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TODAY. Australia is EVER so grateful to the global nuclear lobby!

First of all, we Australians LOVE spending money! Not on health, education, preserving our unique biodiversity, certainly not on shelter for our growing homeless.

With our relatively small population, we are still delighted to cough up nearly $400billion to buy a second-hand American nuclear submarine and to buy all the USA and UK nuclear submarine wastes that these dear friends vouchsafe to dump on us.

And, it was interesting to read today, that the UK has spurned paying $millions to Rolls Royce as the maker for its proposed fleet of small modular nuclear reactors.

No problem to the nuclear lobby. Rolls Royce now plans to flog them off to Australia instead – Opposition leader Peter Dutton has pledged, if elected, to deliver Rolls Royce small modular reactors into the grid by the mid-2030s.

Any old or useless stuff that the nuclear industry has to get rid of – no probs – Australia will buy it!

April 10, 2024 Posted by | Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Attacks on Ukrainian nuclear facilities ‘must cease immediately’: UN atomic watchdog

United Nations, 8 April 2024, Peace and Security 8 Apr 24

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency reiterated that attacks against nuclear power plants in Ukraine are “an absolute no go”, following direct military action targeting the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) on Sunday.

Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the targeting marked a “major escalation” in the level of danger facing the power plant.

It was the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that the ZNPP – Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – has been directly targeted. It has been occupied by Russian forces since the early weeks of the fighting.

As of Sunday, while there were “no indications” of damage to critical nuclear safety or security systems, the strikes were “another stark reminder” of the threats to the power plant and other nuclear facilities during the ongoing war, IAEA said. 

“Although the damage at unit 6 has not compromised nuclear safety, this was a serious incident that had the potential to undermine the integrity of the reactor’s containment system,” Director General Grossi said.

‘A major escalation’

“This is a major escalation of the nuclear safety and security dangers facing the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. Such reckless attacks significantly increase the risk of a major nuclear accident and must cease immediately,” Mr. Grossi said.

Reiterating that no one can “conceivably benefit” or get any military or political advantage from attacks against nuclear facilities, he stressed such attacks are “an absolute no go”.

“I firmly appeal to military decision makers to abstain from any action violating the basic principles that protect nuclear facilities.”

At least one casualty

According to IAEA, after receiving information from the ZNPP about the drone attacks, its experts stationed at the site went to three affected locations.

They were able to confirm the physical impact of the drone detonations, including at one of the site’s six reactor buildings where surveillance and communication equipment appeared to have been the target.

While they were at the roof of the reactor, Russian troops engaged what appeared to be an approaching drone, the agency said, adding that this was followed by an explosion near the reactor building.

“The IAEA team reported that they observed remnants of drones at this and two other impact locations at the site. At one of them, outside a laboratory, they saw blood stains next to a damaged military logistics vehicle, indicating at least one casualty,” it said.

IAEA experts further reported hearing explosions and rifle fire on the site throughout the day. The team also heard several rounds of outgoing artillery fire from near the plant…………………………  https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148346—

April 10, 2024 Posted by | incidents, Ukraine | Leave a comment

What are the risks at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after drone attack?

By Guy Faulconbridge and Francois Murphy, April 8, 2024,  https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/nuclear-power-plant-eye-ukraine-war-2024-04-08/

MOSCOW/VIENNA, – Russia said Ukraine struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station controlled by Russian forces three times on Sunday and demanded the West respond, though Kyiv said it had nothing to do with the attacks.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has long warned of the risks of a disaster at Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear plant, and urged an end to fighting in the area.

The plant is just 500 km (300 miles) from the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident, the 1986 Chornobyl disaster.

What nuclear material is at the Zaporizhzhia plant, what are the risks and why are Russia and Ukraine fighting over it?

WHAT IS IT AND WHAT WAS ITS CAPACITY?

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has six Soviet-designed VVER-1000 V-320 water-cooled and water-moderated reactors containing Uranium 235. They were all built in the 1980s, though the sixth only came online in the mid-1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

All but one of the reactors are in cold shutdown. Reactor unit 4 is in “hot shutdown”, mainly for heating purposes.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi says that fighting a war around a nuclear plant has put nuclear safety and security in “constant jeopardy”.

WHAT HAPPENED ON APRIL 7?

Russia’s state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, said Ukraine attacked the plant three times on Sunday with drones, first injuring three near a canteen, then attacking a cargo area and then the dome above reactor No. 6.

IAEA experts at the site went to the three locations of the attacks and confirmed there had been an attack.

“Russian troops engaged what appeared to be an approaching drone,” the IAEA said. “This was followed by an explosion near the reactor building.”

“While the team so far has not observed any structural damage to systems, structures, and components important to nuclear safety or security of the plant, they reported observing minor superficial scorching to the top of the reactor dome roof of Unit 6 and scoring of a concrete slab supporting the primary make-up water storage tanks,” the IAEA said.

The IAEA did not say directly who was to blame for the attacks.

A Ukrainian intelligence official said Kyiv had nothing to do with any strikes on the station and suggested they were the work of Russians themselves.

WHAT ARE THE RISKS?

Russian forces took control of the plant in early March 2022, weeks after invading Ukraine. Special Russian military units guard the facility and a unit of Russia’s state nuclear company, Rosatom, runs the plant.

Nuclear reactors’ containment structures like Zaporizhzhia’s are made of steel-lined reinforced concrete designed to withstand the impact of a small plane crash so there is little immediate risk from a minor attack on those structures.

A 1989 study by the U.S. Department of Energy found that the model of containment structure used in Zaporizhzia “exhibits vulnerabilities to the effects of an aircraft crash” and a fighter jet crashing downwards into the dome, where the structure is thinner, could penetrate it, causing concrete chunks and aircraft engine parts to fall inside.

External power lines essential to cooling nuclear fuel in the reactors are a softer potential target. Cooling fuel even in reactors in cold shutdown is necessary to prevent a nuclear meltdown.

Since the war began the plant has lost all external power eight times, most recently in December last year, forcing it to rely on emergency diesel generators for power. Water is also needed to cool fuel.

Pressurised water is used to transfer heat away from the reactors even when they are shut down, and pumped water is also used to cool down removed spent nuclear fuel from the reactors.

Without enough water, or power to pump the water, the fuel could melt down and the zirconium cladding could release hydrogen, which can explode.

WHAT ABOUT THE SPENT FUEL?

Besides the reactors, there is also a dry spent fuel storage facility at the site for used nuclear fuel assemblies, and spent fuel pools at each reactor site that are used to cool down the used nuclear fuel.

Without water supply to the pools, the water evaporates and the temperatures increase, risking a fire that could release a number of radioactive isotopes.

An emission of hydrogen from a spent fuel pool caused an explosion at reactor 4 in Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.

WHAT HAPPENS IN A MELTDOWN?

A meltdown of the fuel could trigger a fire or explosion that could release a plume of radionuclides into the air which could then spread over a large area.

The Chornobyl accident spread Iodine-131, Caesium-134, Strontium-90 and Caesium-137 across parts of northern Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, northern and central Europe.

Nearly 8.4 million people in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine were exposed to radiation, according to the United Nations. Around 50 deaths are directly attributed to the disaster itself.

But 600,000 “liquidators”, involved in fire-fighting and clean-up operations, were exposed to high doses of radiation. Hundreds of thousands were resettled.

There is mounting evidence that the health impact of the Chornobyl disaster was much more serious than initially presented at the time and in the years following the accident.

Incidence of thyroid cancer in children across swathes of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine increased after the accident. There was a much higher incidence of endocrine disorders, anaemia and respiratory diseases among children in contaminated areas.

April 10, 2024 Posted by | incidents, Ukraine | 1 Comment

Brutal, chaotic war – norms, conventions and laws of conduct are being erased

Alastair Crooke, April 8, 2024,  https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/04/08/brutal-chaotic-war-norms-conventions-and-laws-of-conduct-are-being-erased/—

We stand on the cusp of what might be termed Chaotic War. Not the formula often used by Israel to intimidate adversaries; this is different.

Israeli reporter Eddie Cohen said, in the wake of the attack on the Iranian Consulate: “We are very clear that we want to start a war with Iran and Hezbollah. Do you still not understand?”

“Israel wants to drag Iran into a full-scale war in order to be able to strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities”, though these facilities are beyond American and Israeli reach, buried beneath mountains.

Cohen, and of course, Israel’s military leadership, will know that; but Israel nonetheless is locking itself into a logic that can only lead to defeat. Iran’s nuclear facilities are safe from Israeli assault. The destruction of civilian Iranian infrastructure, which is out in the open, may kill many, but will not, per se, collapse the Iranian state.

Trita Parsi places Israel’s objective in attacking the Iranian Consulate in Damascus in a different context:

“An important aspect of Israel’s conduct – and Biden’s acquiescence to it – is that Israel is engaged in a deliberate and systematic effort to destroy existing laws and norms around warfare.

Even during wartime, embassies are off-limits [yet] Israel just bombed an Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus.

Bombing hospitals is a war crime, [yet] Israel has bombed EVERY hospital in Gaza. It has even assassinated doctors and patients inside hospitals.

The ICJ obligated Israel to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Israel actively prevents aid from coming in.

Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited under international humanitarian law. Israel has deliberately created a famine in Gaza.

Indiscriminate bombings are illegal under international humanitarian law. Biden himself admits that Israel is bombing Gaza indiscriminately”.

The list goes on and on … However, Israel’s breach of Vienna Convention immunity accorded to diplomatic premises – plus the stature of those killed – is highly significant. It is a major signal: Israel wants war – but with U.S. support, of course.

Israel’s aim, firstly, is to destroy the norms, conventions and laws of warfare; to create geo-political anarchy in which anything goes, and by which, with the White House frustrated, yet acquiescing to each norm of conduct obtrusively trodden underfoot, allows Netanyahu to grip the U.S. bridle and lead the White House horse to water – towards his regional End of Times ‘Great Victory’; a necessarily brutal war – beyond existing red lines and devoid of limits.

As symbolically significant as the Damascus attack is that the U.S., France and Britain – after a brief ‘hat tip’ to the Vienna Convention – refused to condemn the levelling of the Iranian Consulate, thus placing the shadow of doubt over the Vienna Convention’s immunity for diplomatic premises.

Implicitly, this refusal to condemn will be widely understood as a soft condoning of Israel’s first tentative step towards war with Hizbullah and Iran.

This Israeli chaotic ‘Biblical’ nihilism, however, bears no relationship in purely rational terms to Netanyahu’s aspiration for a ‘Great Victory’. The reality is that Israel has lost its deterrence. It won’t return; the deep anger across the Islamic world generated by Israel through its massacres in Gaza during the last six months precludes it.

Yet, there is a second, adjunct reason why Israel is set on deliberately flouting humanitarian law and norms: Israeli journalist, Yuval Abraham reports in +972 Magazine in great depth how Israel has developed a AI machine (called ‘Lavender’) to generate kill lists in Gaza – with almost no human verification; only a “rubber stamp” check of about “20 seconds” to make sure the AI target is male (as no females are known to belong to the Resistance’s military).

The blatant extra-legality behind the Gaza ‘kill list’ methodology, as reported by Abraham’s various sources, can only be immunised and sheltered through normalising them as but one amongst a general pattern of illegalities – and in effect, claiming sovereign exceptionalism:

“[T]he Israeli army systematically attacks the targeted individual whilst in their homes — usually at night whilst the whole family is present — rather than during the course of military activity … Additional automated systems, including one, [callously] called “Where’s Daddy?” were used – specifically to track targets when they had entered their family’s residences… However, when a home was struck, usually at night, the individual target was sometimes not inside at all”.

“The result is that thousands of Palestinians — most of them women and children or people who were not involved in the fighting — were wiped out by Israeli airstrikes, especially during the first weeks of the war, because of the AI program’s decisions”.

“”We were not interested in killing [Hamas] operatives when they were in a military building … or engaged in a military activity,” A., an intelligence officer, told +972 and Local Call. “On the contrary, the IDF bombed them in homes without hesitation – as a first option. It’s much easier to bomb a family’s home. The system is built to look for them in these situations”.

In addition … when it came to targeting alleged junior militants marked by Lavender, the army preferred to only use unguided missiles, commonly known as “dumb” bombs (in contrast to “smart” precision bombs) which can destroy entire buildings on top of their occupants and cause significant casualties. “You don’t want to waste expensive bombs on unimportant people — it’s very expensive for the country and there’s a shortage [of those bombs]”.

“… The army also decided during the first weeks of the war that, for every junior Hamas operative that Lavender marked, it was permissible to kill up to 15 or 20 civilians … in the event that the target was a senior Hamas official with the rank of battalion or brigade commander – the army on several occasions authorized the killing of more than 100 civilians in the assassination of a single commander”.

“Lavender — which was developed to create human targets in the current war — has marked some 37,000 Palestinians as suspected “Hamas militants”, most of them junior, for assassination (the IDF Spokesperson denied the existence of such a kill list in a statement to +972 and Local Call)”.

So, there it is – no wonder Israel might seek to camouflage the details within a normalised general array of transgressions against humanitarian law: “They wanted to allow us to attack [the junior operatives] automatically. That’s the Holy Grail. Once you go automatic, target generation goes crazy”.

it is not difficult to speculate what the ICJ might determine …

Does anyone imagine that this flawed Lavender AI machine would not be asked to churn out its kill lists, were Israel to decide to surge into Lebanon? (Another reason for normalising the procedures first in Gaza).

The key point made in the +972 Magazine report (with multiple sourcing) is that the IDF were not focussed on pin-point elimination of Hamas’ Qassam Brigades (as claimed):

“It was very surprising for me that we were asked to bomb a house to kill a ground soldier, whose importance in the fighting was so low”, said one source about the use of AI to mark alleged low-ranking militants:

“I nicknamed those targets ‘garbage targets.’ Still, I found them more ethical than the targets that we bombed just for ‘deterrence’ — high-rises that are evacuated and toppled just to cause destruction”.

This report makes clear nonsense of Israel’s claims to have dismantled 19 out of 24 Hamas Battalions: One source, critical of Lavender’s inaccuracy, points out the obvious flaw: “It’s a vague boundary”; How to tell a Hamas fighter from any other Gazan civilian male?

“At its peak, the system managed to generate 37,000 people as potential human targets”, said B. “But the numbers changed all the time, because it depends on where you set the bar of what a Hamas operative is. There were times when a Hamas operative was defined more broadly, and then the machine started bringing us all kinds of civil defence personnel, police officers, on whom it would be a shame to waste bombs”.

Just last week, War Cabinet member and Minister Ron Dermer, was delegated to travel to Washington to plead that the IDF success in dismantling 19 Hamas battalions justified an incursion into Rafah to dismantle the 4 to 5 battalions that Israel claims still remain in Rafah.

What is clear is that AI was a key Israeli tool to its Gaza ‘Victory’. Israel was going to sell a ‘smoke and mirrors story’ based on ‘Lavender’.

By contrast, Palestinians, who are aware of their quantitative inferiority, have a very different outlook: they switched to a new way of thinking that gives the simple act of resisting a civilisational meaning – a path to metaphysical victory (and quite possibly a kind of military victory), if not in their lifetimes, then for the Palestinian People, thereafter. This constitutes the asymmetrical nature of the conflict that Israel has never managed to understand.

Israel wants to be feared, believing this will restore its deterrence. Amira Hass writes that regardless of any revulsion for this government and its members: “The vast majority [of Israelis] still believe that war is the solution”. And Mairav Zonszein writing in Foreign Policy, notes that “The Problem Isn’t Just Netanyahu, It’s Israeli Society”:

“The focus on Netanyahu is a convenient distraction from the fact that the war in Gaza is not Netanyahu’s war, it is Israel’s war—and the problem isn’t only Netanyahu; it’s the Israeli electorate … A large majority—88 percent—of Jewish Israelis polled in January believe the astounding number of Palestinian deaths, which had surpassed 25,000 at the time, is justified. A large majority of the Jewish public also thinks that the [IDF] is using adequate or even too little force in Gaza … Putting all the blame on the prime minister misses the point. It disregards the fact that Israelis have long advanced, enabled, or come to terms with their country’s system of military occupation and dehumanization of Palestinians”.

Yet neither Israel, nor the U.S., has a comprehensive strategy for this mooted war. Israel’s approach is all tactical – claiming to have degraded Hamas; turning Gaza into a humanitarian hellscape and setting the scene for the “decisive plan” devised by Bezalel Smotrich for the Palestinians. Amira Hass again:

“Either agree to an inferior status, emigrate and be uprooted ostensibly voluntarily, or face defeat and death in a war. This is the plan now being carried out in Gaza and the West Bank – with most Israelis serving as active and enthusiastic accomplices, or passively acquiescing in its realisation”.

The U.S. ‘vision’ is also tactical (and far removed from reality) – Imagining the transformation of Gaza into a ‘Vichy collaborator’ statelet; imagining that political pressure by the French in Lebanon will force Hizbullah’s retreat from its ancestral lands in south Lebanon; and imagining that the Biden White House is able to achieve politically through pressure what Israel cannot do militarily.

The paradox is that, with Israel and the U.S. being dependent on an ‘image’ that has been confused with reality, this too works to Iran’s and the Resistance Front’s advantage. (As the old adage goes, ‘do not disturb an adversary who is making mistakes’).

April 10, 2024 Posted by | Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

13 April Online Zoom: Don’t pollute the sea any more! citizen meeting

A network of citizens centered in Fukushima who oppose the release of contaminated water into the ocean.

 Saturday, April 13, 2024 10:00-12:30

　　Using the online conference system ZOOM (application required)

Registration required: Please register below.
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8OSUhyNQQLSY-X2FCXTZOQ

(Language) Japanese/English (with consecutive interpretation)

(Cooperation) FoE Japan, Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World, No-News Asia Forum Japan

(Sponsor) Don’t pollute the sea any more! citizen meeting

On August 24, 2023, despite great concerns and voices of opposition from fishermen, citizens at home and abroad, scientists, and other countries, the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that the radioactive contamination caused by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident has been confirmed. They forced the dumping of water into the ocean.

I feel great anger and regret.

In times like this, what will give us strength is the voice of Fukushima and solidarity across borders.

“Don’t pollute the sea any more! Citizens’ Conference holds study sessions to connect with people in Japan and around the world.

Attorney Yuichi Kaito will speak about the “Litigation for an Injunction to Dump Radioactively Contaminated Water into the Ocean,” which began in March.

As our main guests, we will invite Fukushima fisherman Haruo Ono and folklorist Hide Kawashima to talk about the wonders of living with the ocean and their thoughts on dumping contaminated water into the ocean.

We will also receive messages of solidarity from people in the United States, the Philippines, and Australia.

Share new learnings and encouragement.

Please join us. We look forward to…………………………………………………..
more  https://ko-reumi.blogspot.com/

April 10, 2024 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Non-proliferation experts urge US to not support nuclear fuel project

By Thomson Reuters, Apr 4, 2024 , By Timothy Gardner, https://wtvbam.com/2024/04/04/non-proliferation-experts-urge-us-to-not-support-nuclear-fuel-project/

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nuclear proliferation experts who served under four U.S. presidents told President Joe Biden and his administration on Thursday that a pilot project to recycle spent nuclear fuel would violate U.S. nuclear security policy.

SHINE Technologies and Orano signed a memorandum of understanding in February to develop a U.S. plant to recycle, or reprocess, nuclear waste. It would have a capacity of 100 tonnes a year beginning in the early 2030s.

The project would violate a policy signed by Biden in March, 2023 that says civil nuclear research and development should focus on approaches that “avoid producing and accumulating weapons-usable nuclear material,” the experts said in a letter to the president.

“If such a facility were constructed in the United States, it would legitimize the building of reprocessing plants in other countries, thereby increasing risks of proliferation and nuclear terrorism,” they said.

Many non-proliferation advocates oppose reprocessing, saying its supply chain could be a target for militants seeking to seize materials for use in a crude nuclear bomb.

France and other countries have reprocessed nuclear waste by breaking it down into uranium and plutonium and reusing it to make new reactor fuel. A U.S. supply chain would likely be far longer than in those countries, non-proliferation experts say.

Former President Gerald Ford halted reprocessing in 1976, citing proliferation concerns. Former President Ronald Reagan lifted a moratorium in 1981, but high costs have prevented plants from opening.

The White House’s national security council and the National Nuclear Security Administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A SHINE spokesperson said its technology improves global safety and that “responsible recycling of spent fuel is the only known way to actually eliminate plutonium that has already been generated in fission reactors.”

An Orano USA spokesperson said: “It’s a blending of our expertise to develop a process that is sensitive and addresses non-proliferation concerns, but also gleans this viable commercial material.”

The letter was signed by 11 former U.S. officials including Thomas Countryman, who served under President Barack Obama, Robert Einhorn, who served under President Bill Clinton, Robert Galluci, who served under President George H.W. Bush, and Jessica Matthews, who served under former President Jimmy Carter.

The Biden administration believes nuclear energy to be critical in the fight against climate change. But the waste is kept in storage in pools and then thick casks at nuclear plants across the country as there is no permanent place to put it. The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, said in 2022, it is funding a dozen projects to reprocess the waste, with $38 million

April 10, 2024 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, reprocessing | Leave a comment

Past anti-nuclear activists speak out against current plans

Ryck Thill (Télé) adapted for RTL Today| 05.04.2024 https://today.rtl.lu/news/luxembourg/a/2184141.html

In the concluding segment of this mini-series, Luxembourg’s initial wave of anti-nuclear advocates reflect on contemporary nuclear energy proposals.

Presently, ten EU member states are engaged in discussions regarding the expansion of nuclear energy, with plans underway for new reactors or ongoing construction. Apart from France, the Netherlands, and Sweden, Eastern European nations are predominantly spearheading this push towards nuclear technology, viewing it as a potential environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels or a transitional solution.

However, physicist Claude Wehenkel voices apprehension over what he perceives as a resurgence of nuclear energy, particularly in light of recent announcements by French President Macron regarding the development of small, simpler, and more cost-effective reactors. Wehenkel raises concerns about the implications of scaling back nuclear power stations, emphasising unresolved issues surrounding waste treatment and storage.

Théid Faber, former president of the Ecological Movement, echoes these sentiments, noting that the proposed new type 4 nuclear reactors fail to address key challenges related to waste disposal and safety. Faber emphasises that the proliferation of smaller reactors may heighten risks compared to a smaller number of larger reactors. He argues that nuclear energy remains as problematic today as it was half a century ago.

Faber further critiques the economic inefficiency of nuclear energy, highlighting its dependence on state and EU interventions. Additionally, he points to contemporary concerns regarding the use of cooling water, especially amidst escalating climate change threats. Faber contends that longstanding arguments against nuclear energy remain as valid today as they were in the past.

Nuclear fusion: Elusive technology faces scepticism

Since the 1950s, nuclear fusion has been touted as a potential game-changer, yet doubts persist about its viability on an industrial scale.

Claude Wehenkel dismisses nuclear fusion as “entirely unsuitable” for large-scale implementation, citing decades of substantial investment without any real progress.

Roger Spautz of Greenpeace shares a similar sentiment, highlighting the extensive research and funding poured into nuclear fusion with little tangible outcome. Spautz predicts that significant advancements in fusion energy production are unlikely within the foreseeable future, casting doubts on its potential as a widespread energy source.

Recent controversial remarks by Prime Minister Luc Frieden sparked criticism, particularly regarding his stance on nuclear energy policies beyond Luxembourg’s borders. Ben Fayot, former president of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP), expresses concern over Frieden’s assertion that Luxembourg should remain indifferent to nuclear developments elsewhere. Fayot finds such remarks “appalling” and questions the Prime Minister’s dismissive attitude towards regional energy dynamics.

Following public backlash, Prime Minister Frieden clarified Luxembourg’s commitment to renewable energy initiatives. But as long as nuclear energy remains an issue in neighbouring countries, the controversial technology is certain to remain a pertinent issue for the inhabitants of the Grand Duchy as well.

April 10, 2024 Posted by | EUROPE, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Reports: 2 mishaps in LANL’s plutonium facility in one day

In two separate incidents on the same day last month, Los Alamos National Laboratory workers accidentally set off decontamination showers, causing flooding in the lab’s plutonium facility, and a technician stuffed radioactive wipes into a vest pocket and took them home, a government watchdog says. Reports: 2 mishaps in LANL’s plutonium facility in one day

April 10, 2024 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

Increased activity at nuclear test site in northern Russia: expert

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/04/5b04075ff3c8-increased-activity-at-nuclear-test-site-in-northern-russia-expert.html

Active construction has been seen at a nuclear test site in northern Russia since last year, raising the possibility that Moscow is preparing for a fresh nuclear test, a Japanese expert on the Russian military said Monday.

Citing analysis of satellite images, Yu Koizumi, associate professor at the University of Tokyo, said a large-scale facility presumed to be related to nuclear testing appears to be almost complete at the site on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic Sea.

Koizumi called the activities exceptional and said Russia could be preparing a subcritical nuclear test, which does not create an explosion.

He believes the move is “to intimidate European countries and the United States” over their support for Ukraine, which is at war with Russia.

Novaya Zemlya was the site of the Soviet Union’s around 130 nuclear tests, including in the atmosphere, underground and undersea, between 1955 and 1990.

Russia continued with subcritical nuclear tests on the island to enhance nuclear weapons and assess their capabilities, with the latest conducted in 2004.

Satellite images by space tech company Maxar Technologies Inc. and Earth imaging firm Planet Labs PBC, both of the United States, showed that works to construct the large facility got fully underway around last summer at the test site on the southern part of Novaya Zemlya, according to Koizumi.

The building, some 200 meters in length, is around double the size of other facilities in the area and was nearly complete in the Maxar images taken in early February, Koizumi said.

“It is highly likely that the facility was newly built for a (nuclear) test,” he said, adding a pile-up of materials around an airport suggests that the facility could be further enlarged.

At the same time, the images did not show any direct evidence of a nuclear test, Koizumi said, citing snow covering an entrance of a tunnel located around 3 kilometers from the nuclear site in the mountains, which could be used for a subcritical nuclear experiment.

In November last year, Russia revoked its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which bans all nuclear explosions, whether for military or peaceful purposes, in a move seen as its de facto exit from the treaty.

“We should seriously worry about Russia playing the card of a nuclear test,” Koizumi said.

April 10, 2024 Posted by | Russia, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Nuclear power plants in war zones: Lessons learned from the war in Ukraine

Joanna Przybylak, SECURITY and DEFENCE Quarterly, April 2024

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to examine the lessons learned till mid-2023 from the war in Ukraine to find out how attacking or seizing nuclear power plants (NPPs) can be utilised to advance military and political objectives during an armed conflict.

The qualitative research approach has been applied to the study, focusing on an analysis of academic research and relevant acts of international law. In order to examine Russia’s approach to the attacks against the Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia NPPs, numerous reports, official statements by the authorities, press releases, and Internet sources have been analysed.

For evaluation of nuclear security and safety standards in Ukraine, the “seven pillars” model proposed by the International Atomic Energy Agency has been adopted. The study indicates that strategically located NPPs can be used as “nuclear shields” for the occupying forces deployed at the plant or nearby. They may also become useful tools of “lawfare” waged with the use of flawed interpretations of international humanitarian law.

Finally, nuclear security-related narrations analysed in the paper clearly prove that seized NPPs can be effectively used in information warfare. The research leads to the conclusion that civil NPPs in war zones can be weaponised and exploited by the hostile forces not only for impeding energy supplies (and thus shattering the public morale of the adversary) but also for blackmailing and coercing the decisionmakers of the attacked state and their international allies with a vision of man-made nuclear disaster……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

more https://securityanddefence.pl/Nuclear-power-plants-in-war-zones-Lessons-learned-from-the-war-in-Ukraine,174810,0,2.html—

April 10, 2024 Posted by | safety, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Zaporizhzhia: Russia claims Ukrainian drone hit dome of nuclear powerplant.

 Zaporizhzhia: Russia claims Ukrainian drone hit dome of nuclear power
plant. Radiation levels at Russian-held nuclear plant remain normal and no
serious damage was reported. Russia has claimed a Ukrainian drone hit the
dome above the nuclear reactor at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on
Sunday.

 Evening Standard 7th April 2024

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/zaporizhzhia-ukraine-war-russia-nuclear-plant-drone-b1149957.html

April 10, 2024 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Finland: Grid Limitations Force Olkiluoto-3 to Curtail Output

 Energy Intelligence Group, Apr 5, 2024, Author Grace Symes, London

Finland’s 1,650 megawatt Olkiluoto-3 nuclear reactor has had to curtail
output more than a dozen times since it began regular electricity
generation in April 2023 due to Finnish electric grid limitations, as well
as low Finnish electricity prices and technical issues.

While Olkiluoto-3 has itself helped to lower these prices, Finland’s electric system does not
currently have enough resiliency to support such a large reactor, and
transmission system operator Fingrid has had to take special measures to
ensure that the Olkiluoto-3 EPR can operate near capacity.

These issues could call into question the rationale for building such a large reactor in
the first place.

https://www.energyintel.com/0000018e-a47c-d9cc-abce-ff7e089c0000

April 10, 2024 Posted by | ENERGY, Finland | Leave a comment

U.S. adds to the $1billion already granted to education for the nuclear industry

U.S. Department of Energy Awards $19.1 Million to Support Students and Faculty Advancing Nuclear Energy Technology

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced more than $19.1 million to support nuclear energy research and development, university nuclear infrastructure, and undergraduate and graduate education. Projects will help expand access to nuclear energy, moving the nation closer to meeting the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. ……………..

Since 2009, DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy has awarded almost $1 billion to advance nuclear energy research and support the education and training of future nuclear energy visionaries and leaders. Awards being announced today include: ……………………………………………………..  https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/us-department-energy-awards-191-million-support-students-and-faculty-advancing-nuclear

April 10, 2024 Posted by | Education, USA | Leave a comment