Machinery manufacturer Nippon Steel Works subsidiary confirms 449 cases of fraud, including falsification of inspection resultsNippon Steel Works subsidiary confirms 449 cases of fraud, including falsification of inspection results
Machinery manufacturer Japan Steel Works announced that its subsidiary in Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan, repeatedly falsified or fabricated the inspection results of its products, and that a total of 449 irregularities were identified. These included products for nuclear power plants.
November 14, 2022
Machinery manufacturer Nippon Steel Works, Ltd. announced that its subsidiary in Muroran City, Hokkaido, Japan, has repeatedly falsified or fabricated inspection results for its products, and that a total of 449 cases of fraud have been confirmed. The company apologizes and says it will consider disciplinary action against those involved.
After an internal report uncovered irregularities in the rewriting of inspection data for parts at Muroran-based subsidiary Nippon Steel M&E, Nippon Steel established a special investigation committee made up of outside lawyers in May of this year, and has been conducting an investigation.
The company released a report summarizing the results of the investigation on April 14, stating that 449 cases of falsification and fabrication were confirmed.
The subsidiary is a major manufacturer of products used in nuclear power plants, and 20 of the fraudulent products were related to nuclear power plants.
In addition, the company has stated that none of the products involved are used in Japan for nuclear power plants.
The report also pointed out the causes of the irregularities, including a dysfunctional management system and a lack of awareness of compliance.
President Matsuo said, “We are deeply sorry for the inappropriate behavior in nuclear power products.
In response to the investigation report, Toshio Matsuo, president of Nippon Steel Corporation, issued a comment saying, “I would like to express my deepest apologies again for the inconvenience and concern we have caused you.
The report also stated, “We take the fact of the failure of the self-cleansing function and the recommendations of the special investigation committee very seriously and sincerely, and we will work to reform our systems and culture to prevent recurrence and restore confidence in our company. We are committed to reforming our systems and culture to prevent recurrence and restore trust in our company.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20221114/k10013891391000.html?fbclid=IwAR1jlq0dwOU2zoAmESiIxWfCogc1FQ2ikxgf0mxhLXi852vZYNKcQyF_b4o
Plaintiff woman gives statement: “I can’t even think about what’s going to happen in the future.”
Here’s how it looked at the third trial yesterday.
Typically, one or two in 1 million people have pediatric thyroid cancer
Over 300 cases have been tested so far with approximately 38,000 people. “The plaintiff also argues that in epidemiology survey by experts using data from the town’s rural health survey, etc., the plaintiff’s thyroid cancer to be seen as a cancer causing outbreak (outburst) was an extremely high value of 94,9~99/3%. In the past, the causal relationship between the events and the disease that cause this 50-70% probability, has been recognized, and the causal relationship of damage and thyroid cancer is “with a high level of coincidence (and sometimes it’s good to treat it as proven.”
Supporters’ meeting for the thyroid cancer lawsuit. The plaintiffs’ lawyers explained their claims in the trial.
November 10, 2022
On November 9, the third oral argument was held at the Tokyo District Court in a lawsuit filed by seven men and women, aged 17 to 28, who were living in Fukushima Prefecture at the time of the accident, claiming that they developed thyroid cancer as a result of the accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. In their statements, the plaintiffs expressed their anxiety about the future, saying, “We can’t even think about the future.
The plaintiff, a woman in her 20s who was in the first year of junior high school and living in Nakadori at the time of the accident, made a statement of opinion. After the second surgery, the wound, which extended down to her ear, did not close easily, and after she was discharged from the hospital, she said, “I was very upset when fluid started flowing from my neck.
Recently, her cancer recurred, and there is talk of a third surgery. While she was frankly worried about her future and said, “The present, the future, in fact, it’s not good,” she added, “I am glad that it was me who got sick and not my relatives or friends.
Supporters’ meeting for the thyroid cancer lawsuit. Plaintiffs’ lawyers explained their claims in the trial November 9, 2022, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo; photo by Tetsuya Kasai.
Since the nuclear accident, more than 300 people in the prefecture have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer or suspected thyroid cancer. The woman told the judge, “I want to tell the judge that there are more than 300 people who are worried and their families are also worried. I hope that the current situation will change, even if only a little.
On the day of the hearing, the plaintiffs mainly presented rebuttals and statements of opinion in response to TEPCO’s claims. In response to TEPCO’s claim that the plaintiffs were exposed to low levels of radiation (less than 100 millisieverts) and that the risk of developing thyroid cancer did not increase, the plaintiffs pointed out that “there is a risk even at much lower levels than 100 millisieverts,” citing overseas papers.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers hold a press conference on the thyroid cancer lawsuit.
The plaintiffs also claimed that an epidemiological survey conducted by experts using data from the prefectural health survey showed that the “probability of cause” of the plaintiffs’ thyroid cancer being attributable to radiation exposure was extremely high, ranging from 94.9% to 99.3%. In past pollution lawsuits, a causal relationship between the causative event and the disease was recognized even when the probability was 50-70%, and the causal relationship between radiation exposure and thyroid cancer “can be treated as proven with a high degree of probability,” he said.
The two plaintiffs are scheduled to present their arguments on January 25 and March 15 next year, respectively. （The two plaintiffs are scheduled to present their opinions on January 25 and March 15.)
https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASQC97SZSQC9UGTB001.html?iref=pc_photo_gallery_bottom
Orano and TEPCO strengthen co-operation on fuel debris removal at Fukushima
This is a lot of nuclear baloney: former Areva now Orano’s unique experience in the dismantling of a nuclear power plant is at the Brennilis nuclear power plant, started in 1995 and still unfinished since then, Brennilis nuclear power plant having only one reactor and no meltdown whatsoever.
11 November 2022
Orano has signed an engineering support contract with Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and its Fukushima Decontamination and Decommissioning Engineering Company subsidiary for the design of a high-activity facility for small scale retrieval of nuclear fuel debris from the Fukushima Daiichi NPP.
These debris consist mainly of a solidified mixture of molten nuclear fuel and other materials, located in facilities inside the reactor buildings. Orano engineers will be embedded directly within TEPCO’s organisation to provide technical support on the project to design High Active Cells for Small Scale Retrieval Planning and share Orano’s best practices in terms of engineering and operation.
Orano has unique experience in the design, operation and dismantling of reprocessing plants in France. This know-how will contribute to the enhancement of TEPCO’s in-house decommissioning and engineering capabilities which are necessary for stable and safe fuel debris retrieval operations.
Exchange visits to the Fukushima NPP and Orano’s La Hague site were organised to launch the contract. This will allow TEPCO to become familiar with the know-how developed by the teams from Orano at la Hague site in the retrieval of legacy waste.
China Urges Japan to Safely Dispose of Nuclear Water
11 November 2022
The International Atomic Energy Agency will continue a comprehensive safety review of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.
On Friday, Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian once again urged Japan to respond to the legitimate concerns of all relevant parties and dispose of nuclear-contaminated water in a scientific, open, transparent, and safe way.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced Wednesday that its technical task force would visit Japan from Nov. 14 to 18 to continue a comprehensive safety review of Japan’s plan to pipe nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station into the Pacific Ocean.
In response to a related query, Zhao said at a daily press briefing that China supports the work of the IAEA and its technical task force.
He said China hopes that the task force will adhere to the principles of objectivity, fairness, and science, strictly implement the IAEA’s nuclear safety standards, and ensure the absolute safety of the disposal of contaminated water. “Japan should fully cooperate with the review by the IAEA’s technical task force,” said Zhao.
While the IAEA’s working group has not completed the assessment and review, and the international community’s concerns have not been effectively resolved, the Japanese side has nevertheless approved the discharge plan and accelerated the construction of the discharge pipeline, intending to create a fait accompli.
“This undermines the authority of institutions and technical working groups and is highly irresponsible to the international community and the Japanese people,” Zhao said.
China once again urges the Japanese side to face up to the legitimate concerns of all parties, fully consult with stakeholders including its neighbors and relevant international institutions, and dispose of the nuclear-contaminated water in a scientific, open, transparent, and safe manner to protect the marine environment and safeguard the health and food safety of people of all countries.
Japan Govt to Review N-Accident Compensation Criteria
Nov 10, 2022
Tokyo, Nov. 10 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese government panel agreed Thursday to review the state’s guidelines on the criteria for compensation for people affected by the country’s worst nuclear accident, which occurred in Fukushima Prefecture in March 2011.
The decision came after the panel received a final report from experts who looked into court rulings ordering the government to pay more compensation than the amount set under its interim guidelines for damages related to the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
The dispute reconciliation panel for nuclear damage compensation said it is set to summarize the points of five items, including psychological damage caused by the loss of people’s hometowns or changes that occurred in their hometowns due to the March 2011 triple meltdown at the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. plant, presented in the report, and make efforts to take into account the newly classified types of damage.
The current guidelines stipulate that around 100,000 yen be paid monthly per person in compensation for psychological damage caused by evacuations.
In March this year, however, the Supreme Court finalized seven rulings ordering TEPCO to pay more compensation than stipulated in the guidelines. Calls for a review of the guidelines have been growing among local residents.
Ministry panel calls for expanding eligibility for nuclear damage compensation
The Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant is seen in Fukushima Prefecture on Aug. 29.
November 11, 2022
Additional compensation should be provided to more evacuees affected by the 2011 accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, according to experts on the Dispute Reconciliation Committee for Nuclear Damage Compensation.
The experts compiled a final report Thursday on interim guidelines for compensation. Based on the report, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry’s committee was to start reviewing the current guidelines later in the day.
In class-action lawsuits filed by evacuees from Fukushima Prefecture against plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. and others, seven high court rulings ordering compensation beyond the guidelines were finalized as of March this year. Ahead of the review of the guidelines, lawyers were among the five appointed as expert members of the ministry panel to analyze these rulings.
The guidelines were first devised in August 2011 and will be reviewed for the first time since December 2013.
The experts’ report categorized five types of damage, such as psychological damage caused by the deprivation or change of an evacuee’s hometown, and called for making efforts and using resourcefulness to take newly categorized damage into consideration.
Specifically, the report talked about how to calculate compensation regarding psychological damage that residents have suffered due to having to leave their hometown. Such changes came about because the hometown became an evacuation-designated zone. There are three categories, with the most severe situation being designated a difficult-to-return zone.
The report created a category for damage stemming from people returning to a hometown and having to deal with the changed situation there.
The expert members presented their view that it is reasonable to calculate the amount of compensation by referring to lawsuits seeking damages filed by evacuees in which courts ordered compensation beyond the guidelines.
Regarding compensation for residents who have been deprived of their hometown, the experts also pointed to the need to consider the approximate amount in light of such court decisions. They called for increasing compensation for each category of evacuee.
The current guidelines, the report said, do not adequately take into consideration psychological damage caused by evacuation, as residents had fled with only the bare essentials. Given that, the experts suggested that the revised guidelines specify the increased amount of monthly payments to compensate for disruptions to the daily life of evacuees.
Source: https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20221111-69996/
US Empire Views Ukrainians And Russians As Lab Rats For Weapons Testing
One of the many reasons the US and its complex network of allies, partners and assets are always fighting so many wars is because new weapons technology needs to be tested in battle before it can be deemed effective. What this means in practice is using human bodies as test subjects, the way a scientist uses laboratory rats or guinea pigs.
The US-centralized empire pretends to care about Ukrainian lives, but in reality it only cares about them to the extent that a researcher cares about his lab rats. And for exactly the same reason.
What could be more sinister than that? Well, the agendas that they are running those tests in preparation for, I suppose.
Caitlin Johnstone, Nov 18 2022,
A surprisingly frank article by The New York Times titled “Western Allies Look to Ukraine as a Testing Ground for Weapons” describes how the imperial war machine is capitalising on the US proxy war to test its weapons for future use.
“Ukraine has become a testing ground for state-of-the-art weapons and information systems, and new ways to use them, that Western political officials and military commanders predict could shape warfare for generations to come,” write’s NYT’s Lara Jakes.
Jakes writes that “new advances in technology and training in Ukraine are being closely monitored for the ways they are changing the face of the fight.” These new technological advancements include an information system known as Delta, as well as “remote-controlled boats, anti-drone weapons known as SkyWipers and an updated version of an air-defense system built in Germany that the German military itself has yet to use.”
A former Lithuanian president is quoted as saying, “We’re learning in Ukraine how to fight, and we’re learning how to use our NATO equipment,” adding, “It is shameful for me because Ukrainians are paying with their lives for these exercises for us.”
Yeah, no shit.
At some point The New York Times article was re-titled from “Western Allies Look to Ukraine as a Testing Ground for Weapons” to the slightly less obvious “For Western Weapons, the Ukraine War Is a Beta Test.”
News that the west is using Ukraine to test weapons systems for future wars aligns with recent comments by the commander of the US nuclear arsenal that the proxy war is a test run for a much bigger conflict that’s on its way.
“This Ukraine crisis that we’re in right now, this is just the warmup,” said US STRATCOM head Charles Richard at a naval conference earlier this month. “The big one is coming. And it isn’t going to be very long before we’re going to get tested in ways that we haven’t been tested [in] a long time.”
So in addition to being used to advance longstanding US geostrategic objectives, apparently this war is also being used to sharpen the imperial war machine’s claws for a looming hot war with China and/or Russia. The US would certainly have an advantage in military test runs over the years in such a conflict.
As an aside, it’s probably worth noting that all the testing of new western weapons technology would likely explain reports from Ukrainian astronomers that the skies over Kyiv have been “swarming with unidentified flying objects (UFOs).” The aforementioned New York Times article quotes Ukrainian vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov as saying that the weapons testing he’s seen has convinced him that “the wars of the future will be about maximum drones and minimal humans.”
One of the many reasons the US and its complex network of allies, partners and assets are always fighting so many wars is because new weapons technology needs to be tested in battle before it can be deemed effective. What this means in practice is using human bodies as test subjects, the way a scientist uses laboratory rats or guinea pigs.
The US-centralized empire pretends to care about Ukrainian lives, but in reality it only cares about them to the extent that a researcher cares about his lab rats. And for exactly the same reason.
What could be more sinister than that? Well, the agendas that they are running those tests in preparation for, I suppose.
Strange Rolls Royce plan for Large complex of Large Small Nuclear Reactors for Bradwell
Rolls Royce announced on 9 November that it is eying up Bradwell as a potential site for the deployment of four to six so-called (and currently non-existent) Small Nuclear Reactors (SMRs).
Professor Andy Blowers, the Chair of the Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group (BANNG), commented:
‘This proposal, if it ever came about, would place up to six nuclear reactors on the Bradwell site. And they are hardly ‘small’ since each reactor would be close to the size of the old Bradwell A station. Together
these reactors would comprise a nuclear complex larger than the massive, proposed Bradwell B currently under consideration for development by the Chinese company, CGN.
‘It is hard to state how utterly inappropriate such a development, which would include long-term storage of highly radioactive nuclear wastes, would be on the low- lying Bradwell site, threatened by the impacts of Climate Change and Sea Level Rise.
BANNG finds it extremely odd that Rolls Royce is proposing the Bradwell site for SMRs. Only two days
before the announcement BANNG, at a meeting of the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) NGO Nuclear Forum, asked if CGN had withdrawn from the Bradwell B project. BANNG was told that there was no change to the proposals for Bradwell B but that further discussion was not
possible because of ‘commercial confidentiality’.
The Bradwell site is owned by the French company, EDF, which is also a minor partner in the
Bradwell B project. Rolls Royce agree that its proposal ‘requires agreement with CGN and EDF energy’.
Perhaps the Rolls Royce announcementunravels the mystery as to why CGN has not quit its operations at Bradwell altogether, claiming they are paused indefinitely. Could this be paving the way for Rolls Royce and also explain why BEIS invoked commercial confidentiality?
Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group 17th Nov 2022
NATO’s hair trigger: The Polish missile incident was a close brush with nuclear annihilation
https://www.rt.com/news/566710-polish-missile-incident-nato/ Scott Ritter. 18 Nov 22The fervor with which Poland and others sought to drag NATO into a war with Russia should ring alarm bells for everyone
The world dodged a bullet this week, with some NATO members trying, but failing, to trigger Article 4 as a means of confronting Russia in Ukraine. We may not be so lucky next time.
The recent scandal surrounding what most of the world now agrees was an errant Ukrainian surface-to-air missile landing on Polish soil, killing two Polish citizens in the process, has exposed an ugly reality about the eastern reaches of NATO today:
Despite the more reserved stance of the old NATO establishment (the US, UK, France, and Germany), the new upstarts in eastern Europe seem hell-bent on finding a mechanism that will justify NATO intervention in Ukraine.
This predilection for nuclear annihilation (no one should have any misgivings that a NATO-Russia conflict would end any other way) should send alarm bells ringing in the halls of power throughout NATO and the rest of the world, because left to their own devices, the Russophobic officials that dominate the governments of Poland and the three Baltic republics act like lemmings, running toward the Ukrainian cliff, oblivious to their fate as they chase the fantasy of NATO defeating Russia on a European battlefield.
The rush to judgment that accompanied the arrival of the Ukrainian surface-to-air missile on Polish soil serves as a stark reminder about how the supposedly defensive characteristics of the NATO Charter can be used to promote, rather than deter, conflict.
Let there be no doubt – NATO was aware that the missile that impacted near the village of Przewodów in Poland, killing two Polish citizens, was a Ukrainian surface-to-air missile the moment it was launched.
The airspace over Ukraine is one of the most highly-monitored locations in the world. Without revealing sources and methods, suffice it to say there isn’t anything that happens over Ukraine that isn’t registered in real time on a NATO display in headquarters throughout Europe – including Poland.
And yet … Poland saw fit to summon the Russian ambassador and lodge a protest.
Moreover, Poland declared that it would increase its military readiness while contemplating the activation of Article 4 of the NATO Treaty, a mechanism which allows the alliance to discuss security threats to member states with an eye on possibly using NATO military force to rectify the situation. Article 4 is behind every combat deployment of NATO since its inception, from Serbia, to Libya, to Afghanistan.
On cue, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, whose country borders Poland, tweeted that “every inch of NATO territory must be defended!”
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala likewise turned to Twitter to exclaim: “If Poland confirms that the missiles also hit its territory, this will be a further escalation by Russia. We stand firmly behind our EU and NATO ally.”
For its part, Estonia called the news “most concerning,” with its foreign minister declaring via Twitter, “We are consulting closely with Poland and other allies. Estonia is ready to defend every inch of NATO territory.”
While all parties concurred that there was no basis for triggering Article 5 of NATO (i.e., the collective security clause), Article 4 was very much in play. Poland was adamant: The missile “attack” against Poland was clearly a crime, one that could not go unpunished. As such, under Article 4, Poland would be pushing “for NATO members and Poland to agree on the provision of additional anti-aircraft defense, including in part of the territory of Ukraine.”
And there you have it: “Including in part of the territory of Ukraine.”
Enter Germany, stage left: “As an immediate reaction to the incident in Poland, we will offer to strengthen air policing with combat air patrols over its airspace with German Eurofighters,” a German Defense Ministry spokesperson declared.
Cue NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who convened an emergency meeting of NATO ambassadors in Brussels to discuss the Polish incident. According to the Finnish foreign minister (Finland, although not a NATO member, was invited to the meeting), “Closing the airspace [above Ukraine] will definitely be discussed. Various options of how we can protect Ukraine are on the table.”
While Germany reportedly rejected the establishment of a no-fly zone over Ukraine, noting that such an action would pose a threat of direct confrontation between Russia and NATO, one is left pondering how such a discussion came to be in the first place: Ukraine fired a surface-to-air missile, which was tracked by NATO as it impacted on Polish soil. And, as a result, NATO members end up discussing the possibility of invoking Article 4 of the NATO Charter, seeking to extend NATO air defense into Ukrainian air space in concert with the establishment of a no-fly zone enforced by NATO aircraft.
“Even if it was a blue on blue [incident] with a Ukrainian rocket that landed in Poland, I think there is still enough ground for Poland to invoke Article 4,” a former director of policy planning for NATO, Fabrice Pothier, declared.
Just to clarify what Mr. Pothier is saying: Because Ukraine fired a surface-to-air missile that ended up landing on Polish soil, NATO is justified in invoking Article 4, setting the stage for a possible NATO-Russia conflict in Ukraine which could lead to global nuclear annihilation.
If there was ever any doubt about the threat NATO posed to the entire world, there is no more.
That this is being promulgated on behalf of a Ukrainian leader who, despite universal consensus that the missile which hit Poland was Ukrainian, denies this possibility, all the while blaming Russia in the hopes that NATO will intervene, only adds to the insanity of this crisis.
While it appears that the world has dodged the potential death sentence triggered by the NATO Article 4 this time, the hair-trigger aspect of NATO’s Pavlovian response mechanism when it comes to seeking causal justification for military intervention in Ukraine should have everyone on high alert.
Musk’s Money Is Playing Old Games With New Media
Cartoon from Springfield News-Sun
For all of Twitter’s problems—mean-spirited fights, harassment, bots, extremist content—the social media network has been a liberating way for writers, activists and academics to build platforms and followings free from corporate media filters. Under Musk, Twitter could become such a cesspool of hate speech (Scientific American/Nature, 11/8/22) and impersonators (CNN, 11/9/22) that it becomes unusable, or the stress caused by layoffs and the revenue losses could bring down the whole thing.
what Musk is doing to social media has long been done by monied interests to traditional media—much to the poverty of our journalistic culture.
FAIR, 18 Nov 22, Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has been difficult to satirize. The company is losing revenue (Reuters, 11/7/22), thanks in large part to the $1 billion in additional debt payments Musk has saddled it with. His idea to sell blue-check verifications for $8 was widely ridiculed (Variety, 11/2/22)—predictably resulting in a flood of fake posts from “verified” accounts—and mass layoffs have put the website’s infrastructure in jeopardy (MIT Technology Review, 11/8/22). A lockdown of the company offices had many wondering if Twitter would survive the pre-Thanksgiving weekend (Daily Beast, 11/17/22).
Monied parties
This would be a loss for a lot of users, but such a situation is hardly new in US media. There’s a long history of monied parties taking over media and watering them down, even breaking them up for parts. It’s just that this time it involves the world’s richest man and social media.
Look at American radio……………………… its news and talk stations are home to right-wing commentators—including, formerly, the late Rush Limbaugh (AP, 3/27/12). These owners’ biases have had enormous political implications due to the consolidation of the radio market……………………….
It’s an old story in newspaperland as well………………………………………
Advancing mogul politics
And consider for a minute that Musk, the CEO of Tesla, is the world’s richest person, while No. 2 is Jeff Bezos of Amazon, who also owns the Washington Post. Like Musk, Bezos is another rich, corporate boss who wants to influence the public discussion through control of a major media outlet. …………………………….
Moguls use their money to advance their politics, both through campaign contributions and through media acquisitions. In addition to Musk’s recent endorsement of Republican candidates, his interest in conservatism grew after the presidential election of Donald Trump. “Starting in 2017, Musk’s donations began to skew much more heavily toward Republicans than Democrats, spending nearly seven times more on GOP campaigns,” Business Insider (6/15/22) reported, adding that Musk “accepted positions on two of Trump’s White House councils.” He cheered on a coup in Bolivia (Jalopnik, 10/19/20) and is outspokenly hostile to unions (NPR, 3/3/22).
Musk’s acquisition of Twitter seems like a new chapter in history, but his choice to either skew Twitter to be friendly to the right (as his right-wing cheerleaders believe he is doing) or to run the network into the ground is only the latest episode of monied interests pillaging our communications infrastructure for financial or ideological gain. Musk’s Twitter takeover seems new, because it impacts new media rather than the old. But what Musk is doing to social media has long been done by monied interests to traditional media—much to the poverty of our journalistic culture.
For the right-wing press, Musk—who backed the Republicans in the recent midterm elections (Reuters, 11/7/22)—is a social media savior who is appalled by content moderation, factchecking and the banning of certain extremist content. Fox News (11/16/22) lauded him for reducing spending at Twitter, and others say he’s a free-speech champion trying to end Big Tech censorship (Deseret News, 11/1/22). The New York Post (11/11/22) said that the advertiser boycotts of Musk’s Twitter were signs of a liberal conspiracy to enforce wokeness online, while Matt Taibbi (Substack, 11/15/22)—who once wrote about the greed of big banks for Rolling Stone—attacked critics of the anti-union billionaire media baron for conducting a pro-conformity witch hunt.
For all of Twitter’s problems—mean-spirited fights, harassment, bots, extremist content—the social media network has been a liberating way for writers, activists and academics to build platforms and followings free from corporate media filters. Under Musk, Twitter could become such a cesspool of hate speech (Scientific American/Nature, 11/8/22) and impersonators (CNN, 11/9/22) that it becomes unusable, or the stress caused by layoffs and the revenue losses could bring down the whole thing. https://fair.org/home/musks-money-is-playing-old-games-with-new-media/
U.S. rejects funding to re-open Michigan nuclear plant -Holtec
By Timothy Gardner, WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Energy rejected Holtec International’s application for funding to reopen the Palisades nuclear power plant in Michigan, a Holtec spokesperson said on Friday.
Holtec bought the 805 megawatt Palisades plant in May to decommission the facility, which had struggled to compete with natural gas-fired plants and renewable energy. It was looking to reopen it with funding from the initial phase of the Energy Department’s $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit program.
…………….
The DOE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nuclear power produces toxic waste, currently held at 28 plants across the country.
ClearView Energy Partners, a nonpartisan research group, said in September that Palisades’ closure was “likely to be permanent.” Palisades was out of nuclear fuel, faced a control rod drive seal issue that needed to be fixed and likely needed a new company to operate it, as well as a buyer for the power it generates, ClearView said at the time.
The CNC program, launched by the DOE this year, is intended for plants in states with competitive electricity markets and funded by the infrastructure bill that passed last year……………..
In the first phase of the CNC program, the DOE prioritized plants that had already shut or announced intentions to close. Power utility PG&E Corp (PCG.N) was the only other company to apply in the first phase, for its Diablo Canyon plant in California, slated to fully close by 2025. PG&E did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the status of its application. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-rejects-funding-re-open-michigan-nuclear-plant-holtec-2022-11-18
USA using COP27 to co-opt Europe , especially Ukraine, into the small nuclear reactor gamble
U.S. announces new European SMR initiatives at COP27 in Egypt
“……………………………….. On November 12, the U.S. announced two global Small Modular Reactor (SMR) initiatives: (1) a Ukraine clean fuels from SMRs pilot project and (2) a new initiative to accelerate the European transition of coal-fired plants to SMRs.
………. additional information on these two initiatives is still underway (the White House mentioned both initiatives in its Overview of COP27)
The U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, and Ukraine Minister of Energy German Galushchenko introduced a “Ukraine Clean Fuels from SMRs Pilot” project…………………………
- The pilot project, which will run for 2-3 years, also relies on the work of a public-private consortium on scientific and practical developments for SMRs.
- Participating partners from the U.S. include Argonne National Laboratory, Clark Seed, FuelCell Energy, NuScale and Starfire Energy. On the Ukraine side, participants include nuclear operator Energoatom, the National Security and Defense Council, and the State Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety.
Special Envoy Kerry introduced another a new initiative, called Project Phoenix, to accelerate the European transition of coal-fired plants to SMRs,……………
According to the White House Fact Sheet Project Phoenix will provide direct U.S. support for the coal-to-SMR feasibility studies and related activities that support energy security goals for countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance – a leader for action on the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
Enviro Close-Up #671 Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance 19 Nov 22, This Enviro Close-Up focuses on the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA)—especially it being a leader in getting action on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
This visionary pact was passed at the UN in 1977. In the words of the UN, the treaty is “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.” It’s a nuclear counterpart to the treaties enacted in the 1920s that outlawed chemical weapons in the wake of their horrific use during World War I.
It could put the nuclear genie back in the bottle. But nations with nuclear weapons—including the U.S., Russia and China—have refused to ratify it. Moreover, communications media have almost totally not been mentioning the treaty’s existence in the huge number of reports on the threats by Russian President Putin to use nuclear weapons since his invasion of Ukraine.
OREPA is active in the Nuclear Ban Treaty Collaborative which is calling for media to “pay attention” to the treaty, explains OREPA’s coordinator, Ralph Hutchison. Cody Dishner, community organizer for OREPA, says many people are now “for the first time in their lives” faced with “nuclear annihilation.”
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved forward its “Doomsday Clock” to 100 seconds to midnight, the closest it has been since set up in 1947. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says “we must eliminate nuclear weapons before they eliminate us.” OREPA is calling for “educating, mobilizing, organizing” for a world free of nuclear weapons.
Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk to go ahead, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirms
A spokesman for the group Stop Sizewell C said: “If the chancellor is
looking for cheap, reliable, energy independence, he is backing the wrong
project, as Sizewell C’s ultimate cost and technical reliability are very
uncertain and building it is reliant on French state-owned EDF.
“Greenlighting Sizewell C also loads more tax onto struggling households,
who would be forced to pay a nuclear levy on bills for a decade before they
could light a single lightbulb. “Despite the chancellor’s statement,
Sizewell C still needs financing, and with at least a year before it’s
decided whether it will finally go ahead, we’ll keep fighting this huge
black hole for taxpayers’ money, when there are cheaper, quicker ways to
get to net zero.”
ITV 17th Nov 2022
https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2022-11-17/sizewell-c-nuclear-plant-to-go-ahead-chancellor-confirms
Nuclear energy is unsafe, unreliable and leaves a long and toxic legacy,
according to the Scottish Greens. This comes as the Chancellor, Jeremy
Hunt, has confirmed plans for the Sizewell C nuclear plant.
Scottish Greens 17th Nov 2022
https://greens.scot/news/nuclear-is-unsafe-unreliable-and-will-leave-long-and-toxic-legacy
1 This Month
23 April – WEBINAR – Why new nuclear reactors are the wrong tools for decarbonization Thursday, April 23 • 1 AM – 2 AM AEST
World Nuclear Power. Reactors 1951-2026, 75 Years of Nuclear Power.
Interactive Map– https://dv.worldnuclearreport.org/
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
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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