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Nationalising EDF is no cure-all for France’s nuclear industry troubles

 The French state has said it will fully nationalise EDF, the debt-laden utility that runs the nation’s nuclear power plants and which the government has so far struggled to restructure. It has not said whether it
will buy out minority shareholders on the market or take control by law.

But however it is nationalised, it doesn’t guarantee a fix for EDF’s mountain of debt or its corroding reactors and it won’t reduce the cost of shielding consumers from sky-high energy prices.

Analysts say the government’s main goal may be to secure a freehand in running a business that has a roughly 80% share of the French electricity market, once it is delisted and the state no longer has to answer to any other shareholders.


About half of EDF’s 56 nuclear reactors in France are now offline, in part due to corrosion issues. EDF has repeatedly cut its planned nuclear output for 2022, just as Europe scrambles to find alternative energy sources as Russian gas supplies dwindle.

As well as problems with old reactors, it is also running years late and billions of euros above budget in building a new-generation of reactors in France and Britain, raising questions about whether it has to fix fundamental design faults. Furthermore, EDF has been hobbled by a regulated tariff system, known as Arenh, forcing it to sell 100 terawatt/hours (TWh) of nuclear generation to power retailers and large
consumers at 42 euros/MWh, which is well below market levels.

 Reuters 7th Aug 2022

July 7, 2022 Posted by | France, politics | Leave a comment

Test rocket carrying component for future nuclear armed ICBM explodes after takeoff

By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent, July 8, 2022, (CNN)A test rocket carrying a component for a future US nuclear armed intercontinental ballistic missile blew up 11 seconds after takeoff Wednesday night from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, according to a statement from the base…………

This was the first test of the Mk21A Reentry Vehicle (RV) the part of the weapon that would hold a nuclear warhead if the system was operational. There was no nuclear element or armed component to this test

The Mk21A is planned to be the reentry vehicle for the future LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missiles, a new ground-based nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile planned to replace the current Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile as a key element of the US nuclear deterrent capability.

The explosion comes a week after the latest test of a US hypersonic weapon failed after an “anomaly” occurred during the first test of the full system.

The test, carried out June 30 at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii, was supposed to launch the Common Hypersonic Glide Body atop a two-stage missile booster. The booster is designed to launch the system and accelerate it to hypersonic speeds in excess of Mach 5, at which point the glide body detaches and uses its speed to reach the target. It was the first time the entire system was tested, called an All Up Round test…….  https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/08/politics/test-rocket-explodes/index.html

July 7, 2022 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

Evidence is the foundation of the TPNW — IPPNW peace and health blog

IPPNW statement to the First Meeting of States Parties on the importance of establishing a scientific advisory panel Carlos Umaña: “These warnings about the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons are the most compelling reason for eliminating nuclear weapons and the most powerful argument we have for the need to universalize the TPNW.” Delivered by Co-President […]

Evidence is the foundation of the TPNW — IPPNW peace and health blog

July 7, 2022 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Sizewell C – just the latest nuclear scam

Whatever chaos unfolds between today (Thursday) and tomorrow, Boris
Johnson is apparently still planning to confirm his Government’s
commitment to a new nuclear power station at Sizewell tomorrow.

As we all know, Johnson’s default political tactic is to lie, regardless of which
particular issue or crisis he’s having to address. For those who’ve
made something of a labour of love tracking Johnsonian mendacity, watch out
for this latest nuclear nonsense tomorrow – it’s absolutely guaranteed
to be brimful of outright lies, half-truths, omissions and rhetorical
boosterism of the kind that has made him (probably!) the least trustworthy
politician in the world apart from Vladimir Putin.

On this occasion, that’s simply because this whole ‘nuclear renaissance’ story is one
great big scam from start to finish. If I could count the ways,
anticipating the lying drivel that will be emerging from the BEIS press
release.

 Jonathon Porritt 7th July 2022

http://www.jonathonporritt.com/sizewell-c-just-the-latest-nuclear-scam/

July 7, 2022 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

Nuclear war would turn oceans upside down, crash food web

https://news.wisc.edu/nuclear-war-would-turn-oceans-upside-down-crash-food-web/ July 8, 2022 By Chris Barncard , Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has given the specter of nuclear war renewed weight as a global threat, and a new study of the environmental impact of a nuclear conflict describes dire consequences for the world’s oceans.

“If there were a nuclear war, these huge explosions and the firestorms they cause could throw so much soot — teragrams, or millions of tons — into the atmosphere, it would block out enough sunlight to cool the atmosphere significantly,” says Elizabeth Maroon, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

In just one month after a nuclear exchange between Russia and the United States or India and Pakistan, average global temperatures would drop by 13 degrees Fahrenheit — a larger temperature change than in the last ice age — according to climate modeling by Maroon and collaborators from around the world. The research team, led by Louisiana State University professor of oceanography and coast sciences Cheryl Harrison, published their findings July 7 in the journal AGU Advances.

Even setting aside radioactive fallout, the consequences on land would be dire, including widespread crop failures. But in just a year, the planet’s interconnected oceans would enter a state unfamiliar to scientists like Maroon who study the way oceans have changed on much longer time scales. And, unlike effects on the atmosphere and on land, oceans would not fully recover within the 30-year time period covered by the researchers’ simulations of nuclear conflicts.

“Changes in the ocean take longer than in the atmosphere or on land, but our modeling shows that even in the first year after a nuclear war the ocean circulation would have started changing drastically,” says Maroon, an expert on the interplay between the Atlantic Ocean’s complex circulation patterns and Earth’s climate.

The Atlantic’s major circulation turn-around in the northern latitudes — in which warm surface water streaming north to Greenland, Iceland and Norway cools and sinks into middle depths to be drawn south again — comes unhinged.

“Within the first year or two, water in the North Atlantic sinks all the way to the bottom of the ocean, which we think has not happened even in the ice ages,” says Maroon. “In today’s ocean, only near Antarctica does water sink all the way to the seafloor.”

That unprecedented mixing and ocean circulation speed-up — which would last for about two decades — would move nutrients in the ocean vital for supporting the smallest and most numerous marine organisms, like plankton, into entirely unfamiliar conditions around the world.

It would also result in cooling so strong it would extend sea ice and render impassable major seaports that are now open year-round, and would likely cause significant damage to much of the ocean food web.

“It’s no secret that nuclear winter would be terrible,” Maroon says. “What this study shows are the lasting extent of effects we hadn’t really addressed before on ocean circulation and ecosystems and the very base of the food web.”

To read more about the study and its findings, visit: https://www.lsu.edu/mediacenter/news/2022/07/07docs_harrison_aguadvances.php

July 7, 2022 Posted by | 2 WORLD, oceans, Reference, weapons and war | Leave a comment

The Corporatization of Space.

The Corporatization of Just About Everything,

Consortium News, Tom Valovic,  July 6, 2022…………………………………………  let’s draw on the self-declared wisdom of Time magazine for guidance. (This is a publication that’s now in the Big Tech/Big Media” camp as it’s now owned by the CEO of Salesforce.com). In the same issue, another article gushed over the fact that corporations are poised to dominate the exploration and use of space:“….NASA made it clear that when that clock does toll, the U.S. will be getting out of the space station game, likely for good. Instead, the space agency signed a $415.6 million seed money deal with three companies — Blue Origin, Nanoracks, and Northrop Grumman — to develop their own private space stations, on which NASA and other customers could lease space for professional crews and tourists. The article goes on to point out that, in a press statement, a NASA spokesperson boasted that….

” NASA is once again leading the way to commercialize space activities” and that “we are partnering with U.S. companies to develop the space destinations where people can visit, live, and work.”

It seems abundantly clear that the top-down corporate model of governance is fundamentally anti-democratic by its very nature and the waning power and direction of our democratic institutions worldwide has much to do with this fact.

…. uncontrolled and uncontrollable market forces are no substitute for thoughtful and enlightened public policy and democratic norms. Granted, this is in short supply these days but allowing corporations to fill that void is hardly a solution.

As our glorious planet continues to experience crisis after crisis, it’s sad and troubling that there seems to be no shortage of profiteers looking to make an easy buck off the spoils. It seems abundantly clear that the top-down corporate model of governance is fundamentally anti-democratic by its very nature and the waning power and direction of our democratic institutions worldwide has much to do with this fact…….   https://consortiumnews.com/2022/07/06/the-corporatization-of-just-about-everything/

Tom Valovic is a journalist and the author of Digital Mythologies (Rutgers University Press), a series of essays that explored emerging social and political issues raised by the advent of the Internet. He has served as a consultant to the former Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. Tom has written about the effects of technology on society for a variety of publications including Columbia University’s Media Studies Journal, the Boston Globe, and the San Francisco Examiner, among others.

July 7, 2022 Posted by | business and costs, space travel | Leave a comment

Church stands against nuclear power in the Philippines

JUCA News, July 04, 2022

Renewable generation must double in the next few years if we are to save the nation from an economic meltdown

Bishop Ruperto Santos of Balanga has spoken out against the revival of the Bataan nuclear power plant saying it would be a great danger to the people and the environment. The Philippine bishops’ conference stands against nuclear power also.

“The voice of our people is strongly, openly no,” he said. Bishop Santos claimed the danger would be greater than any possible benefit. The danger “heavily outweighs its benefits,” he told Radyo Veritas on June 3.

The bishop was reacting to news reports that the Philippines’ new president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. plans to revive the nuclear power plant built by his father — the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

When former president Rodrigo Duterte signed an executive order that allowed nuclear power plants to be considered as a source of electricity generation, a wave of concern swept through the minds and hearts of the security, environmental, medical, and renewable energy thinking community……………………

“The Diocese of Balanga has decided… [we] are against this [move] and this stand will not change.”

The gray-haired veterans of the anti-Bataan Nuclear Power Plant campaigns, such as famous campaigner Professor Roland Simbulan of Nuclear Free Philippines, will recall the hundreds of millions of dollars that were siphoned off the deal into the private accounts of Marcos cronies.

Had the nuclear plant been operational, the Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption and the many earthquakes would have likely caused a nuclear disaster.  The real possibility of a nuclear accident is what rightly scares millions of people away from nuclear power as a source of electricity when there are many alternatives of renewable energy available.

Solar and wind farms, hydro dams, geothermal, and biomass are all available and at much lower cost in comparison to nuclear energy, coal, oil and gas imports.

According to a report by the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC), the few existing renewable energy (RE) projects, especially solar and wind power have already saved the Philippines 4.04 billion pesos (about US$73 million).

Besides, renewable energy sources of electricity are free, thanks to nature. The wind blows, the sun shines and volcanic heat is always present for geothermal plants and delivered by nature without cost. They just need more investment and harnessing and they pose no danger………………………………………………………

The greatest challenge is the safe disposal of the deadly contaminated nuclear waste, which will last for thousands of years. The Philippine Department of Energy consultant proposes burying it on a remote island. For sure, the contamination will leech into the ocean and poison sea life and those who eat fish.

Pope Francis has encouraged everyone to use alternative ways to protect the environment and nuclear power is not one of them.

The future of the planet and humans is to stop burning fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas, and stop global warming and accelerate the building of renewable energy projects……………   https://www.ucanews.com/news/church-stands-against-nuclear-power-in-the-philippines/97889

July 7, 2022 Posted by | Philippines, Religion and ethics | Leave a comment

Ukraine has sold two French-donated 155mm Caesar howitzers to Russia

PANAGYURISHTE ($1=1.88 Bulgarian Levs) — French and Ukrainian [from Donbas] sources claim that in the hands of the Russian army, and more precisely in the production workshops of the Russian manufacturer Uralvagonzavod, there are two 155mm self-propelled howitzers Caesar, donated by France to Ukraine, as military aid against the Russian invasion on February 24 this year.

On June 20, French lawyer Régis de Castelnau wrote on his official Twitter account“Another success of Macron: 2 French Caesar guns were intercepted intact by the Russians. They are currently in the Uralvagonzavod factory in the Urals for study and possible reverse engineering. Thank you Macron, we are paying”.

A few days later, on June 23rd, the Russian company [Uralvagonzavod] responded to the French lawyer, through its official Telegram profile and citing Régis de Castelnau’s tweet, writing: “Hello, Mr. Regis. Please convey our thanks to President Macron for the donation of the self-propelled guns. This material is of course not tip-top… not like our MSTA-S! But nevertheless, it will be useful. Send more – we’ll take them down.”

Ukrainian sources from Donbas claim that they are also aware of this case, but not from the French lawyer or the Russian plant, but from French military sources, emphasizing that the online publication Donbas Insider does not cite who exactly the French military sources are.

France’s General Staff has denied reports of a French Caesar self-propelled howitzer being captured by Russian forces in Ukraine. “This information is false,” said the General Staff of France. “We categorically deny it. We’ve discussed this with our Ukrainian partners.” According to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, no evidence was provided to support the claim.

The news of captured weapons would not surprise anyone in wartime. We have witnessed the Ukrainian and Russian military capturing various enemy weapon systems. But the same “unidentified” French sources claim, according to a Donbas Insider, that the two Caesar self-propelled howitzers were sold, through an intermediary, by Ukrainians to Russians. The price, which is being discussed in tight circles, is $120,000 each. BulgarianMilitary.com recalls that the unit value of a Caesar self-propelled howitzer varies around the amount of 7 million euros.

A political analyst at BulgarianMilitary.com says that the possibility that the two howitzers were sold to Moscow is evident in the tone and ending of French lawyer and politician Régis de Castelnau’s words. “It is very clear to him [the French lawyer] that during the war, in addition to prisoners of war, the adversaries acquire different foreign equipment. This is war, some die, others abandon their positions out of fear, and others profit from the war. The end of the comment “Thank you Macron, we are paying’ suggests that Régis de Castelnau believes that the two howitzers were not abandoned and therefore captured, but sold. The irony is too strong in this particular case to ignore this fact”, says Dr. Sebastian Levi, correspondent, and analyst of BulgarianMilitary.com for the Middle East region.

Levy also says that he believes the two self-propelled howitzers were resold with the help of an intermediary, a military dealer. Levy, however, has no evidence for his claims but refers to his league reasoning.

However, sales are a fact

The feeling that corrupt Ukrainian servicemen are involved in the illegal arms trade to extract maximum profit is not from now, and it is not only about this case.

On June 2, BulgarianMilitary.com revealed the sale of at least one FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank guided missile system on the dark web for $30,000. The seller is unclear, but according to the information posted on the darknet, the location [where the system will be shipped or picked up from] is Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

“Ukrops are selling Javelins on the darknet. The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine resells equipment and weapons supplied by NATO to the Middle East and North Africa. Anyone with a TOR browser can buy this ATGM in the online store,” writes the pro-Russian Telegram channel ABS News.

Interpol knows

Interpol knows the illegal sale of arms by Ukrainians to Russians. The German online edition Overton-Magazin writes that concerns can be seen in the statements of Jürgen Stock, Secretary-General of Interpol, “who fears that the weapons will be handed over to criminal organizations. However, this is happening with the complicity of Western governments, which are not willing to put in place safeguards and vetting mechanisms for the use of these weapons. In fact, even the US intelligence services do not know where the weapons delivered to Ukraine are going.”

According to the German publication, a part of the weapons delivered to Ukraine were actually seized, but another part was resold by Ukrainian holdings, which are in the hands of Russian businessmen. Overton-Magazin even points to a specific case that should be investigated for illegal trade, and that is the downed Ukrainian helicopters that tried to evacuate Ukrainian soldiers from Mariupol. The investigation so far indicates that the helicopters were shot down by American Stinger anti-aircraft missiles donated by the Americans.

Here’s what the German publication Overton-Magazin wrote“The Western narrative of the prophesied defeat of Russia and the victorious resistance of Ukraine is the main argument for promoting the deployment of weapons. It gives the impression that all that is needed is the ‘last little push’, to achieve victory. The reality, however, is not so romantic.”

………………………. And finally, let’s mention the most important fact that is known, but no one dares to talk about it: in order for such a sale to be carried out, the presence of strong corruption is necessary, especially among the military command and the lower officer ranks of the Ukrainian army.  https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2022/07/05/ukraine-has-sold-two-french-donated-155mm-caesar-howitzers-to-russia/

July 7, 2022 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, Switzerland | Leave a comment

Why would anybody invest in Sizewell C nuclear plant? – An unlikely proposition?

Why would anybody invest in Sizewell C nuclear plant? – An unlikely
proposition? The Government has tasked Barclays Bank with finding investors
for the proposed Sizewell C (SZC) plant.

Reports surfaced in the Mail on
Sunday that Centrica is planning on taking a stake in the company. Perhaps
the fact that the report emerged in the Mail on Sunday rather than the
Financial Times is a sign that the decision is still subject to vagaries.
This report has me scratching my head so hard it hurts!

Why would Centrica,
which in 2016 abandoned plans to invest in Hinkley C partly because of
‘the lengthening time frame for a return on the capital invested in a
project of this scale‘ now opt for an investment in SZC? After all the
doubt about return on investments in SZC may be viewed as, if anything,
even more threadbare, to that of Hinkley C.

 100% Renewables 7th July 2022

July 7, 2022 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

With EDF’s parlous finances and France nationalising EDF – decision on Britain’s planned Sizewell C nuclear station has been delayed

A decision on a new nuclear power station at Sizewell in Suffolk has been
delayed again by the government. French energy company EDF wants to build
Sizewell C, a £20 billion two-reactor nuclear plant, next to Sizewell B. A
decision on Sizewell C was expected today (7 July), but it has been pushed
back to 20 July at the latest. Paul Scully MP said: “I have decided to set
a new deadline of no later than 20 July 2022 for deciding this application.
This is to ensure there is sufficient time to allow the Secretary of State
to consider the proposal.”

On Wednesday, the French government announced
the state was taking full control of EDF, in a drive to boost its domestic
nuclear expansion.

Reacting to the delay, Alison Downes, of campaign group
Stop Sizewell C, said it would have been farcical if a decision on Sizewell
C had been made today, following the news from Paris. She added: “We also
hope that announcements of EDF’s re-nationalisation have given ministers
pause, especially when EDF’s parlous finances are at least in part down to
their disastrous track record at building the type of reactors proposed for
Sizewell C.”

 ITV 7th July 2022

https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2022-07-07/decision-on-sizewell-c-nuclear-power-station-delayed-again-by-government

July 7, 2022 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Rolls Royce lacking investment for its planned small nuclear reactors

Nuclear: Rolls-Royce lacking investment for its SMRs. The manufacturer
presented its short-list of British sites to launch the manufacture of its
small modular reactors. But the technology is far from ready.

 L’Opinion 6th July 2022

https://www.lopinion.fr/international/nucleaire-rolls-royce-en-manque-dinvestissement-pour-ses-smr

July 7, 2022 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Not only Russian: Ukrainian forces also are killing children

Ukrainian shelling kills ten-year-old girl, Rt.com, 5 July 22

The child was torn apart by a shell that hit a residential district in Donetsk, the devastated family told journalists.

A 10-year-old girl was sitting by a bank in front of her house in Donetsk when a shell fired by Ukrainian forces landed in the middle of the street, killing her. The child was torn apart by shrapnel, the grieving family told RT’s Ruptly video news agency. 

“My granddaughter has been blown into three pieces,” the girl’s grandfather told journalists. “Look there, there is blood everywhere,” he said, pointing to the metallic gates leading to the yard of his house. 

Pools of blood were still covering the street in the spot where the girl had been hit by the shell’s fragments.

She did not make it home,” the girl’s grandfather added, pointing to the girl’s sneakers, which were lying on the ground near her home’s gate. The girl’s body has already been taken to a morgue. “She and a boy … they were just walking around,” the girl’s mother said. “She sought to run home…” she began, before bursting into tears. 

The family’s neighbor told reporters she had heard a loud bang and rushed to the street only to find “one girl’s leg lying near a garden plot and another one here, at the gate.” 

Ukrainian forces were shelling different parts of the capital of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on Tuesday, the city’s mayor, Aleksey Kuzmin, said in a Telegram post. Several people received shrapnel wounds, Kuzmin said, as he confirmed the girl’s death as well. The child’s identity has not been made public. 

According to the mayor, the Ukrainian soldiers had used 155mm caliber shells. This caliber is common in NATO artillery systems, while the Russian and Ukrainian artillery pieces usually have a caliber of 152mm. RT could not independently verify which artillery type was used by the Ukrainian forces………….  https://www.rt.com/russia/558431-donetsk-child-killed-shelling-ukraine/

July 7, 2022 Posted by | Ukraine, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Public invited to discussions on Sizewell C

 The public will be invited to talk to Environment Agency staff about
proposals to provide permits to the company behind planned Sizewell C
nuclear power station at three events next week. The events on Thursday,
Friday and Saturday will give opportunities to discuss proposed permits for
NNB Generation Company, a subsidiary created by EDF Energy, to discharge of
and dispose of radioactive waste, operate standby power supply systems
using diesel generators, and discharge cooling water and liquid effluent
into the North Sea. Tom Daly, Green Party councillor for Aldeburgh and
Leiston District Council, the ward covering Sizewell, said: “It is really
important for people to get involved, go to the meetings and inform
themselves of exactly what is going on.

 Suffolk News 7th July 2022

https://www.suffolknews.co.uk/southwold/public-invited-to-discuss-sizewell-c-proposals-at-three-even-9262801/

July 7, 2022 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Nuclear energy consumption hit new low in ‘21, EIA says

By ExchangeMonitor

United States consumption of electricity produced by nuclear power plants last year hit its lowest point in nearly a decade, the government’s independent energy auditor said last week. According to a report published Friday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration…… [subscribers only]  https://news.wisc.edu/nuclear-war-would-turn-oceans-upside-down-crash-food-web/

July 7, 2022 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

UK and Europe relax rules on nuclear, gas

A raft of measures introduced by British and European measures geared at securing future energy supplies will facilitate nuclear and gas projects through carbon capture and reclassification,

Jessica Davies 08 Jul 2022 ”…………………………. British MP Paul Scully said yesterday that a decision on whether to approve the French electricity company’s Sizewell C nuclear reactors in Suffolk has been postponed until 20 July. Two new reactors would add to an existing plant at the Sizewell site.  

Members of the European Parliament meanwhile adopted controversial measures to count nuclear and gas as “environmentally sustainable” activities, reneging on an earlier objection to the European Commission’s proposals. 

A total of 278 European ministers voted in favour of the resolution, parliament said on Wednesday, short of the 353 votes needed to block the proposal. In the absence of further objections, the new classification will enter force next January. 

The UK energy security bill will similarly give the green light to nuclear power projects, in tandem with the Nuclear Energy Act that received Royal assent earlier this year.  

The two pieces of legislation will bring forward the “re-use of nuclear sites” as well as facilitate carbon capture at project sites, the government said.  

Britain’s government will reserve the right to take a ‘special share’ in all future nuclear projects, it added, as a condition for financial support through the new funding mechanism. ……….. https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/987019/uk-and-europe-relax-rules-on-nuclear-gas-987019.html

July 7, 2022 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment