nuclear-news

Boris Johnson’s decision to increase nuclear warheads -concern around the world and within UK

UK to Increase Cap on Nuclear Warhead Stockpile, Arms Control Association , ARMS CONTROL TODAY, April 2021
By Kingston Reif and Shannon Bugos

In a significant departure from an earlier pledge, the United Kingdom announced in March that it will raise the ceiling on its nuclear warhead stockpile by more than 40 percent above its previous target and would no longer publish information about the number of warheads it maintains in an operational status.

The decision prompted concern around the world and raised questions about the UK’s commitment to its nuclear disarmament obligations under Article VI of the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).

London will raise the ceiling on its overall stockpile to 260 warheads by the middle of the decade, according to an integrated review of security, defense, development, and foreign policy published March 16. The new ceiling is a 44 percent increase above the level of 180 warheads that was first announced in the UK’s 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review and reiterated again in 2015. (See ACT, December 2015; November 2010.)

The UK currently has about 195 nuclear warheads, of which 120 are operational, according to an estimate by researchers at the Federation of American Scientists. The UK deploys its entire nuclear arsenal aboard four Vanguard-class submarines, each of which is armed with Trident II D5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles. At least one submarine is always at sea on deterrence patrol. London maintains that a submarine on patrol would require several days’ notice to launch a missile………

The Johnson government’s decision to increase the warhead stockpile was controversial within the UK.

Keir Starmer, the head of the Labour Party, said the plan “breaks the goal of successive prime ministers and cross-party efforts to reduce our nuclear stockpile. It doesn’t explain, when, why, or for what strategic purpose.”

Foreign governments also criticized the new direction in policy.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on March 18 that “this move is at odds with London’s many statements about its commitment to obligations to promote nuclear disarmament under the NPT.”

“The British leadership’s decisions underscore the urgent need to directly involve U.S. nuclear allies in the efforts to reduce and limit nuclear weapons, which Russia never ends to point out,” she said.

Asked about the UK decision to grow its nuclear stockpile, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, “We don’t want nuclear weapons arsenals to grow. If you don’t want that to happen, you can’t expand them.”

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, raised similar concerns in a March 17 press briefing. “[W]e do express our concern at the UK’s decision to increase its nuclear weapons arsenal, which is contrary to its obligations under Article VI of the NPT,” he said. “It could have a damaging impact on global stability and efforts to pursue a world free of nuclear weapons.”……………….. https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2021-04/news/uk-increase-cap-nuclear-warhead-stockpile

March 31, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

No greenwashing’: Fossil gas and nuclear must not be defined as clean, ministers tell IEA summit

No greenwashing’: Fossil gas and nuclear must not be defined as clean, ministers tell IEA summit

Medium- and long-term policy clarity is essential to attract the private finance needed to reach net zero by 2050, event hears  31 March 2021 By Leigh Collins  …………… (subscribers only )  https://www.upstreamonline.com/energy-transition/-no-greenwashing-fossil-gas-and-nuclear-must-not-be-defined-as-clean-ministers-tell-iea-summit/2-1-990406

March 31, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Unexploded WW2 bomb on seabed uncomfortably close to Hinkley Point C nuclear station

Hinkley**

An unexploded 250 pound wartime bomb has been found on the seabed near
Hinkley Point power station this week. The Hinkley Point C harbour
authority issued a local notice to mariners on Monday (March 29th) advising
mariners to keep well clear of the device, which is north of the power
station site. “Mariners are advised that a 250 pound bomb thought to date
from World War II has been discovered by the Hinkley Point marine works
principal contractor to the north of Hinkley Point C harbour authority
statutory limits,” says Hinkley Point C harbour master Nick Clarence in
the warning.

Burnham-on-sea.com 30th March 2021

March 31, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Universities in UK captured by the nuclear weapons industry

Radiation Free Lakeland 30th March 2021, In February 2021 it was announced that Lancaster University and the
University of Cumbria plan to open a Barrow-in-Furness campus, which ‘will work closely with key businesses, including BAE Systems’. A joint press release was issued, including a quote from Janet Garner, Head of HR, Skills and Academy Principal at BAE Systems Submarine, who says that “The Barrow Learning Quarter will have a transformational impact on our region and will help to provide some of the emerging specific skills required of our future workforce.”

Although we support initiatives to increase Higher Education provision in under-served communities, and generally welcome collaboration between universities, businesses and local communities, the prospect of our universities working closely with BAE Systems is deeply troubling.

As the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) makes very clear, the role of BAE Systems as a supplier of arms to belligerent forces is direct and profound. BAE Systems is believed to have sold £15 billion worth of warplanes, weapons and services to Saudi Arabia in the first five years of the conflict with Yemen. Only 5% of BAE’s sales are fornon-military purposes.

WMD: University of Cumbria and Lancashire Uni go over to the Dark Side – this would be seen as outrageous in for example Russia or China but it is Here!

March 31, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Concerted opposition in Scotland to nuclear weapons, and to banks lending for them.

Herald 30th March 2021 THAT nuclear weapons are now illegal may well have passed some Scots by.
After all, mainstream media didn’t exactly make a fuss about it. Yet there has been opposition to the nuclear weapons based in the Clyde for the half a century or so they have menacingly been situated there.

“Ordinary” Scots, civil society, the STUC, Scotland’s churches, the Scottish Parliament and many of Scotland’s MPs have spoken out, demonstrated and campaigned against them both because of the existential risks they represent and the conviction that the funds invested in them could be better used to build back better and fairer from the pandemic.

From NatWest’s recently-released annual report it is clear that the outstanding loans to these 11 companies are just a drop in the ocean and terminating them now is not likely to make a significant difference to NatWest’s bottom line.

Now there’s a chance for change. NatWest Group is updating its investment policies. That’s why the Church of Scotland, numerous Scottish trade union councils and dozens of other civil society organisations joined a call to NatWest Group to make sure no companies involved in any nuclear weapon programmes can borrow money.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19194302.agenda-biggest-bank-must-change-policy-nuclear-weapons/

March 31, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

”Bairns not Bombs”Scotland’s Nicola Sturgeon speaks out

Daily Mail 29th March 2021,

‘Bairns not bombs’: Nicola Sturgeon attacks Boris Johnson over plans to
increase the UK’s nuclear weapons stockpile as she accuses of PM of once
claiming Scots were ‘free-riding on English taxpayers’ in election campaign
speech. She blasted plans to potentially increase the UK’s atomic weapons
stockpile. The SNP has long campaigned to have nuclear weapons removed from
Scotland. Also cited PM’s 2001 column accusing Scots of ‘free-riding on
English taxpayers’.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9414139/Bairns-not-bombs-Nicola-Sturgeon-attacks-Boris-Johnson-nuclear-weapons-plan.html

March 31, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

New Work Underway at Israeli Nuclear Site

New Work Underway at Israeli Nuclear Site https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2021-04/news/new-work-underway-israeli-nuclear-site

ARMS CONTROL TODAY

April 2021
By Sang-Min Kim   Satellite imagery analyzed by experts at the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM) in February 2021 shows significant new construction underway in the southwest portion of Israel’s main nuclear weapons complex near the city of Dimona.

The construction activity at the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center (NNRC) is within the immediate vicinity of the buildings that contain the facility’s heavy-water nuclear reactor and reprocessing plant, which have been used to produce plutonium for the country’s nuclear weapons arsenal. Israel does not publicly acknowledge possessing nuclear weapons and has not provided an explanation about the construction activities underway.

According to a Feb. 19 update of the original IPFM blog post analyzing the satellite imagery of the site, the new construction likely began in late 2018 or early 2019, but the exact intention of the newly cleared parcel, measuring 140 meters by 50 meters of excavated land, remains unclear.

Avner Cohen, a leading expert on Israel’s nuclear history and senior fellow at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies, posted on Facebook on Feb. 25 that the construction may be for a new reactor or a high-energy proton accelerator system that is used to create the high neutron fluence that leads to tritium. He said the construction activities are more likely for the modernization of “existing capabilities (while rebuilding the infrastructure)” rather than the expansion of nuclear weapons capabilities.

According to the Associated Press on Feb. 27, other experts said that the purpose of the new construction activities may be related to extending the life of the reactor to allow for the continued production of tritium gas, which is used in advanced nuclear weapon designs to boost the explosive yield. Tritium must be replaced more often than the fissile material in a nuclear warhead, and the Dimona reactor, which was built in 1963, may be nearing the end of its lifespan. The AP obtained additional satellite images from Planet Labs Inc. that confirm construction at the site is ongoing.

Initially slated for closure around 2023, Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin announced plans in 2017 to extend the reactor’s operations through 2040. At the time, that announcement prompted pushback from other Israeli officials who cited concerns about the safety of extending the reactor’s lifespan.

According to the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC), the official purpose behind the facility is to expand and deepen basic knowledge in the nuclear sciences and its related fields and to provide an infrastructure and foundation for the practical and economic use of nuclear energy. The facility’s history began in the 1950s with clandestine assistance from the French government, and the basic architecture of the Dimona complex has mostly remained unchanged until recent developments.

The NNRC is mainly known for the production of nuclear weapons-grade fissile material, but experts assess that Israel is not currently producing fissile material using the Dimona reactor to expand its nuclear weapons program.

The Federation of American Scientists estimates that Israel has produced enough fissile material for about 200 weapons and has assembled around 90 nondeployed nuclear warheads, which were designed for delivery by its Jericho ballistic missiles and aircraft. Israel may also have modified its Dolphin-class submarines purchased from Germany to establish a sea-based nuclear strike capability.

March 31, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Montana bill wrongly overturns right of voters to decide nuclear energy

Letters: Montana bill wrongly overturns right of voters to decide nuclear energy  https://missoulacurrent.com/opinion/2021/03/letters-nuclear-energy-2/

BY MIKE MALES

I attended the Montana legislature’s hearing on House Bill 273, which would repeal nuclear reactor safeguards and voters’ rights guaranteed by Initiative-80. Initiative-80, which I campaigned for as a Missoula resident in 1978, was approved by 65% of Montana’s voters despite record spending by the nuclear industry.

The hotly-debated I-80 was endorsed by bipartisan Montana leaders, including former senators Mike Mansfield, John Melcher, and Max Baucus, Republican Senate nominee Larry Williams, Congressmember Pat Williams, and numerous legislators and newspapers.

Now, HB-273 proposes to overturn voters’ decision and abolish Montanans’ right to vote on nuclear facilities. HB-273’s backers claim today’s “new” nuclear reactors are safe and economical, yet HB-273 sneakily repeals Montana’s nuclear safety and liability standards and exposes taxpayers and property owners to large, long-term dangers and costs for nuclear accidents, radioactive waste, and reactor decommissioning.

If “new” reactors are safe, why are HB-273’s supporters scheming to abolish lawful safety standards? If nuclear power is economical, why are utilities pulling out of Utah’s 12-reactor NuScale project, plagued by massive delays and billions-dollar cost overruns?
Why the rush to repeal? Montana soon will undertake a comprehensive study of energy. Voters passed I-80; voters, not legislators, should decide whether to repeal it.

March 31, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

WMD: University of Cumbria and Lancashire Uni go over to the Dark Side – this would be seen as outrageous in for example Russia or China but it is Here! —

Please support the petition started by Emily Heath. Radiation Free Lakeland agree that Arms Manufacturers should not be involved in running Universities. Universities: stop collaborating with BAE Systems! In February 2021 it was announced that Lancaster University and the University of Cumbria plan to open a Barrow-in-Furness campus, which ‘will work closely with key businesses, […]

WMD: University of Cumbria and Lancashire Uni go over to the Dark Side – this would be seen as outrageous in for example Russia or China but it is Here! —

March 31, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

WAMM Newsletter, Winter 2021: Line 3, Polly Mann on Assange, Biden’s First 100 Days — Rise Up Times

WAMM joins the Water Protectors for Line 3, Biden’s first 100 days, a WAMM campaign on the many sides of military spending, Polly Mann; The Truth Will out despite caging and torture.

WAMM Newsletter, Winter 2021: Line 3, Polly Mann on Assange, Biden’s First 100 Days — Rise Up Times

March 31, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Anyone else finding the new WordPress ”BLOCK” editor hellishly difficult to use?

I wonder who else is finding this WordPress new “BLOCK” editing system hellishly difficult to use.  I’m told that it is ”better”, because it is more suitable for business, and making money from your website. 

Tough if your website is designed to just be informational.  Apparently that is a concept no longer acceptable in our money-oriented culture. If it ain’t for making money, then it ain’t no good.

What a sad , narrow, unimaginative culture!

March 31, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | 2 Comments