Nuclear, climate, pandemic news – in this critical week

Pandemic As that election day arrives, US coronavirus cases break global daily record with just under 100,000 new infections. Protecting nature is vital to escape ‘era of pandemics’ – report. Urgency to protect nature, or up to 850,000 animal viruses could be caught by humans.

Climate. In all the hooha about the American election, and all the very important coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, – global heating moves on inexorably, with relatively little media coverage of its effects. But the effects are there – in the melting Poles, in continuing wildfires, droughts, extreme weather. Effects are worsein developing countries that have not themselves been the emitters of greenhouse gases. Droughts and floods force populations to leave their homelands.

Nuclear. Not a lot of media coverage on nuclear issues, though some still about the Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. But here’s one important one:

Investigative journalism -The tangled web – well-being of communities has become dependent on the nuclear weapons industry.

Meanwhile, media coverage of nuclear issues continues to be mainly propaganda for the industry.

Some bits of good news – Chameleon last seen a century ago rediscovered in Madagascar. 14-Year-Old Girl Wins $25,000 For a Scientific Breakthrough That Could Lead to COVID-19 Cure. Couple Turns Barren English Estate into Conservation Eden, Rewilding to Attract Rare Species of Astonishing Biodiversity.

The new Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty supports existing agreements, and in no way conflicts with them. Archbishop Tomasi has led the Vatican’s fight against nuclear weapons.

Documentary history from the perspective of radiation victims.

Plutonium: How Nuclear Power’s Dream Fuel Became a Nightmare.

Despite propaganda from nuclear front group ”Third Way”, research shows that nuclear power as carbon reducer is counter-productive.

The world’s banks must start to value nature and stop paying for its destruction.

Space exploration – to lead to dangerous nuclear-armed totalitarian societies?

Super power: Here’s how to get to 100pct wind, solar and storage by 2030. Renewables, not nuclear, are the solution, for a cleaner world..

The very real risks of radiation accidents on Earth, from nuclear reactors in space.

BRAZIL. Surge in fires in Brazil’s Amazon.

JAPAN. Dumping Fukushima’s Water into the Ocean… Seriously? Fishers and farmers fear impact of Fukushima water release. Compensation claims recognised – workers made ill by working at Fukushima’s wrecked nuclear plant. Japan’s net zero emissions target should be combined with zero nuclear power.

SOUTH KOREA. South Korea’s ‘serious concern’ about Japan’s dumping of Fukushima radioactive water. Parties Blast Foreign Ministry Response to Japan’s Water Discharge Move. Tritium is what makes nuclear reactors so dangerous, not only in Fukushima but also in S. Korea. South Korea to end dependence on coal, switch to renewables.

ARCTIC. Release of methane off East Siberian coast has been triggered.

UK. Pressure on UK Prime Minister to show strong climate leadership. UK government’s economic recovery plan fossil fuels £3.8bn, but renewables only £121m. Strong feeling in UK public that the Covid recovery must be a green recovery, too.

Britain to lose protection of the environment – as a result of Brexit.

90% of Sellafield’s Discharged Plutonium Wastes are on the “Cumbrian Mud Patch” Below which Lies the Coal Mine Plan.

USA.

Coronavirus cases rise in grim march to America’s Election Day.
Investigative journalism– How the marketing of American weapons determines U.S. foreign policy on China. Expert guidance for the next President to head off a nuclear catastrophe. A Joe Biden administration would re-examine the U.S. nuclear strategy and arsenal.
Russia and the U.S. Need a Timeout on Nuclear Weapons, With New START about to expire, the U.S. should accept Moscow’s offer of a one-year extension.
U.S. Senate unanimously passes resolution supporting nuclear weapons workers made ill by radiation.The human cost in illness and death, caused by working with nuclear weapons.
Financial red flags warn against Utah’s NuScale small nuclear reactor project. Big questions on the costs and safety of NuScale’s little nuclear reactors. Two more cities opt out of Utah’s dubious small nuclear reactor project. Small nuclear reactors pose a financial danger to municipalities – Utah Taxpayers Association. Another city bites the dust in regard to Utah’s NuScam small nuclear reactors plan.
Columbus, Cincinnati, take legal action to block Ohio’s nuclear power plant bailout law. Two politicians to plead guilty in Ohio nuclear corruption case.
Santa Susana Field Laboratory site– historically radioactively polluted, but risks never being cleaned up.
Nearly 30 US states see renewables generate more power than either coal or nuclear coal

UKRAINE. Using a robot to map the highly radioactive area of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

RUSSIA. Russia’s nuclear doctrine – both Russia an USA benefit from nuclear weapons control agreements. Putin’s Russia keen to exploit the Arctic for fossil fuels: more nuclear-powered icebreakers on the way.

FRANCE. EDF trucks enriched uranium to the unfinished Flamanville nuclear reactor. Why so much in advance of the need for it? France trying to market nuclear reactors to Romania.

LITHUANIA. Lithuania protests Belarus’plan for nuclear power station close to their border.

FINLAND. Finland, stuck with increasingly costly Olkiluouti nuclear nightmare, plans and even worse expense, with small nucler reactors!

CANADA. Investigative journalism – While Canadian authorities fall for “New Small Nuclear” spin, U.S. consortium rips off Canada’s nuclear waste disaster. Suspected COVID-19 outbreak declared at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories in Chalk River, Ontario.

IRAN. Iran building underground nuclear facility, replacing the damaged one.

CHINA. China-India competition is not likely to lead to a nuclear weapons exchange.

AUSTRALIA. International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)- from a tiny group to an International Treaty.