Going nuclear: Should nations unilaterally decide?
Going nuclear: Should nations unilaterally decide? DW, 6 Jan 22,
As nations like France extend the life of ageing nuclear energy infrastructure, bordering countries that could suffer most from a meltdown have little say.
The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster that spread radioactive waste across Europe — some of which remains present 35 years later — sparked a reevaluation of the cross-border impacts of nuclear energy. Some plant projects in border regions were abandoned, while existing reactors were subject to more stringent safety regimes.
Twenty-five years later, the fallout from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster caused the likes of Germany to commit to phasing out atomic fuel by 2022. Belgium also just confirmed it will be nuclear-free by 2025.
But a decade on from Japan’s tsunami-induced meltdown, countries from China to France and the United States continue to rely on power generated by nuclear reactors, many of which were constructed in the 1960s and ’70s.
France, the world’s most nuclear-energy dependent country that generates 70% of its electricity from atomic power, confirmed last February that it would extend the life of its 32 oldest nuclear reactors for another 10 years.
Due in part to increasing safety risks with ageing facilities, some are asking if such nations still have the right to make this decision on their own.
When France shut a reactor in February 2020 at its oldest nuclear plant at Fessenheim on the German border due to reported cracks in a reactor cover and other faults, then-German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze affirmed Germany’s wish to influence nuclear policy across the Rhine.
“We won’t let up in our efforts to campaign for a move away from nuclear power in our neighboring countries,” she said, adding thatthe”nuclear phaseout in Germany is rock solid.”
Who has the power to decide on nuclear?
Though a raft of treaties and agreements lay out minimum consultation requirements between states, there is no framework to specifically consult with local communities across borders that could be most affected by a nuclear accident, noted Behnam Taebi, co-editor of The Ethics of Nuclear Power and professor of energy and climate ethics at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
The 1991 Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context obliges contracting parties to prevent, reduce and control “adverse” impacts across borders, while the 1998 Aarhus convention applies Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration that states “environmental matters are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens.”
But according to Taebi, these conventions are about transferring risks between states, and they do not say anything about local communities at the borders of neighboring counties, or whether and how they should be consulted. There is no binding transboundary procedure relating to nuclear energy development, and no framework in place that could, for instance, force France to communicate and consult with towns and cities across the border. ………………………………..
in 2018, referring to Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, the Dutch Safety Board — which independently investigates the causes of incidents or accidents — concluded that cross-border “cooperation has partly been arranged on paper, but that it probably will not run smoothly if a nuclear accident were to occur in reality.”
For 10 years, Austria opposed the Czech Republic’s Temelin nuclear plant that opened in 2000 near its border, with some politicians threatening to block Czech entry into the EU until the latter agreed to tightened safety measures.
While the European Commission stepped in to help resolve that conflict, Kirchner noted that under current agreements, neighboring countries have no power to veto unwanted developments.
https://www.dw.com/en/going-nuclear-should-nations-unilaterally-decide/a-60312955
Including nuclear power as ”sustainable” completely undermines the European taxonomy’s original aim of the Green Deal
The published proposal is an incredible greenwashing of long outdated and dangerous technologies. It undermines the taxonomy’s original goal of providing investments for an ecological restructuring of society – the Green Deal.
Instead, the proposal keeps the nuclear technology, which has long since failed in reality, alive and tempts to rely on fossil gas for too long. Every euro that flows into nuclear and gas based on this
classification is missing for real sustainability and effective climate protection.
Ausgestrahlt 5th Jan 2022
https://www.ausgestrahlt.de/blog/2022/01/05/eu-taxonomie-analysiert-yellow-deal-statt-klimaschutz/
Dangerous Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, and incompetent Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
Nuclear energy backers say it’s vital for the fight against global warming. Don’t be so sure, Los Angeles Times, BY MICHAEL HILTZIKBUSINESS COLUMNIST , JAN. 6, 2022
”……………………………………. Diablo Canyon, which is on the Pacific shoreline about 250 miles south of San Francisco and 190 miles north of Los Angeles, was the third location chosen by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for a nuclear generating plant starting in the early 1960s.
The previous choices were abandoned because they were judged too close to active earthquake faults — even though PG&E initially asserted in both cases that no faults were nearby. The company then turned to Diablo Canyon, again asserting that there were no active faults within about 20 miles of the site.
As it eventually emerged, there are at least four major active faults within that range, prompting David Brower, the first executive director of the Sierra Club and the founder of Friends of the Earth, to jokingly describe nuclear reactors as “complex technological devices for locating earthquake faults.” (It was the Sierra Club’s endorsement of Diablo Canyon that prompted Brower to resign and form Friends of the Earth.)
With every discovery of a new fault in Diablo Canyon’s vicinity, PG&E minimized the threat and persuaded the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal regulator responsible for licensing nuclear plants, to go along.
The NRC’s decision in 1981 to allow construction to proceed after a fault discovery without reexamining the plant’s seismic engineering provoked two commissioners, Peter A. Bradford and Victor Gilinsky, to issue a blistering dissent.
They described the confidence of two NRC advisory boards in the utility’s reassurances as “almost mystical,” and charged that the boards’ rationales for accepting PG&E’s arguments as evidence that neither board “had any idea what it was talking about.”
Then there’s PG&E’s atrocious safety record, which should curdle the blood at the thought of leaving the plant under its control. The company’s consistent failures include the 2010 pipeline explosion that killed eight and leveled an entire residential neighborhood in San Bruno.
PG&E’s equipment sparked more than 1,500 fires from 2014 through 2017, according to state records. In 2020, it pleaded guilty to 84 counts of criminal manslaughter related to the 2018 wildfire that all but destroyed the town of Paradise and ranks as the deadliest blaze in California history.
In September, the company was charged with 11 felonies and 20 misdemeanor counts related to what Shasta County Dist. Atty. Stephanie Bridgett called its “reckless and criminally negligent” operations, resulting in the deaths of four people. (“My co-workers are not criminals,” PG&E Chief Executive Patti Poppe said after the charges were unveiled. “We welcome our day in court so people can learn just that.”)
As recently as Tuesday, California state investigators concluded that a PG&E power line sparked last year’s massive Dixie fire, which burned more than 960,000 acres in five Northern California counties. The investigators referred the case to local criminal prosecutors.
“PG&E seems to be incapable of operating safely,” says Daniel O. Hirsch, a former environmental faculty member at UC Santa Cruz and president of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, an anti-nuclear group. “You’re mixing an incompetent utility with an unforgiving technology.”…………………….. https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-01-06/column-nuclear-energy-backers-say-its-vital-for-the-fight-against-global-warming-dont-believe-them?fbclid=IwAR015ej03ZDoUA2kcNoc_mAqJS3D2N8T
Government Wants YOU to Pay for New Nuclear
Thanks to CND for this information: The government is trying to force through controversial new legislation which will make consumers bankroll the nuclear power industry, whilst giving them no protection from spiralling costs. This will force thousands more families into fuel poverty. The electricity generated from nuclear power is double the costs of renewables. Nuclear […]
Government Want YOU to Pay for New Nuclear — RADIATION FREE LAKELAND (UK) ON BY MARIANNEWILDART
The government is trying to force through controversial new legislation which will make consumers bankroll the nuclear power industry, whilst giving them no protection from spiralling costs. This will force thousands more families into fuel poverty. The electricity generated from nuclear power is double the costs of renewables. Nuclear is hampered by generic design flaws, long delays and safety risks. It’s dangerous to people and planet. To meet Britain’s 2050 net zero goals, instead of forcing consumers to bankroll a failed industry, the government should be investing more in renewables.
Contact your MP, urging them to vote against the Bill on Monday 10th January. See briefing CND is sending to MPs.
We are writing now to urge you to vote against the Nuclear Energy (Finance) Bill which has its final reading in the House of Commons on Monday 10 January.
This controversial new legislation will force consumers to bankroll the nuclear power industry, whilst giving them no protection from spiralling costs. This will force thousands more families into fuel poverty.
The Bill will enable energy companies to charge consumers to construct and operate new nuclear power plants under a regulated asset base (RAB) funding model. Evidence shows that under such models, costs for nuclear power stations abandoned during construction as well as cost over-runs of $2.1 billion are all being passed on to consumers. Richard Hall, Chief Energy Economist at Citizens Advice, who gave evidence to the parliamentary Committee examining the Bill, argues ‘…consumers do not have any control over the risk. Essentially, they are the passive recipient of the risks.’
The electricity generated from nuclear power is twice the price of renewables. Nuclear is hampered by generic design flaws, long delays and safety risks. It’s dangerous to people and planet. To meet Britain’s 2050 net zero goals, instead of forcing consumers to bankroll this costly, inefficient and dangerous form of power generation, the government should be investing in renewables and making homes energy-efficient to reduce carbon emissions as well as energy bills.
As you know there is no “away” for nuclear wastes and the government are presently spending eyewatering amounts of money on public relations largely in Cumbria to try and persuade the County to bury heat generating nuclear wastes under our precious and irreplacable land and sea. The reason? Not for safety’s sake but in order to clear the decks for more nuclear crapola for which we all must pay time and time again in every way possible?
We urge you to vote against this Bill.
with many thanks
Marianne Birkby on behalf of
Radiation Free Lakeland
Safety concerns: NRC was right to deny OKLO’s plan for small nuclear reactors
“The company asserted that its reactor was so small and so safe that it didn’t need to play by the same rules as those used to license larger reactors,” Lyman said. “But the fact remains that even a very small reactor contains enough highly radioactive material to cause significant radiological contamination in the event of an accident or a terrorist attack.”..
NRC denies Oklo Power’s plan to construct 1.5 MW advanced nuclear reactor in Idaho
Utility Dive Jan. 7, 2022 Robert Walton, Reporter
Dive Brief:
- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday announced it denied without prejudice an application by Oklo Power to construct the United States’ first advanced nuclear reactor, in Idaho. The small design, dubbed “Aurora,” would be capable of producing 1.5 MW of electric power.
- The NRC cited “significant information gaps” in the company’s application, including details on potential accidents and its classification of safety systems and components. However, the company can resubmit its application and regulators said they are “prepared to re-engage” the company.
- Oklo is reviewing the decision, but in a statement said it was “eager to continue moving forward” on the Idaho reactor as well as others. Opponents of the project say a failure to provide safety information could put the public at significant risk in the event of an accident or attack.
………………………. according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, NRC was right to reject the application.
“Oklo simply refused to give the NRC the basic information that the agency needs to assess compliance with its regulations and its legal mandate to protect public health, safety, and the environment,” UCS Director of Nuclear Power Safety Edwin Lyman said in an email………
“The company asserted that its reactor was so small and so safe that it didn’t need to play by the same rules as those used to license larger reactors,” Lyman said. “But the fact remains that even a very small reactor contains enough highly radioactive material to cause significant radiological contamination in the event of an accident or a terrorist attack.”………. https://www.utilitydive.com/news/nrc-denies-oklo-powers-plan-to-construct-15-mw-advanced-nuclear-reactor-i/616807/
France – a serious anomaly detected in several EDF nuclear reactors
Nuclear: a serious anomaly detected in several EDF reactors. While several
nuclear production units are not running due to ten-yearly inspection
visits, EDF announced on Thursday that it would extend the shutdown of a
reactor at Chooz by three months, after having detected a fault there
similar to that of another plant. stopped. While this has so far only been
identified in reactors of the same generation, it questions the safety of
the fleet, on which France depends to produce its electricity. In the
Tribune, Karine Herviou, Deputy Director General of the Institute for
Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) reports a serious anomaly.
La Tribune 6th Jan 2022
Les Echos 6th Jan 2022
Reuters 6th Jan 2022
UK Parliament to debate Nuclear Energy (Financing) Bill on 10 January – may transfer billions of new nuclear costs to consumers
The Nuclear Energy (Financing) Bill has its final reading in Parliament on Monday 10 January. If passed, it will change the way the nuclear power industry is financed, transferring billions of pounds onto individual
consumers, whilst affording them no protection from spiralling costs. This will force thousands more families into fuel poverty. CND is urging all Members of Parliament to vote against this legislation.
CND Briefing 6th Jan 2022
Coronavirus cases doubled in a few days at Sellafield nuclear site
CORONAVIRUS cases at Sellafield have more than doubled in a week as
Omicron continues to spread rapidly throughout the county. Numbers of cases
among those employed on the site rose from 320 in the week to Wednesday 29,
up to 712 in the week to January 5.
Carlisle News & Star 7th Jan 2022
https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/19829854.coronavirus-rates-double-week-sellafie
Reposting of an article on Kazakhstan from September
Pentagon seeks to gain foothold in Kazakhstan against China Analyst Alya Kaminskaya does not rule out that the Pentagon seeks to use the Almaty hub [in Kazakhstan] as “an air base for reconnaissance and military cargo planes.” She points out that Almaty International Airport no longer belongs to Kazakhstan since news emerged in May that 100% of its […]
Reposting of an article on Kazakhstan from September — Anti-bellum
Fukushima town prepares for return of residents
Jan. 4, 2022
Tuesday marked the first business day of 2022 in Japan. Officials in Fukushima Prefecture’s Futaba Town are planning to welcome residents back later this year.
The town’s residents have not returned since an accident at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant forced them to evacuate. Part of the plant is located in the town. The accident occurred in March 2011. Futaba is the only municipality that evacuees have not returned to. The town had a population of about 7,000 before the disaster.
After years of decontamination efforts, the residents are expected to be allowed to return to some areas, starting in June.
Futaba Town officials held a ceremony on Tuesday to mark the first day of the year. The event took place at a town office in Iwaki City. Iwaki is located about 60 kilometers south of the center of Futaba Town.
Futaba Town Mayor Izawa Shiro told about 40 officials that this is going to be a very busy year, as the residents are expected to return.
Izawa said he will be on the frontlines of the town’s reconstruction efforts. He also asked the officials to join him.
Beginning on January 20, residents will be permitted to stay overnight in the town, in order to start preparing for their return. The evacuation order is expected to be lifted in June.
The Australian government is complicit with USA and UK, imperilling the health of Julian Assange, may well cause his death.
AUKUS alliance driving Assange to his death, https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/aukus-alliance-driving-assange-to-his-death,15904, By John Jiggens | 6 January 2022, The actions of the U.S., UK and Australia are imperiling the health of Julian Assange and could result in the tragic death of the publisher, writes John Jiggens.
THE NEWS THAT Julian Assange has suffered a stroke while detained in London’s Belmarsh Prison has strengthened the fears of Assange supporters that the AUKUS alliance is comfortable with the WikiLeaks’ founder’s death at their hands.
But would an Australian Government be complicit in a plot against one of its own citizens?
Consider these recent stories.
In September 2021, Yahoo! News revealed that Mike Pompeo, who was the CIA Director in 2017, became party to a scheme to kidnap Assange from the Ecuadorean Embassy or to assassinate him.
The Yahoo! investigation was based on conversations with 30 former U.S. officials. Among those interviewed, eight provided details on plans to kidnap Assange.
Greg Barns SC, a barrister and advisor to Julian Assange, told Bay FM:
“It was like something out of a James Bond film, except sadly, it was very true. There was a clear plan to take Assange out. We now have the Australian Government on notice that one of its citizens was the subject of a conspiracy to murder plot by the CIA.”
Further, he remarked:
The conduct of the CIA was outrageous, unlawful and represents a complete breach of the so-called alliance or friendship between Australia and the United States.
The CIA acts essentially as a criminal enterprise. It is state-sanctioned criminality. To be overtly planning to murder someone in any circumstances would amount to a conspiracy to murder for anyone else and the persons would face very serious criminal charges.
The Yahoo! report prompted prominent Assange supporters to write to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, asking if the Australian Government accepted the behaviour of an ally plotting to murder an Australian citizen and questioning whether Australian intelligence agencies participated in the plot or were notified about it.
Five weeks passed while Morrison’s office composed a 100-word reply.
It acceped no responsibility or accountability whatsoever. Indeed, Morrison’s reply did not deny Australian involvement or knowledge of the plot.
Instead it passed the buck, advising:
Concerns about the legality or propriety of the activities of Australian intelligence agency are best directed to the IGIS, the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security.’
During the UK High Court extradition appeal in October, the Courier Mail ran another story, titled ‘Assange snubbed Aussie help 29 times, says Payne’.
Why, in the middle of Assange’s High Court hearing, was Foreign Minister Marise Payne using her friends in the Murdoch media to portray Assange as un-Australian, snubbing her patriotic ‘’Aussie help’’?
Assange’s father John Shipton commented:
“I get no help from Marise Payne in any way whatsoever. Saying I have been snubbed 29 times by Julian is to defend her. It’s only to defend her. It’s nothing to do with Julian.”
The family have continually asked for Payne and Morrison to actively engage with Australia’s UK and U.S. allies. They see extradition as an outrageous surrender of Australian sovereignty and they expect that Morrison and Payne should tell UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and U.S. President Joe Biden so.
Shipton, who has travelled to 50 countries to garner support for Julian, said:
“Everywhere I go, people ask where is the Australian Government in this? What is the substance of Australia in its relationship with the UK that it allows this show trial to go on without comment?”
The Insufferable Hypocrisy of Western Governments Hell-Bent on Destroying Julian Assange
| By Eric Garris / Antiwar.com Blog In his New Year’s message, South China Morning Post chief news editor Yonden Lhatoo demands Western governments free WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange before preaching press freedom to everyone else |
What will happen if Russia and Ukraine go to war in the next year?
https://antibellum679354512.wordpress.com/2022/01/05/guest-contribution-what-will-happen-if-russia-and-ukraine-go-to-war-in-the-next-year/ Don Hank, MA Russian, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
The not-so-carefully crafted narrative in the West is that Ukraine is the victim of the cruel aggressive Russian regime that enjoys watching others suffer, like a sadistic boy pulling the legs off grasshoppers and watching them squirm.
The coming war would all be an amusing little computer game except for the fact that the psychopathic US manipulators who indulge in this Russophobic/Sinophobic passtime are gambling with the very future of planet earth.
These reptilian predators inhabit the rarefied stratosphere of intrigue where reality and fantasy are blurred beyond usefulness. They are so far down the road of believing the product of their own overheated imagination that they have forgotten the simplest of realities, like the fact that millions of people would die instantly and half that many would watch their skin slowly peel off and their hair fall out in thick clumps after a nuclear attack. Major cities would become forests of twisted steel in a desert of glass. Military bases would be gone and aircraft carriers would sink to Davy Jones’ locker.
The war — all 30 minutes of it — would engulf the entire earth, compromising most of human, animal, plant and even microbial life. At least COVID might be conquered. Should we put that fact on the asset side of the ledger in defense of US foreign policy? Maybe not.
If the West happened to get the upper hand — killing a billion or so Eastern people (ie, Russians, Chinese, Iranians, for example), and the East killed only a half-billion Westerners, there would not be any certifiably non-radioactive champagne to uncork and sip in celebration of the “victory.” Nor would there be an intact country to host the festivities.
The sociopathic politicians whose thoughtless words and deeds triggered the conflagration would hardly be congratulated by their peers, who would turn on them with an unquenchable visceral hate.
People who understand the Kremlin and its designs don’t fall for this malarkey, but there is an army of gullible Westerners who enjoy this sort of fiction and they help perpetuate it. It is on display on these very boards.
But mercifully, most Washington politicians would not survive because the White House and capitol building would be the first targets of the Russian or Chinese ICBMs.
Of course, there are many other things that could happen if Ukraine and Russia go to war, but the main thing that the Westerner must know is that, should this happen, Russia will not be the aggressor.
It never was. The Western aggressor is setting a trap for Russia. But will it like the ending of its narrative?
Don Hank, Editor-in-Chief at New Silk Strategies (2016-present)
The world’s greatest garbage dump – space !
441,449 LOW EARTH ORBIT SATELLITES. Operating, Approved and Proposed …………………..
THE WORLD’S LARGEST GARBAGE PIT
And not only do thousands of whole satellites threaten the heavens, but a phenomenal amount of debris orbits the earth as a result of satellites colliding, or exploding, or otherwise being destroyed while in space. During the 64 years that humans have been launching rockets, the protective blankets of the ionosphere and magnetosphere have become the Earth’s largest garbage pit.
According to the European Space Agency there are, in orbit around the Earth today, 7,790 intact satellites, of which 4,800 are functioning. Since 1957, there have been more than 630 breakups, explosions, collisions, and other satellite-destroying events. This has resulted in the creation of more than 9,700 tons of space debris. There are, in orbit today:
- 30,430 debris objects presently being tracked
- 36,500 objects larger than 10 cm in size
- 1,000,000 objects from 1 cm to 10 cm in size
- 330,000,000 objects from 1 mm to 1 cm in size
EFFECTS ON OZONE, EARTHQUAKES, AND THUNDERSTORMSOzone In a 2020 paper titled “The environmental impact of emissions from space launches: A comprehensive review,” Jessica Dallas and her colleagues at the University of New South Wales wrote that “ozone depletion is one of the largest environmental concerns surrounding rocket launches from Earth.”
In 2021, there were 146 orbital rocket launches to put 1,800 satellites into space. At that rate, to maintain and continually replace 100,000 low-earth-orbit satellites, which have an average lifespan of five years, would require more than 1,600 rocket launches per year, or more than four every day, forever into the future.
2020 and 2021 witnessed two of the largest Antarctic ozone holes since measurements began in 1979. The 2020 hole was also the longest-lasting on record, and the 2021 hole was only a few days shorter; larger than the continent of Antarctica, it began in late July 2021 and ended on December 28, 2021. Everyone is still blaming chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were banned by the Montreal Protocol in 1978. Nobody is looking at rocket launches, of which there were more in 2020 and 2021 than in any previous year. In addition to the 146 orbital launches in 2021, there were 143 sub-orbital launches of rockets to over 80 kilometers in altitude, for a total of 289 high-altitude launches for the year, or almost one every day.
Earthquakes and Thunderstorms
Earthquakes and Thunderstorms
In 2012, Anatoly Guglielmi and Oleg Zotov reviewed evidence that the global use of electricity has an effect on both seismic activity and thunderstorms…………………………………………… Everyone is so focused on a virus, and on antennas on the ground, that no one is paying attention to the holocaust descending from space. https://www.cellphonetaskforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/441449-Low-Earth-Orbit-Satellites.pdf
Hundreds of thousands of satellites brightening the night sky with negative effects on the ecosphere
441,449 LOW EARTH ORBIT SATELLITES
Operating, Approved and Proposed
While the attention of a terrified world has been riveted on a virus, and while concern about radiation has been focused on 5G on the ground, the assault on the heavens has reached astronomical proportions. During the past two years, the number of satellites circling the earth has increased from 2,000 to 4,800, and a flood of new projects has brought the number of operating, approved, and proposed satellites to at least 441,449. And that number only includes low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellites that will reside in the ionosphere.
The satellite projects include the ones listed below. The companies are based in the United States unless otherwise indicated.
17,270 satellites already approved by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission:
- Amazon (Kuiper) – 3,236 satellites
- Astro Digital – 30 satellites
- Black Sky Global – 36 satellites
- Boeing – 147 satellites
- Capella Space Corp. – 7 satellites
- Globalstar (operating since 2000) – 48 satellites
- Hawkeye 360 – 80 satellites
- ICEYE – 6 satellites (FINLAND)
- Iridium (operating since 1998) – 66 satellites
- Kepler Communications – 140 satellites (CANADA)
- Loft Orbital – 11 satellites
- OneWeb – 720 satellites (UNITED KINGDOM)
- Planet Labs (operating) – 200 satellites
- R2 Space, LLC – 8 satellites
- Spire Global – 175 satellites
- SpaceX – 11,943 satellites
- Swarm – 150 satellites
- Telesat – 117 satellites (CANADA)
- Theia Holdings – 120 satellites
- Umbra Lab – 6 satellites
- Viasat – 24 satellites
Applications for 65,912 satellites pending before the FCC:
- Amazon (Kuiper) – 4,538 additional satellites
- AST & Science – 243 satellites
- Astra Space – 13,620 satellites
- Boeing – 5,789 additional satellites
- Black Sky Global – 14 additional satellites
- Fleet Space Technologies – 40 satellites (AUSTRALIA)
- Hughes Network Systems – 1,440 satellites
- Inmarsat – 198 satellites (UNITED KINGDOM)
- Kepler Communications – two additional constellations of 360 satellites and 212 satellites (CANADA)
- Lynk Global – 10 satellites (HONG KONG)
- Maxar Technologies – 12 satellites
- New Spectrum – 30 satellites (CANADA)
- OneWeb – 6,368 additional satellites (UNITED KINGDOM)
- Orbital Sidekick – 6 satellites
- SN Space Systems – 1,190 satellites (UNITED KINGDOM)
- SpaceX – 30,000 additional satellites
- Telesat – 1,554 additional satellites (CANADA)
- Terra Bella – 24 satellites (15 already operating)
- Viasat – 264 additional satellites
Constellations totaling 14,872 satellites announced by governments:……………
Other LEO constellations planned by U.S. and foreign companies, totaling more than 16,055 satellites:…….
Rwanda, which wants to catapult Africa into world leadership in space, filed an application with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on September 21, 2021 for 327,320 satellites. Its proposal includes 937 orbital planes, distributed in 27 orbital shells (layers of satellites at different altitudes), with 360 satellites in each plane.
- Rwanda Space Agency – 327,320 satellites (RWANDA)
TOTAL: 441,449 SATELLITES OPERATING, APPROVED AND PROPOSED (+18 constellations whose numbers are not yet known) Most of the above list of satellites would orbit at altitudes between about 325 km (200 miles) and 1,100 km (680 miles), except that some of Rwanda’s proposed orbits go as low as 280 km (174 miles). The above list does not include applications for satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO), or for LEO constellations of fewer than 5 satellites, or constellations in medium earth orbit (MEO) such as:
- Intelsat (at 8600 km) – 216 satellites (LUXEMBOURG)
- Mangata Networks (at 6,400 km and 12,000 km) – 791 satellites
- O3b (at 8,062 km) – 112 satellites (LUXEMBOURG)
BRIGHTENING THE NIGHT SKY Scientists have already begun to publish papers analyzing the effect all these satellites will have, not only on astronomy, but on the appearance of the night sky and the visibility of the stars to everyone on earth. An article published online on March 29, 2021 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society by scientists in Slovakia, Spain and the United States is titled “The proliferation of space objects is a rapidly increasing source of artificial night sky brightness.” The scattering of sunlight from all of the objects in space, wrote the authors, is causing a “new skyglow” during the beginning and end of each night that has already brightened the natural night sky by about 10 percent. The authors are concerned that “the additional contribution of the new satellite mega-constellations” would ruin the night sky to a much greater extent.
A group of Canadian astronomers have an article in the January 2022 issue of The Astronomical Journal. “Megaconstellations of thousands to tens of thousands of artificial satellites (satcons) are rapidly being developed and launched,” they write. “These satcons will have negative consequences for observational astronomy research, and are poised to drastically interfere with naked-eye stargazing worldwide.” They analyzed what the effect on astronomy will be if 65,000 new low-orbit satellites are launched. At 40 degrees latitude (mid-United States; Mediterranean; mid-China; Japan; Buenos Aires; New Zealand), say these authors, more than 1,000 of these satellites will be sunlit and visible in the sky in the summer even at midnight. At higher latitudes (northern U.S.; Canada; most of Europe; Russia), thousands of these satellites will be visible all night long. Another paper, titled Report on Mega-Constellations to the Government of Canada and the Canadian Space Agency, was commissioned by the Canadian Astronomical Society and submitted to the Canadian government on March 31, 2021. It is a moving document. …………………………………… https://www.cellphonetaskforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/441449-Low-Earth-Orbit-Satellites.pdf
1 This Month
26 April – Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown airs on National Geographic on Sunday 26th April from 4pm
29 April – Nuclear Expert Webinar #1 – Radiation Impacts on Families with Mary Olson and Cindy Folkers
- 12:15 PM MT – 1:45 PM MT
- Location: Virtual – REGISTER TODAY
4 May -West Suburban Peace Coalition to discuss Iran war at May Educational Forum
Monday, May 4, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central Standard Time
Title: : How Trump’s Narrative Tries to Shape the Reality of the War on Iran.
Contact Walt Zlotow, zlotow@hotmail.com 630 442 3045 for further information
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
Pine Ridge Uranium is the real threat, not Tehran- Tell Burgum: Stop the Extraction.
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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