To 12 July – nuclear news this week

No – there’s not really much happening in the nuclear sphere. What is happening is the increasing pro nuke propaganda. It is so noticeable in my country, Australia. Not that it’s widespread (yet), but the pro-nuke spiel from the Murdochracy is so patently, silly, and ill-informed that it deserves mention for its absurdity. I hope to write more about this next time.

CLIMATE Serious as the pandemic is, – I’m thinking that in the total picture, it does not compare with the weather extremes, the suffering, the forced refugees, that the world faces from global heating.

When it happens in America, the media does sit up and take notice. It’s happening in California, with raging temperatures and raging wildfires. I know that this is terrible, and not funny, but still, I wonder if some climate change denialists might be having second thoughts , as they’re finding it hard to get oysters and other luxury shellfish – seeing that these coastal marine organisms are being cooked now, before they can be harvested.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTZD5K6JBGk

CORONAVIRUS. World Health Organisation sounds alarm as global deaths top 4 million, delta variant spreads to 100 countries.

If They Chose, Biden and Putin Could Make the World Radically Safer, Nuclear arms control hasn’t worked. We need a new approach.

Key witness in Julian Assange case admits to lies in indictment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlLbAVSHeA8 U.S. government offers meaningless assurances on Julian Assange’s well-being, as it gets right to appeal on UK court ruling against his extradition. U.S. proposals about extradition of Julian Assange are designed to keep him in prison for life.

Rapid growth of global renewable energy: it’s the major energy source in Europe.

Mobile phones/cellphones – the health danger from electromagnetic radiation.

JAPAN. The 44 year process for demolishing TEPCO’s Fukushima No. 2 nuclear station, – with nowhere to put the radioactive trash. Japan’s nuclear regulator to order review of earthquake risks of Genkai nuclear plant. The danger of Japan’s increasing stockpile of plutonium. Fukushima’s ”nuclear recovery Olympics’‘ has gone even more wrong, as spectators banned.

EUROPE. Both UK and European Commission want nuclear energy excluded from clean energy investments -”otherwise clean energy finances would not be credible”.

GERMANY, As Germany’s election approaches, political parties differ on the future of U.S. nuclear weapons based there,.

UK.

As wind power becomes half the price of nuclear, nuclear power may not be an election winner. British households will pay for nuclear construction long before it supplies any electricity, under the govt’s new plan. Investors won’t back the nuclear ”white elephant’‘, neither should the UK taxpayers. UK residents face higher electricity bills, paying in advance, for the construction of new nuclear reactors.
Green party makes gains in East Suffolk Council by-election – area that includes planned Sizewell nuclear station.
Nuclear fusion – a very unlikely development for Bradwell.
The UK and Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) deplore the new secrecy on defence nuclear safety reports.

IRAN.Iran trying to enrich uranium metal that could help develop nuclear weapon, UN watchdog says.

FRANCE. “EDF’s Chinese dream seems well and truly over“- a minor nuclear incident becomes a major industrial disaster for the French nuclear firm. France’s government helps settle the debts of bankrupt nuclear company AREVA (which is now resuscitated as ORANO) France refuses to hand over maps of nuclear tests in Algeria.

TAIWAN. Taiwan Shuts Another Reactor as Part of Nuclear-Free Goal,.

USA.

William Perry and Jerry Brown address the unwisdom of spending $2 trillion on new nuclear weapons. U.S. Space Force opens new centre to facilitate war in space. Nuclear weapons testing has never really stopped. We just call underground testing ”subcritical”.
The nuclear rort in Georgia. Consumers may end up paying for billions of dollars in cost overruns on the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion. In the USA State of Ohio, pro nuclear legislation is helped along by misinformation on renewable energy.
U.S. nuclear lobby wants to sell advanced nuclear technology to China, on the spurious claims of ”safety” and ”advancing climate action”.
Nuclear injustice in New Mexico must end.
EPA Withdraws Disastrous Trump-Era Radioactive Roads Approval.

RUSSIA. Dialogue between Russia and USA must include subject of offensive weapons in outer space – says Russian Foreign Minister.

NORTH KOREA. North Korea Needs the Bomb to Protect Itself From America.

AUSTRALIA. South Australian law demands an Inquiry into the Federal government’s nuclear waste storage plan. Australian Members of Parliament from right and left parties call on US President Biden to drop charges against Julian Assange,

July 12, 2021 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes

1 Comment »

A nuclear accident in china. Wild fires causing CO2 emissions to no double or increase by the power of 2, but by the power of 3 or, cubed. World temps above 115F in places. People dying. Hurricanes. Super emissions of toxins , from wildfires. Chagas, valley fever, mrsa, covid etc only getting worse . New superbugs and the imbeciles are building more nuclear weapons systems want more reactors , more huge outdoor hi level nuke waste pads, in thin metal, skinned, casks that will explode in 115 F heat.

A World of Total Illusion and Fantasy: Noam Chomsky on the Future of the Planet – CounterPunch.org
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/12/a-world-of-total-illusion-and-fantasy-an-interview-with-noam-chomsky/

They started by referencing the Doomsday Clock (Science and Security Board Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists), which has pegged humanity’s risk of annihilation at an all-time high of only 100 seconds to midnight. Chomsky feels we’re actually closer to midnight than that. For example, his opinion is influenced by information in a leaked draft of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) upcoming report, “which is much more grim than earlier reports,” keeping in mind it is only a draft so far, and he believes the final report may temper the initial draft.

With regard to nuclear weapons, the situation is far more dangerous than the last Doomsday Clock report. New weapons systems under development are much more effectively dangerous. The Biden administration, expanding upon Trump’s confrontational approach, has Chomsky at a loss for words to describe the danger at hand. Only recently, Biden met with NATO leaders and instructed them to plan on two wars, China and Russia. According to Chomsky: “This is beyond insanity.” Not only that, the group is carrying out provocative acts when diplomacy is really needed. This is an extraordinarily dangerous situation.

According to Chomsky, the Doomsday Clock setting at 100 seconds to midnight is based upon: (1) global warming (2) nuclear war and (3) disinformation, or the collapse of any kind of rational discourse. As such, number three makes it impossible to deal with the first two major problems. Along those lines, within the Republican Party there’s virtually a disappearance of any pretense of rational discourse. Twenty-five (25%) percent of Republicans believe the government is run by an elite satanic group of pedophiles. Seventy percent (70%) of Republicans believe that the election was stolen. Only fifteen percent (15%) of Republicans believe that global warming is a serious problem. Therein lies an insurmountable problem to solving the main issues that continually tick the clock ever closer to a disaster scenario that will likely be unprecedented in the annals of warfare and environmental degradation.

As a result, Chomsky says: “We’re living in a world of total illusion and fantasy.” Accordingly, “Unless this is dealt with soon, it’ll be impossible to deal with the two major issues within the time span that we have available, which is not very long.”

In Chomsky’s opinion the Republican Party, especially if it regains control in 2024, will take society down the tubes, down for the final count into the depths of a nether world. In Chomsky’s words: “If they return to power, it is very likely it will be an organized death knell for human society.”

However, on a positive note, boots on the ground political activism is still a political factor that works. have agreed to a similar program.

OPEC is planning to increase investment and production of fossil fuels because the price of oil is going up. According to Chomsky: “It is totally suicidal.” It’ll be suicidal in due course, but over the short term it’ll produce more wealth for Saudi Arabia. However, there’s little doubt that the country will be uninhabitable within a few years in a self-afflicted pogrom.

Chomsky: “Whatever is going on in the minds of human beings, they’re capable of saying let’s destroy ourselves, let’s destroy life for our children, because I can make a few more dollars tomorrow.” Not only are countries blind to an encroaching hothouse Earth, the wealthy countries are basically monopolizing vaccine for Covid 19 in the face of variants of the virus that will come back more powerful and deadly to haunt the wealthy countries. Indeed, the world is at odds with itself!

Chomsky claims there are opportunities and ways to reach people to resolve issues. But, “we do not have much time.” He warns that if the Republicans come back to office in 2024, it may be too late. “The programs they are pursuing offer no hope for survival.” After all, every year that Trump was in office, the Doomsday Clock minute hand moved closer to midnight. Eventually, the Doomsday Clock analysts gave in by shifting from the minutes-hand to the seconds-hand.

There are opportunities that must be grasped to stop the madness

It takes human bodies with boots on the ground to effectively influence legislation. Whereas, clicking a mouse gets nowhere and easily ignored.

In retrospect, it is important to emphasize that throughout history political parties that rely upon lies bring society down to its knees in piles of shameless destruction. A prime example of this is the fall of Rome, which resonates today: “By the time of Augustine (354-430 AD), the Roman Empire had become an Empire of lies. It still pretended to uphold the rule of law, to protect the people from the Barbarian invaders, to maintain the social order. But all that had become a bad joke for the citizens of an empire by then reduced to nothing more than a giant military machine dedicated to oppressing the poor in order to maintain the privileges of the rich. The Empire itself had become a lie: that it existed because of the favor of the Gods who rewarded the Romans because of their moral virtues. Nobody could believe in that anymore: it was the breakdown of the very fabric of society; the loss of what the ancient called the auctoritas, the trust that citizens had toward their leaders and the institutions of their state.” (Source: Cassandra’s Legacy, The Empire of Lies, February 8, 2016).

Comment by Ann Trowden | July 12, 2021 | Reply