nuclear-news

TODAY: Corruption in the nuclear industry.

As the “mainstream” ‘Establishment” “corporate” world enthuses over (demonstrably uneconomic) small nuclear reactors, it really is time to put a searchlight onto the nuclear industry.

Can there be any other industry so enmeshed in corruption as the nuclear industry?

I won’t try to enter here into the wholescale government lying and deception of the public that has gone on in Russia and China – poisoning whole regions with radioactive waste.

Just a brief look at what’s gone on in North America should be enough to raise our suspicions about the companies and individuals leading the push for small nuclear reactors.

Illinois, in March 2022, a federal grand jury indicted the powerful Speaker of the House, Michael Madigan, on racketeering and bribery charges for allegedly using his official position to corruptly solicit and receive personal financial rewards for himself and his associates. 

How about the Ohio First Energy case, with the fraud conviction of Larry Householder, the former Speaker of the House, and in South Carlina the gaoling of Kevin B. Marsh, former SCANA CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors?

Canada’s SNC- Lavalin should take the cake for corruption. There’s the 2019 $10 million hospital bribery case. And between 2004 and 2011 $117,803 flowed from SNC-Lavalin to federal party funds, including Liberal and Conservative. Which politicians received the money remains a mystery. In late November 2018, former SNC-Lavalin vice-president Norman Morin quietly pleaded guilty to charges of violating Canada’s election financing laws. Because Morin accepted the plea deal, the evidence gathered for the trial was never presented in court.

The company faced charges of fraud and corruption in connection with nearly $48 million in payments made to Libyan government officials between 2001 and 2011.

CBC news detailed SNC-Lavalin’s corruption scandals – MUHC contract scandal…….Corruption scandal in Bangladesh …….Libya scandal……Elections Financing in its story – A closer look at SNC-Lavalin’s sometimes murky past.

So many murky areas around nuclear deals – the political gymnastics as powerful individuals like Bill Gates and Elon Musk get involved in government measures that facilitate their nuclear/space enterprises.

The secrecy involved in the nuclear industry lends itself to corruption. The industry chips away at laws that impose safety or transparency limits on it.

To give one scary example – President Vladimir Zelensky has signed an amendment that reduced financial oversight of politicians. The measure “practically kills” efforts to combat money-laundering, the head of the Anti-Corruption Action Centre (AntAC) claimed. The body is funded by the US government and EU member states and elites in Kiev have long been hostile to its work, despite their dependence on Western funding and support. This, as Ukraine aims to build, with USA’s Westinghouse, new nuclear reactors.

We get to hear of some of the shenanigans that corrupt nuclear executives get up to. As the clearly illogical and unaffordable small nuclear reactor push goes on, it is critically time to focus on why on earth this is happening, and who is getting paid to lie about it?

March 28, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes