nuclear-news

  Nuclear News 1st January 2024

 Good news?  Yes, it’s hard to find.  But it’s out there. So many millions of people working towards a clean and peaceful planet, working with compassion for the victims of war, of injustice, and of extreme weather. Impossible to name the many agencies – from the numerous United Nations ones, (UNICEF, UNHCR, UNESCO ……..), and ICAN, Red Cross , Red Crescent, MSF, Greenpeace, FOE …. … many more… Millions give their time voluntarily.

It’s a pity that the nature of news is to tell us the bad things, to glorify the global phalanx that promotes war and the nuclear industry, and to focus on the sociopaths who dominate politics and corporations.  But the good movements and the good workers are there,  carrying our hopes for 2024

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My resolution for 2024 – to make this newsletter shorter – (from  next time), more to the point – and leave out Israel, Gaza, Ukraine as much as possible.

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TOP STORIES

Nuclear expert Mycle Schneider on the COP 28 pledge to triple nuclear energy production:‘Trumpism enters energy policy’.

Shuttering the Nuclear Weapons Sites: There’s Gold in Those Warheads but the Scrap Metal is Radioactive. 

Why AI is a disaster for the climate. 

The failed Nuscale project lets Utah down — again.

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From the archives. The spread of radiation- internal contamination through fresh produce in Japan

Climate. Amazon drought: ‘We’ve never seen anything like this’. The faith leaders fighting for the climate: ‘we have a moral obligation’. Sea level rise: ‘We can’t afford to wait’: a Cornish town faces climate threat head on.

Noel’s notes.  The rise of the  Übermensch  – the tech gods.  Are we ignoring GAZA – the new Auschwitz, as the world ignored Nazi camps from 1933-39? . Nuclear Industry’s New Year Resolution – “Let’s get sloppier about safety”.

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CIVIL LIBERTIES. With the Persecution of Julian Assange Biden Is Overseeing the Silent Death of the First Amendment

CLIMATE. COP28’s Unrealistic Tripling of Nuclear Power.

ECONOMICS. 

• European nuclear Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) may be unworkable – analysts. 
• UK guarantees for minimum price for nuclear-produced electricity – an expensive disaster.  
• CSIRO says wind and solar much cheaper than nuclear, even with added integration costs.
• Regulators approve deal for ratepayers to pay for Georgia Power’s new nuclear reactors.  
• Meet the Companies Profiting From Israel’s War on Gaza. 
• China’s Low-Cost Nuclear Offer Faces Scrutiny in Kazakhstan.

ENERGY. Talen Energy Is Building Data Centers That Run on Nuclear Power. Now, It Needs to Find Buyers.

ENVIRONMENT. 

• Oceans. US Promotion of Banned Fukushima Seafood Contradicts Biden’s Cancer Initiatives. 
• How green is the UK Government’s nuclear energy strategy? 
• Inside the Pentagon’s Painfully Slow Effort to Clean Up Decades of PFAS Contamination.
• Effect of U.S. nuclear weapons tests on the otters of Alaska. 
• Water: State papers: Plans for nuclear power plant on shores of Lough Neagh shelved over drinking water concerns.

ETHICS and RELIGION. Catholic activists arrested for anti-nuclear protest outside UN. ‘We will coup whoever we want!’: the unbearable hubris of Musk and the billionaire tech bros.

HEALTH. Buried secrets, plutonium poisoned bodies.  Radiation heroes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP0NU65SKAo&t=1s Documents show toxins in Air Force nuclear missile capsules.

HISTORY. The Long History Of Zionist Proposals To Ethnically Cleanse The Gaza Strip.

LEGAL.  Day X Marks the Calendar: Julian Assange’s ‘Final’ Appeal.   Assange Appeal Hearing Set for February. Constitutional Violations: Julian Assange, Privacy and the CIA.  Judge Rules Assange Visitors May Sue CIA For Allegedly Violating Privacy.  

 Former chair of Ohio utility regulator surrenders in $60 million bribery scheme linked to energy bill.  

Tokyo High Court holds Japan government not liable for Fukushima nuclear disaster.  Tokyo court holds only the utility responsible to compensate Fukushima evacuees, and reduces damages.

MEDIA. What? Ukraine Is Not Winning the War? The Narrative Turns. Now What?  Meta’s Broken Promises -Systemic Censorship of Palestine Content on Instagram and Facebook.  New Book: Energy Revolutions -Profiteering versus Democracy .

POLITICS.  The Biden Administration Is Quietly Shifting Its Strategy in Ukraine.  Biden has the power to rein in the nuclear presidency. He should use it. U.S. Nuclear Sector Set for Major Transformation.  

Sunak to scale back nuclear target in latest UK net zero climbdown   Time to shelve Hinkley Point C? UK’s Nuclear Minister has so far failed to meet East Suffolk communities who have concerns about Sizewell C nuclear project . NFLA Policy Briefing 283: Nuclear Free Local Authorities submission to the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee inquiry into the ‘The Potential Role of Proposed Small Modular Reactors’   

France’s Council of State opinion on a Bill relating to governance of nuclear safety in relaunching the nuclear sector .   Spain Confirms 2035 Nuclear Phase Out Deadline.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY.  Geopolitics has already doomed the second nuclear renaissance. Sweden, France strengthen cooperation on nuclear. Why Egypt’s new nuclear plant is a long-term win for Russia.  US eyes reports Iran has accelerated uranium enrichment.

SAFETY.  

• DRUGS IN THE NUCLEAR SPHERE: UNVEILING A TROUBLING NEXUS. 
• Documents Reveal Hidden Problems at Russia’s Nuclear Powerhouse. 
• GMB union says urgent action needed to tackle safety concerns at Sellafield. EDF to extend nuclear outages in 2024, 2025 on corrosion issue. 
• Incidents: A nuclear-powered ship in Murmansk started to burn: only few locals got to know about the serious incident.  Mystery fire breaks out on Russia’s only nuclear-powered icebreaker vessel as it was docked at Arctic port. 
• Japan allows world’s biggest nuclear plant to restart. Japan Lifts Operational Ban on Fukushima Nuclear Plant Owners. 
• South Carolina nuclear plant’s cracked pipes get downgraded warning from officials.   Low-Flying Helicopters Will Monitor Any Nuclear Threat In Las Vegas This Weekend. 
• Cyber-hackers target UK nuclear waste company Radioactive Waste Management.  Nuclear attack on Northern Ireland viewed as ‘possibility’ after 9/11.

SECRETS and LIES Atlas Network strategies: how fossil fuel is using “think” tanks to delay action.   .  ‘Cover-up’ hearing Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for late January 2024. Price Waterhouse Cooper’s (PWC’s) $8m nuclear submarine payday revealed. More serious governance failures in Defence contracting. 

TECHNOLOGY. SMR – Spending Money Recklessly – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL7kwLMANK0  Microsoft is training an AI to help get nuclear reactors approved.

URANIUM. Iran undoes slowdown in enrichment of uranium to near weapons-grade -IAEA

WASTES.  Cold War nuclear waste is prioritized at Carlsbad-area repository. How much is there?  Site for Canada’s underground nuclear waste repository to be selected next year.

WAR and CONFLICT. US Trying to Water Down New Cease-Fire Resolution at UN Security Council. Surrender or die – Netanyahu.

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. 

• Israel receives 230 planes, 20 ships loaded with US arms amid Gaza war.  US….Arsenal of Genocide in Gaza . 
• Year of the drone — how the hi-tech weapon has transformed warfare.  
• Spiralling nuclear costs make UK’s Ministry Of Defence’s equipment plan unsustainable. 
• Russia has completed delivery of nuclear weapons to Belarus, Lukashenko says.   Russia To Retire World’s Only Nuclear-Powered, Largest Battle-Cruiser Pyotr Veliky. 
• Kim Jong Un announces his nuclear resolutions for 2024.

January 1, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes