclear technology. But especially when you start to distribute the materials like this and have less control, [and] the industry is hoping they can just leave the units without operators.”
McClenaghan adds that despite the industry’s claims that nuclear power doesn’t produce greenhouse gases, the production of SMRs would.
“Nuclear does produce greenhouse gases because you have to mine, transport, and refine. In fact, the full life cycle is two times as much as solar and six times as much as onshore wind,” she explained.
There are also growing concerns about the implications for Indigenous communities in Canada.
The Northwest Territories Energy Strategy is calling for communities to decide. There’s a whole history of decisions being made and imposed in communities. That’s how a lot of the diesel ended up there in the first place,” McClenaghan said, noting that affordable energy remains the biggest rallying cry for these communities.
“I have seen quite a bit of interest in hybrid systems where they can start to reduce the reliance on diesel, but take advantage for the times of year when solar isn’t available.” https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/nuclear-power-isn-t-the-answer-to-nunavut-s-energy-problems-expert-says-1.5207328
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