nuclear-news

Nuclear news this week – as we remember Fukushima

Some bits of good news – It’s time for some good news about protections for mother Earth.

Climate. 60 Climate Feedbacks & “A Better Catastrophe”.

Coronavirus. Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Weekly Epidemiological Update.

Nuclear. 11 March was the 12 year anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. The Japanese government would prefer that this should be forgotten. Trouble is – the catastrophe is not over.

As an Australian, I am finding our media – TV, radio, newspapers – quite nauseating. All falling over themselves in an orgasmic joy over the decision to pay $squillions for motley USA-UK-pretend-Australian nuclear submarines, that will be useless for monitoring our coast, but useful for feeding the coffers of USA-UK weapons-makers who now seem to own their governments. Everyone’s on the bandwagon – even former PM Kevin Rudd, supposedly a friend of China, now twisting himself in knots with weasel words about China, as he’s about to be Australia’s ambassador to Washington.  We need a Diogenes, to go about Australian politics and media,  in daylight, with a lighted lantern, trying to find an honest person.

ECONOMICS

• Why Russia has such a strong grip on Europe’s nuclear power. 
•  Costs for safety measures necessary to restart Japan’s idle nuclear reactors keep ballooning.
•  Britain’s Public Accounts Committee reveals that UK’s nuclear reactors have been a poor investment .  . Britain’s “Regulated Asset Base” funding method for nuclear power is deemed not likely to work.    British government poised to label nuclear as “green”, but investors are not impressed  
• Former top U.S. admiral cashes in on nuclear sub deal with Australia.
•  US Department of Energy announces a $1.2 billion fund to save America’s aged nuclear power stations.
• Marketing. China marketing nuclear power to Uganda

EDUCATION. Nuclear and space lobbies increase their grip on universities, a new example in UK . The extraordinary popularity of renewable energy university courses.

ENVIRONMENT. Campaigners claim permit change at Hinkley Point would kill billions of fish.

HEALTH. Why were studies canceled? . The voices of the victims . Social effects. 2 yrs after Fukushima nuclear disaster, gov’t not facing evacuees’ hardship.

LEGAL. Another executive goes to prison for lying about doomed nuclear project. National remembrance day , and huge civil case penalty for Tepco executives, but memory of Fukushima now fading in Japan.

MEDIA. Australian Media Are Outright Telling Us They Are Feeding Us War Propaganda About China. Australian corporate papers call for war with China, nuclear weapons and mass conscription.

OPPOSITION To NUCLEAR. In Taiwan, strong opposition to extending life of nuclear reactor.

PERSONAL STORIES. Fukushima’s first responders recall the disaster 12 years on.

PLUTONIUM. DOE wanted to quadruple plutonium pit production. For now, activists have stopped them.

POLITICS. The Nightmare Espionage Act That is Killing Julian Assange and the First Amendment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shvZy_95uOg. Some ‘sober thinking’ remains in Ukraine as portions of population are in favor of peace talks.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. Saudi Arabia Seeks U.S. Security Pledges, Nuclear Help. Saudi Arabia seeks US security guarantees, nuclear assistance in return for Israel normalisation.

PROTESTS. Fukushima Vigil Outside the UK’s Uranium Fuel Manufacturing Factory .

RADIATION. Low-dose radiation linked to increased lifetime risk of heart disease. Dr Ian Fairlie -Low-dose radiation a health danger in the nuclear industry , as well as in medicine.

SAFETY. 

•   “Thermal fatigue” is causing flaws in the cooling pipes of France’s nuclear reactors. EDF ordered to inspect 200 nuclear pipe weldings after more cracks discovered. Electricite De France (EDF) discovers a “significant defect” on a weld in Penly nuclear reactor. Nuclear reactor: a deep crack discovered at Penly 1 risks destabilizing EDF. Crack in piping of Penly nuclear reactor further complicates EDF’s situation. 
• The narrow field of options for safely managing Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. 
•  Lessons from Chernobyl and Fukushima: Is Europe prepared for another nuclear disaster?
•   Why are the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the corporate media ignoring the safety problems of Holtec’s thin-walled nuclear waste canisters? 
•   Britain’s Office for Nuclear Regulation warns on the need for a safety case, as EDF wants to extend the life of 2 nuclear power Stations . Nuclear crash exercise beset by blunders, says UK’s Ministry of Defence. 
• Nuclear research center reiterates need for separate regulatory body.

SECRETS and LIES. Fake ‘nuclear bomb’ alert on TV and radio scares Russians.

SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS.  War in space: U.S. officials debating rules for a conflict in orbit.

SPINBUSTER. How the nuclear lobby scuttled the EU’s anti-greenwashing tool.

WASTES. Twelve years after 3/11, dispute grows over Fukushima’s radioactive soil. What´s happening at Fukushima plant 12 years after meltdown? Massive amounts of fatally radioactive melted nuclear fuel remain inside the reactors. Pacific island leaders urge Japan to stop dumping nuclear waste into ocean: report. Graphite – deadly dirt or dusty diamonds? Ocean discharge is the worst plan for Fukushima waste water.  new blow to fishermen.

WAR and CONFLICT Rare admission from Australia’s corporate media that hosting America’s Pine Gap surveillance system makes Australia a legitimate target for long-range ICBMs. Observations on the NATO-Russia Ukrainian War. Ukraine: A war to end all wars in Europe. The Foreseeable End of Ukraine. Netanyahu justifies strikes on nuclear facilities. Romania: airborne troops among 100,000 U.S. forces in Europe poised for war with Russia.

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES .  

• China is competing in a great Asian arms race because it has no other choice.  
• Biden’s $1 trillion budget for world war.   
•  Australia ‘to buy up to five US nuclear submarines’ under AUKUS pact. US Navy Wants to Turn Australia Into a Full-Service Submarine Hub.
•   EU steps up “wareconomy” to rush arms to Ukraine .
•   NATO chief orders EU cohorts to boost arms purchases, stockpiles for Ukraine war . 
•   Ukraine: Pentagon delivers precision-guided bombs . 
•   Pentagon delivers first long-range Patriot interceptors for Polish air defense system. Ukraine demands “incredible amount” of new Turkish combat drones – DM. 
•   U.S. to deliver first of 116 Abrams tanks to Poland soon. 
•   Kosovo participates in NATO multinational war games for “wide-area ground combat” throughout Europe .
• UK/NATO air combat exercise includes India, Saudi Arabia, Finland for first time.
•  China increasing the number of nuclear warheads, aiming to match USA’s nuclear arsenal .

March 13, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes