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The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Nuclear news and more – week to 10 September

Some bits of good news – Norway’s Forests Have More Than Tripled in a Hundred Years.  Zimbabwe’s endangered black rhinos are finally making a comeback.  LIXIL-UNICEF partnership improves sanitation and hygiene for 12.7 million people.
TOP STORIES.

Starmer permanently ties UK nuclear arsenal to Washington.

The billions for Sizewell C show Labour’s shameful nuclear hypocrisy.

The US empire is hidden in plain sight.       The US Empire Can Exist Only In A Continuous State Of Mass Military Violence. 

Climate. Summer 2024 was world’s hottest on record.    African nations are losing up to 5% of their GDP per year with climate change, a new report says.      ‘Dangerously hot’ weather roasts US west as brutal summer continues.

Noel’s notes. Yah wouldn’t know it was happening – USA military might and toxic nuclear waste quietly infiltrating Australia? The Anglophone nations ganging up to dominate the rest of the world, mindlessly obeying the USA.

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    AUSTRALIA  Basing US Nuclear Subs at Stirling on Garden Island makes Western Australia a nuclear target, while risking “catastrophic conditions” in a N-Sub reactor accident.            Submission- G.H. Toll -re new agreement on  Naval Nuclear Propulsion- Australia should pursue an independent non aligned foreign policy.      The massive new projects propelling South Australia towards 100 per cent net renewables.         More Australian news headlines at https://antinuclear.net/2024/09/05/australian-nuclear-news-headlines-sept-5-9/


NUCLEAR ITEMS

CLIMATE. Developing a plan B for nuclear power in Washington, to cope with global heating.ECONOMICS. “Subsidy for UK nuclear build calls funding into question”.

NuScale Power: Cash Burn, Dilution And Insider Selling.		ENERGY. South Australia is aiming for 100% renewable energy by 2027. It’s already internationally ‘remarkable’ Renewables beat nuclear – even with full balancing included.
ENVIRONMENT. How much water does nuclear really need?  ALSO AT https://antinuclear.net/2024/09/05/2-a-how-much-water-does-nuclear-really-need/EVENTS. 20 -22 September #NoWar2024 Conference: Resisting the USA’s Military Empire. 21-22 September. Peace, Nature and Co-operation in the Baltic and Arctic. International Online/Offline Conference & Round Table DiscussionsHEALTH. Leukaemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma mortality after low-level exposure to ionising radiation in nuclear workers (INWORKS): updated findings from an international cohort study.
HISTORY. Declassified files reveal plans for nuclear power plant in Tyrone, Northern Ireland.LEGAL. An arms embargo on Israel is not a radical idea — it’s the law.MEDIA. Chernobyl Roulette by Serhii Plokhy review – gripping account of wartime chaos at Ukraine’s nuclear plant.
Physicist MV Ramana on the problem with nuclear power,
POLITICS.Israel’s plan for Gaza comes into view .
Inside UK Labour’s plans for a new nuclear age -ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/09/05/1-b1-inside-uk-labours-plans-for-a-new-nuclear-age/ A staggering £5.5bn more of UK taxpayers’ money to be thrown at this white elephant, Sizewell C nuclear.  Ed Miliband considers scrapping planned nuclear plant. Ynys Môn MP calls for UK Government clarity on Wylfa site. Will new UK nuclear power station plan be scrapped?
SNP activists whoop as leader John Swinney tells party conference an independent Scotland will give up nuclear deterrent and rejoin the EU.
Controversy Surrounds Kazakhstan’s Nuclear Referendum,		POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY.
Iran desperately needs a nuclear deal to save its battered economy.

Netanyahu to Biden…’We can’t complete the genocidal ethnic cleaning of Gaza without you.’

Japan PM hopeful Kono calls for US assurances to deter nuclear ambitions.
RADIATION. Rare photos show Earth’s fatal hotspot that can kill any human standing nearby in just five minutes.

The scientific nature of the linear no-threshold (LNT) model used in the system of radiological protection.		SAFETY.Seismic Showdown Coming at Diablo Canyon.AEA’s Grossi says Zaporizhzhia cooling tower likely to be demolished.
New images raise concerns over state of UK nuclear submarines.
Former Palisades engineering director has misgivings about the plant’s historic restart effort.
SECRETS and LIES. ICC prosecutor says world leaders ‘threatened’ him over Israel arrest warrants.
Boris Johnson faces ‘serious questions’ over new business with uranium entrepreneur.

Victoria Nuland, former US deputy secretary of state, confirms West told Zelensky to abandon peace deal.		SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS.
Whoopsie, SpaceX Blew Up Two Rockets and Punched a Massive Hole in One of Earth’s Layers
ECHNOLOGY.Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) in Canada.
Delays, debts and false promises — inside France’s nuclear nightmare – ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/09/06/2-a-delays-debts-and-false-promises-inside-frances-nuclear-nightmare/

Why nuclear-powered commercial ships are a bad idea.
France still faces problems in starting up long-delayed super-expensive Flamanville nuclear reactor.
France’s newest nuclear reactor shuts itself down.
Nuclear Fusion’s public-relations drive is obscuring the challenges that lie ahead.		WASTES.
Complex compensation scheme represents tacit admission that nuke dump causes blight.

Which rural area will take the UK’s nuclear waste?

A robot resumes mission to retrieve a piece of melted fuel from inside a damaged Fukushima reactor.

TEPCO restarts debris extraction attempt at Fukushima plant.
WAR and CONFLICT.
 America’s New Nuclear War Plan: Time to Panic? | Amb. Jack Matlock, Col. Larry Wilkerson, Ted Postol.

Project 2025’s stance on nuclear testing: A dangerous step back.

Netanyahu ‘torpedoed’Palestinian peace talks – CNN.

9700 Ukrainian Soldiers Killed Invading Russia.		WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES.Nuclear Roulette: The U.S. Nuclear Employment Guideline. US arms advantage over Russia and China threatens stability, experts warn. White House pushes for AUKUS to move to ‘pillar two’ weapons focus.
Ukrainian Tipping Points: UPDATE.

Israeli Official: Without US Aid, Israel Couldn’t Sustain Gaza Operations for More Than a Few Months . Israel’s nuclear arsenal poses major threat to global peace’. UK suspends 30 arms exports to Israel over Gaza war crimes concerns.
South Africa halts artillery shells to Poland over fears they will be used against Russia.Indian nuclear weapons, 2024.
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un says country to increase number of nuclear weapons, KCNA says.

September 10, 2024 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Victoria Nuland, former US deputy secretary of state, confirms West told Zelensky to abandon peace deal

Comment: Nuland confirms what was already known. The reason the conflict is ongoing is because the US wanted it to be so.

 https://www.rt.com/news/603708-ukraine-istanbul-us-nuland/ 9 Sept 24

Ukraine-Russia talks fell apart after Kiev asked foreign backers for advice, the former US deputy secretary of state has said.

The US, UK and other backers of Ukraine told Kiev to reject the deal reached at the 2022 Istanbul peace talks with Russia, former US under secretary of state Victoria Nuland has said.

In an interview with Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar, former editor-in-chief of the liberal news channel Dozhd, which aired on Thursday, Nuland was asked to comment on reports that the peace process between Moscow and Kiev in late March and early April 2022 collapsed after then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson traveled to Ukraine and told Vladimir Zelensky to keep fighting.

“Relatively late in the game the Ukrainians began asking for advice on where this thing was going and it became clear to us, clear to the Brits, clear to others that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s main condition was buried in an annex to this document that they were working on,” she said of the deal being discussed by the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Türkiye’s largest city.

The proposed agreement included limits on the kinds of weapons that Kiev could possess, as a result of which Ukraine “would basically be neutered as a military force,” while there were no similar constraints on Russia, the former diplomat explained.

“People inside Ukraine and people outside Ukraine started asking questions about whether this was a good deal and it was at that point that it fell apart,” Nuland said.

The veteran diplomatic hawk, who during her time in the State Department was renowned for her hostility towards Russia, quit the post of under secretary of state for political affairs in March this year. Nuland played a key role in the violent Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014, which toppled Ukraine’s democratically elected president, Viktor Yanukovich.

During the escalation between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022, she called for deeper US involvement in the conflict and advocated for Ukraine to be armed with increasingly sophisticated weapons. However, in February, the 63-year-old essentially acknowledged the failure of her longstanding policy of containing Moscow, telling the CNN that modern Russia had turned out to be “not the Russia we wanted”

During her conversation with Zygar, Nuland confirmed that both Moscow and Kiev were eager to seek a diplomatic solution a month after the outbreak of the fighting.

“Russia had an interest at that time in at least seeing what it could get. Ukraine, obviously, had an interest if they could stop the war and get and get Russia out,” she said.

US officials “were not in the room” during the talks in Istanbul, only offering Kiev “support” in case it were needed, she claimed.

Putin said last week that the only reason the Istanbul deal failed was because of “the wish of the elites in the US and some European nations to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia,” adding that Boris Johnson served as the messenger to quash the peace process.

The negotiations in Türkiye yielded a draft agreement, which would have ended the hostilities, Putin recalled. Kiev was willing to declare military neutrality, limit its armed forces, and vow not to discriminate against ethnic Russians. In return, Moscow would have joined other leading powers in offering Ukraine security guarantees, he stressed.

According to the Russian leader, talks with Kiev are still possible, but can only happen “not on the basis of some ephemeral demands but on the basis of the documents that were agreed and actually initialized in Istanbul.”

September 10, 2024 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, Ukraine, USA | Leave a comment

A robot resumes mission to retrieve a piece of melted fuel from inside a damaged Fukushima reactor

The goal of the operation is to bring back less than 3 grams (0.1 ounce) of an estimated 880 tons of fatally radioactive molten fuel that remain in three reactors.

An operation to send an extendable robot into one of three damaged reactors at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to bring back a tiny gravel of melted fuel debris has resumed, nearly three weeks after its earlier attempt was suspended due to a tech…

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press, September 10, 2024,  https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/robot-resumes-mission-retrieve-piece-melted-fuel-inside-113538057

An extendable robot on Tuesday resumed its entry into one of three damaged reactors at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to retrieve a fragment of melted fuel debris, nearly three weeks after its earlier attempt was suspended due to a technical issue.

The collection of a tiny sample of the spent fuel debris from inside of the Unit 2 reactor marks the start of the most challenging part of the decadeslong decommissioning of the plant where three reactors were destroyed in the March 11, 2011, magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami disaster.

The sample-return mission, initially scheduled to begin on Aug. 22, was suspended when workers noticed that a set of five 1.5-meter (5-foot) add-on pipes to push in and maneuver the robot were in the wrong order and could not be corrected within the time limit for their radiation exposure, the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said.

The pipes were to be used to push the robot inside and pull it back out when it finished. Once inside the vessel, the robot is operated remotely from a safer location.

The robot, nicknamed “telesco,” can extend up to about 22 meters (72 feet), including the pipes pushing it from behind, to reach its target area to collect a fragment from the surface of the melted fuel mound using a device equipped with tongs that hang from the of the robot.

The mission to obtain the fragment and return with it is to last about two weeks.

The mix-up, which TEPCO called a “basic mistake,” triggered disappointment and raised concerns from officials and local residents. Industry Minister Ken Saito ordered TEPCO President Tomoaki Kobayakawa a thorough investigation of the cause and preventive steps before resuming the mission.

The pipes were brought into the Unit 2 reactor building and pre-arranged at the end of July by workers from the robot’s prime contractor and its subsidiary, but their final status was never checked until the problem was found.

TEPCO concluded the mishap was caused by a lack of attention, checking and communication between the operator and workers on the ground. By Monday, the equipment was reassembled in the right order and ready for a retrial, the company said.

The goal of the operation is to bring back less than 3 grams (0.1 ounce) of an estimated 880 tons of fatally radioactive molten fuel that remain in three reactors. The small sample will provide key data to develop future decommissioning methods and necessary technology and robots, experts say.

The government and TEPCO are sticking to a 30 to 40-year cleanup target set soon after the meltdown, despite criticism it is unrealistic. No specific plans for the full removal of the melted fuel debris or its storage have been decided.

September 10, 2024 Posted by | Fukushima continuing, wastes | Leave a comment

Project 2025’s stance on nuclear testing: A dangerous step back

By Tom Armbruster | September 6, 2024,
https://thebulletin.org/2024/09/project-2025s-stance-on-nuclear-testing-a-dangerous-step-back/

There are few places more peaceful than a Pacific island. At 6:45 am on a March morning in 1954, that peace was shattered by the largest nuclear test in American history: Operation Bravo.

The Bravo test was a thousand times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. Now, 70 years later, Project 2025 is proposing a resumption of testing. That should alarm every military service member, downwinder, Pacific Islander, and taxpayer.

As US Ambassador to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, I joined in the solemn observance of “Remembrance Day,” the Marshallese national holiday that pays tribute every March 1 to those who lost their homeland, fell victim to cancer, or were otherwise affected by the Bravo shockwave and fallout.

The shorthand for the 67 nuclear tests from 1946 to 1958, including two undersea tests that wiped out rich Pacific marine life, is the “Nuclear Legacy.” It would be more accurate to call it the “Nuclear Wound.” The tests on Bikini, Enewetak, and Kwajalein wounded the land and the ocean, the people—both Marshallese and American servicemen—and the relationship between our two countries. Healing is marked in decades, if not centuries.

We’ve had the nuclear tiger by the tail for a long time. No leader of any country would want their legacy to be the use of such indiscriminate and destructive weapons. When I joined the Foreign Service from Hawaii, Ronald Reagan was President. A chance for nuclear disarmament came and went with his summit with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavik. Today, the Soviet Union is gone but nuclear weapons are still here. We’ve made progress, but Reagan’s vision of a nuclear-free world remains out of reach. Until we achieve that goal, maintaining a test ban is in everyone’s interest. It is part of the legacy we leave our children.

I’ve stood on the Runit Dome concrete cap that covers the nuclear scrap that was bulldozed into a pit. That is also part of the legacy. As Nuclear Affairs Officer at the US Embassy in Moscow, I also visited some of the vast Russian nuclear architecture. I joined the late Sen. Pete Domenici (R-New Mexico) on a trip to Arzamas-16, a once-secret Russian nuclear city now known as Sarov. We saw abandoned ballrooms with torn curtains and dusty grand pianos, a testament to the empty result of spending on nuclear weapons. A waste of millions of dollars, rubles, or whatever currency used by the nuclear actor.

On page 431, Project 2025 calls for the United States to “Reject ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and indicate a willingness to conduct nuclear tests in response to adversary nuclear developments if necessary. This will require that the National Nuclear Security Administration be directed to move to immediate test readiness… .”

The Project 2025 proposal is a tremendous step backwards. We should be negotiating further cuts in the world’s nuclear arsenals, a prohibition of weapons in outer space, and cleanup of the “legacy” test sites around the world. It would help if Russia were a responsible partner in denuclearization but sadly that is not the case. We could be working together to find ways to mend the planet, rather than inflict further damage that will last for thousands of years.

The planet is resilient. Even sharks have returned to Bikini, although the sons and daughters of those displaced by testing have not. Pacific Islanders would never allow a return to testing in the Pacific, but no one on Earth should ever wake up again to a test like Bravo.

September 10, 2024 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Renewables beat nuclear – even with full balancing included

RENEW EXTRA WEEKLY, 9 Sept 24

A new Danish study comparing nuclear and renewable energy systems (RES) concludes that, although nuclear systems require less flexibility capacity than renewable-only systems, a renewable energy system is cheaper than a nuclear based system, even with full backup: it says ‘lower flexibility costs do not offset the high investment costs in nuclear energy’. 

It’s based on a zero-carbon 2045 smart energy scenario for Denmark, although it says its conclusions are valid elsewhere given suitable adjustments for local conditions. ‘The high investment costs in nuclear power alongside cost for fuel and operation and maintenance more than tip the scale in favour of the Only Renewables scenario. The costs of investing in and operating the nuclear power plants are simply too high compared to Only Renewables scenario, even though more investment must be put into flexibility measures in the latter’. 

In the Danish case, it says that ‘the scenario with high nuclear implementation is 1.2 billion EUR more expensive annually compared to a scenario only based on renewables, with all systems completely balancing supply and demand across all energy sectors in every hour.’ It goes on ‘to achieve a more cost-efficient system based predominantly on nuclear power- the investment costs would have to drop to 1.55 MEU/MW. This is significantly below any current or future cost projection for nuclear power. Such a high cost-margin indicates that a combination of low-cost RES and sector coupling presents a cost-effective energy transition making it very hard for nuclear power to deliver a competitive alternative’…………………………………………………………………………….

Interestingly, in the UK context, Lord Turner, Chair of the UK Energy Transitions Commission, has also said that costly new nuclear plants may not be needed for net zero, since there are cheaper, low-carbon alternatives that could back up intermittent renewables. Hydrogen fuel or gas power plants fitted with CCS could fill the gap when wind or solar was not enough to keep the lights on. ‘I don’t think it is the case that you  need new nuclear to balance the system. The systems of the future don’t absolutely need a base load.’ The power system ‘can work on a combination of intermittent variable renewables, wind & solar plus some hydro. I think the challenge for new nuclear is that  it is just expensive. Bluntly, new nuclear can play very little role in a 2030 target.’

Well maybe that’s why there seems to have been some second thoughts about the new EPR reactor proposed for Sizewell in the UK, with the final investment decision for the Sizewell C nuclear plant evidently facing delays. Initially, EDF, the project’s developer, aimed to secure funding by the end of this year, but the timeline may now extend into 2025.

The prospect for nuclear do seem a bit uncertain, with the case for it these day relying in part on the claim that it can back up renewables and help avoid climate change.  But that also seems to be uncertain, as is argued in a new comprehensive review of nuclear issues by academics from Germany and Finland, arguing that it has no role to play in responding to climate change. It says that it is ‘not a sustainable and affordable source of energy for the low-carbon energy transformation’ given its ‘cost-intensive nature, coupled with safety considerations’. And crucially it says that it is ‘characterized by very long construction times, and even longer developments of new technical generations, too far away and uncertain to contribute to climate change mitigation anytime soon’. 

 In addition ‘from an energy system perspective, nuclear power is not compatible with a system based on renewables, but rather hinders its expansion. Last but not least, nuclear power is particularly unfavorable in a future with higher temperatures and weather extremes and more military threats’. 

That sounds pretty damning, even leaving aside radioactive waste handing, and also weapons proliferation and terrorism-related issues, with, as Prof. Ramana discusses in his recent powerful overview book ‘Nuclear is not the solution’, in addition to its other problems, reliance on civil nuclear power making ‘catastrophic nuclear war more likely’. Even if, hopefully, we can avoid that, there are still concerns about nuclear blackmail. And all this just to generate expensive energy.  

Yes, going for renewables does mean we have invest in flexible balancing technology and energy storage, but that is cheaper overall and it also getting even cheaper, with many new options emerging. As Ramana says, to balance the variability of renewables, ‘we must invest in a mix of renewable energy technologies across various regions, and in battery and other storage technologies to store excess energy. In addition, we need to shape electricity demand to more closely match supply.’ In common with the German and Finnish researchers, he too sees that as the way ahead. https://renewextraweekly.blogspot.com/2024/09/renewables-beat-nuclear-even-with-full.html

September 10, 2024 Posted by | EUROPE, renewable | Leave a comment

Will new UK nuclear power station plan be scrapped?

The Energy Secretary has reportedly directed officials to review the nation’s nuclear plans, including the proposed plant at Wylfa in Anglesey

Dimitris Mavrokefalidis, 09/08/2024, https://www.energylivenews.com/2024/09/08/will-new-uk-nuclear-power-station-plans-be-scrapped/

The government’s plan to build a new nuclear power station in Wales is reportedly under review.

According to The Telegraph, the Energy Secretary has asked officials to reassess future nuclear projects, which puts the planned plant at Wylfa, Anglesey, in question.

The review will also examine the previous target to reach 24 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2050, set under Boris Johnson.

There are concerns that these plans were rushed before the last general election.

Minister for Nuclear Lord Hunt wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter): “Great British Nuclear has recently acquired the Wylfa site in Anglesey along with the Oldbury site in Gloucestershire.

“No decisions have yet been taken on the projects and technologies to be deployed at sites and any decision will be made in due course.”

Energy Live News has contacted the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero for comment.

Earlier this week, Ynys Môn MP Llinos Medi urged the UK Government to give definitive commitments and timelines for the Wylfa site and Wales’ overall energy strategy.

During a debate on the Great British Energy Bill on 5th September, Ms Medi emphasised the region’s significant natural energy resources and expressed frustration with the continued political uncertainty around the Wylfa nuclear project.

September 10, 2024 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Whoopsie, SpaceX Blew Up Two Rockets and Punched a Massive Hole in One of Earth’s Layers

We learned something, though. By Darren Orf Sep 05, 2024

  • In mid-November 2023, a disastrous SpaceX launch, which saw the explosion of not one but two rockets, offered a rare opportunity to study the effects of such phenomena on the ionosphere.
  • A study by Russian scientists revealed how this explosion temporarily blew open a hole in the ionosphere stretching from the Yucatan to the southeastern U.S.
  • Although far from the first rocket-induced disturbance in the ionosphere, this is one of the first explosive events in the ionosphere to be extensively studied.

November 18, 2023, wasn’t a great day for the commercial spaceflight company SpaceX. While testing its stainless steel-clad Starship, designed to be the company’s chariot to Mars, the spacecraft exploded four minutes after liftoff over the skies of Boca Chica, Texas.

Filling a metal candle with more than a thousand tons of propellant and flinging it into outer space has always run its fair share of risks (and explosions), but this particular event—occurring around 93 miles above the Earth’s surface—allowed scientists to closely study one poorly understood aspect of human spaceflight: What damage do rockets inflict on the Earth’s all-too-important ionosphere?

Lying at the edge of the planet’s atmosphere and outer space some 50 to 400 miles above the surface, the ionosphere is a sea of electrically charged particles vital to global radio and GPS technologies as well as protecting us from harmful solar rays. Because of its important role in the everyday function of modern society, scientists are eager to understand how disturbances in the ionosphere can impact life on Earth, and that’s why team of researchers from institutes and universities in Russia and France analyzed the explosion of the tallest and most powerful rocket ever built. The results were published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Although bad news for SpaceX, the explosion oddly presented a rare opportunity to study aspects of the ionosphere that would, under normal conditions, be too weak to detect……………………………………………………………………………………………..https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a62047078/starship-explosion-ionosphere/

September 10, 2024 Posted by | space travel | Leave a comment