nuclear-news

To 24 January – the week in nuclear news

Readers of this news summary seem to like the ”Bits of good news” – so I think I’ll put them at the top:  Meet the scientist moms fighting climate change for their children,  . Transition to genuinely clean energy has succeeded in many cases, including economically.When it rains, it soars: Wetland birds come back from the brink 

Coronavirus: What’s happening in Canada and around the world

Climate Change. What will the climate be like in the year 2500? Provocative new science.

Nuclear.  Ukraine is the urgent news this week-   it’s not nuclear news? – well, I certainly hope that is the case.  France is the country of most interest this week, as Emmanuel Macron tries to hold it all together. In the lead-up to the presidential election, Macron must convince everyone of a positive future for the nuclear industry, despite its multiple problems.

Common Security Approaches to Resolve the Ukraine and European Crises.

Washington pumping up war fever .

January 22 -one year since nuclear weapons became illegal. U.N. Treaty on the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons – in force one year. Doomsday clock stays at 100 seconds to midnight. Doomsday Clock continues to hover dangerously.

Nuclear energy too costly for humans — and the planet .

2021 was one of the hottest years on record – and it could also be the coldest we’ll ever see again .     Research shows planning for climate change will save billions

Changing from a consumer economy to a conserver economy – painful but necessary.

Chemical pollution has passed safe limit for humanity, say scientists.      Nanoplastic pollution found at both of Earth’s poles for first time    

NATO to apply Article 5 collective war clause to outer space.

ANTARCTICA. Giant canyon discovered underneath Antarctic glacier, adding to history of rising sea levels.     World’s largest iceberg melted – now one trillion tonnes of ice – gone

UKRAINE. What the heck is going on with Ukraine? Ukraine crisis is a terrifying impasse. 200,000 pounds of lethal arms and ammunition, “directed by Biden,” arrive in Ukraine.

JAPAN. Call for Japan to join nuclear ban treaty on first anniversary.    Robot for removing nuclear fuel debris at Fukushima Daiichi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyJ_Or6Vzdw&t=5s        Six people to sue Tepco over thyroid cancer after Fukushima disaster. Class action suit against Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. (TEPCO) by 6 thyroid cancer sufferers.

EUROPE. Redesigning nuclear arms control for new realities. Why nuclear power can never be green. European States opposing inclusion of nuclear in ‘green’ taxonomy warn on diverting investement from genuinely clean technologies. Europe’s nuclear waste remains an unsolved and highly dangerous problem – EU Assessment Report.       ITER nuclear fusion – a spectacular waste of time, money, and political clout.

GERMANY. Germany formally opposes inclusion of nuclear energy in EU’s ”sustainable” taxonomy.

AUSTRIA. Austria preparing for a legal battle to prevent EU from calling nuclear power ‘sustainable’.

SWEDEN. Having sat out first two world wars, NATOzied Sweden gearing up for third . Drones sighted over Sweden’s nuclear power stations.

SWITZERLAND. Swiss reactor meltdown.

CANADA. Holding in the deep: what Canada wants to do with its decades-long pile-up of nuclear waste. New radioactive waste plan poses ‘Milennia of Risk” for Ottawa River communities.

ISRAEL. Nuclear Notebook: Israeli nuclear weapons, 2021.

USA. 

• UKRAINE CRISIS: US ‘Toolboxes’ Are Empty, Hypocritical Scolding Won’t Stop a Russian War on Ukraine.
•  Missouri Bill to honour nuclear veterans. King’s voice thundered: “It costs $500,000 to kill every enemy soldier while we spend only $53 a year for every poor person. Nuclear weapons must be relegated to the past – Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Nuclear weapons standout calls for US commitment to UN treaty. 
•  On Cape Cod, a nuclear nightmare arrives. Officials at San Onofre conspicuously silent on the risks of tsunami waves to nuclear waste storage. In Georgia   Could Plutonium Shipping in New Mexico Lead to Disaster?  
• Bloated Costs Take Over a Nuclear Power Plant and a Fight Looms Over Who Pays.  

FRANCE. 

• How France greenwashes nuclear weapons. 
• France’s nuclear company EDF accused of cover-ups over ‘serious and unexpected’ corrosion on Tricastin and other reactors. Electricite de France has become a nightmare for investors, and a danger to regional energy security. EDF’s costly EPR nuclear reactor failures – in France, UK, China. Contradictory demands on EDF 
• Does the Flamanville EPR nuclear reactor have a design fault? Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) warns France on problems, costs, safety in nuclear projects. Design flaws in Flamanville EPR nuclear reactor vessel, and attempts to solve these. The tribulations of France’s Flamanville nuclear reactor. 
• Difficulties at Orano nuclear elements site adds to France’s nuclear woes. 
• France’s Nuclear Safety Authority considers abandoning the reprocessing of nuclear waste. France’s nuclear regulator warns on the ”security fragility” of both the reactors, and the reprocessing system. France’s nuclear waste problem, and the lack of transparency on military wastes.

UK. 

• Mayors for Peace UK / Ireland Chapter and NFLA celebrates first nuclear weapons ‘banniversary’. 
• Anglesey does not need nuclear energy – Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA).  
•   Small nuclear reactors a poor solution for UK’s and the world’s climate action. Small nuclear reactors for Scotland? Expensive, unpopular, and not even small. 

• Largest increase in the UK nuclear liability regime for 50 years. 
• Row over plans to reform groups at nuclear sites.  
• Anti-radiation pills given out to residents, nurseries, schools, care homes and clinics near UK’s nuclear submarine ports. The production, servicing and berthing of nuclear-powered submarines in or near population centres present unacceptable health risks. 
• Rolls Royce aims to market its Small Nuclear Reactors to Saudi Arabia (a good step towards nuclear weapons?) 
• 13 wards in Cumbria recommended against their will, for UK’s nuclear waste dump. Hinkley Point mud dredging and dumping plan faces a legal challenge.

CHINA. China hits back at US, Japan over nuclear transparency call.

RUSSIA. Stranded in Vladivostok: KIMO International and NFLA express concern at mysterious plight of Russian nuclear-powered freighter. Just a reminder. Russia did not INVADE Crimea.

ASIA. EU plans may boost Asian nuclear ambitions but progress likely to stutter, say analysts. (journalist)

AUSTRALIA. A mutual suicide pact: Australia’s undeclared nuclear weapons strategy. Australia-UK talks – all about nuclear submarines and military co-operation against China. 

January 24, 2022 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes