nuclear-news

Nuclear news – week to 23 November

As I decided previously, I’m leaving out the news on Coronavirus and Global Heating,  important though they are.

Even so, this newsletter is too long. Especially as we seem to be in a sort of timewarp, waiting for a resolution in the USA, waiting for a new direction in the pandemic.

Some bits of good news – Future Crunch’s summary of good news.  Jeff Bezos Created $10 Billion ‘Earth Fund’ to Meet Climate Crisis, First Grants of $800M Go to Iconic Environmental Groups

Correcting 5 wrong opinions about the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

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.   No. 2 reactor at Tohoku Electric Power Co’s Onagawa nuclear power plant for restart, despite problems. Resident against Japanese nuclear reactor OK’d for restart says safe evacuation impossible.  Surveys to identify nuclear waste disposal site begin in Hokkaido.

Nuclear disaster: Fukushima schools frozen in time. Forests affected by Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.  Japan Set to Decide Timing of Fukushima Water Release As Early As This Year.  Release of Fukushima’s radioactive water into sea will harm entire Asia’s coasts: Indian experts.

TAIWAN.  Taiwanese protest plan to dump water from Japan nuclear plant into sea.

UK –

• 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 govt produced no evidence that nuclear plants are essential, in secret deals for the convenience of the nuclear industry
• Large and small nuclear reactors should not be included in UK’s ‘clean, green’ 10 point plan. Inaccuracies in Boris Johnson’s document supporting nuclear power development.  Britain’s enthusiasm for nuclear power stations is waning.
• 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’.
•    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.   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.
• 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.
•  The Irish sea – plagued by dumped munitions and radioactive trash.

USA. 

• Could a mad, unhinged US president, push the nuclear button? Trump still has the awesome power to launch America’s nuclear arsenal.   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.
• The Biden- Harris administration can change nuclear weapons policy, make it safer, and much cheaper.    For Joe Biden – an early trial problem – the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. 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. Investigative journalism –  Joe Biden’s ” transition team”includes men with strong links to the weapons industry With Joe Biden in Charge, No More Flashy Kim Jong Un Summits.
• Prison, big fines, for Catholic anti nuclear activists.  Anti-Nuclear Pacifists Get Federal Prison Terms for Nonviolent Protest.
• 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.
• 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?
• 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.  Lack of safety documents in Los Alamos National Laboratory’s handling of radioactive wastes.
• Slowly moving lawsuit on the health impacts of a national nuclear laboratory.

FRANCE.  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.

CANADA.  Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, the nuclear industry’s latest pipe dream.  Canadian government’s misplacing funding into unviable small nuclear reactors

IRAN.  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.

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.

UKRAINE.  First canister of used nuclear fuel loaded into Chernobyl storage facility.

SAUDI ARABIA.  Saudi minister says nuclear armament against Iran ‘an option’.

NORTH KOREA. North Korea sparks new nuclear weapons fears.

AUSTRALIA. Australia’s Department of Defence captured by foreign weapons makers Thales, BAE.

November 23, 2020 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes