‘Tis the season to be fake about nuclear power, AI, plastic leaves, and a lot of other things

It was this charming picture of nuclear stooge Jennifer Granholm, on a background of plastic leaves, which prompted me to ponder on FAKENESS.
It really is an appropriate picture. She’s telling a lot of whopper lies about green nuclear energy as the cure for climate change.. And her cheating method is illustrated beautifully with those cheating plastic green leaves.
The picture popped up in Dawn Stover‘s superb article “AI goes nuclear“. Stover comprehensively explains the Big Tech Bros’ grandiose plans for spectacular growth of Artificial Intelligence, “hyperscale” data banks and big existing nuclear reactors, small not-yet-existing nuclear reactors, and not-yet existing nuclear fusion reactors.
Politicians, media and stooges like Jennifer Granholm go into orgasmic delight about all this excitement, and its undoubted progress for our lucky populace. But Stover reminds that:
“both the government and the tech industry are largely ignoring the known and significant downsides of nuclear power—including high costs, long construction times, accidents, nuclear weapons proliferation risks, and environmental contamination from uranium mining and radioactive waste disposal”.
It is so bizarre that the people are tamely allowing these tunnel-vision technopaths to run our energy systems, (and perhaps ultimately our lives) The most extreme sociopath of all, Elon Musk, is likely to be giving President Trump his orders, when that fateful new USA administration takes office. A government supposedly the servant of the American public, more likely to be the servant of very unreasonable “colonising Mars” ambitions, among the rest of the grandiose technology growth.
Fakeness has become so acceptable, as that green leaf wall above shows us. We know that plastic pollution is everywhere – in giant garbage gyres in the oceans, in tiny particles in our body organs. Yet we still accept more and more of fake plastic leaves, fake plastic Christmas trees, plastic everything.
There is a lot of fakery at this time – inordinate spending of money on completely unnecessary things, extravagant food and drink, and stuff in general – all of which is a pretty fake way to celebrate the birthday of Jesus – who taught ‘Do unto others as you would that they should do to you” . ‘Twould be less fake, if the prevailing Western culture were to make a special effort now, instead of consumer madness, -to help the disadvantaged, wherever they may be.
Most people are aware of the genuine Christmas message. Perhaps there will be a growing awareness of the culture of FAKE. Perhaps in 2025, there will be an awareness of the fakeness surrounding the “Tech Bros” and their nuclear+ AI obsession.
After polishing off Syria’s Assad, US has open road to Iranian regime change
Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL, 21 Dec 24
After the 911 attacks the US war party responded by declaring all out regime change on Middle East countries it deemed a threat to the Homeland.
Their coveted prize was the despised Iran, a potential hegemon rival to America’s revered allay Israel. America couldn’t realistically start off attacking large, powerful Iran or change out its hated regime. So it embarked on a multi country regime change tour, saving Iran for best and last.
America kicked off its Excellent Regime Change Tour by invading Afghanistan shortly after the September, 2001 attacks. The Taliban fell within weeks, But 20 years, several trillion in US treasure, 2,400 US soldiers killed and tens of thousands of injured later, the Taliban marched back to power after a humiliating US exit.
Next up was Iraq, invaded in March, 2003 under false pretenses that would have made Hitler proud. But the entire US media went along with this grotesque made up war which killed hundreds thousands including over 4,500 Americans.
Don’t forget America’s grisly regime change imposed on Libya’s strongman Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The US led a NATO offensive (from an ostensibly defensive alliance) to depose the hated Gaddafi. When Gaddafi was sodomized with a bayonet, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laughingly gloried “We came, we saw…he died.” All the US accomplished was turning Libya into a chaotic, failed state for the past 13 years.
In 2017 US General Wesley Clark, who led the US destruction of Serbia in the 90’s, summarized a Pentagon meeting on regime change thusly: “This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.”
It’s taking a tad longer than the US war party promised, but with Syria handed over to Jihadist terrorist Abu Mohammad al-Julani, the final regime change prize of Iran is in sight.
Incoming President Trump is a dedicated Iran hater who nearly stumbled into war with Iran during his presidency. Drafting his war cabinet from the ‘Get Iran’ farm team is not a hopeful sign for peace next year. But saving America’s most powerful Middle East regime change target could backfire spectacularly as Iran poses an immense threat to thousands of US troops in the region.
The US war party may be ecstatic about adding Iran to its regime change belt, but should ponder that wise aphorism, ‘Be careful what you covet… you just might get it.’
Martial Law Fiasco Casts Doubt Over Korea’s Nuclear Power Push
Enegy Connect, By Bloomberg, By Heesu Lee, Dec 16, 2024
— South Korea’s embrace of nuclear energy has been thrown into doubt as President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment case raises the possibility of the opposition coming to power and overhauling the nation’s broader energy strategy.
With Yoon suspended from office because of a botched attempt to impose martial law, his push to build more reactors at home and ramp up exports of Seoul’s nuclear technology is at risk of stalling, alongside a flagship oil and gas discovery. Stocks related to the nuclear sector and the drilling project have already suffered losses due to souring investor sentiment since the political crisis began.
Asia’s fourth-largest economy has pledged to curb emissions by 40% from 2018 levels by 2030 and, while Yoon has come out in support of nuclear, successive governments have been criticized for dragging their feet on adding more renewables like solar and wind. The country is due to update its climate targets by early next year, but the political upheaval has now complicated that.
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, Yoon’s most likely successor if he loses the impeachment case, is seen as more climate-friendly. During his campaign in the 2022 presidential election, which he narrowly lost, he pledged to expand renewables, bring forward the country’s 2050 net zero target by a decade, and pushed for stricter emissions targets with early phase-out of coal-fired power plants.
At the same time, he has opposed building new nuclear reactors but is set to allow the use of existing facilities. ……….
critics argued that Yoon’s nuclear-centric strategy sidelined the potential of renewable energy, which aligns more closely with global green initiatives. At the same time, his push for oil and gas exploration off the country’s east coast also faced a backlash from climate activists and opposition lawmakers, who claimed these policies undermine the decarbonization efforts of the world’s eighth-biggest emitter.
For now, all eyes are on South Korea’s Constitutional Court, which must decide whether or not to validate Yoon’s impeachment within 180 days. If it does, an election must be held for a new president within 60 days.
All this could delay the parliamentary approval needed for the country’s long-term energy roadmap plan…………………………………………..https://www.energyconnects.com/news/renewables/2024/december/martial-law-fiasco-casts-doubt-over-korea-s-nuclear-power-push/
Foreign company withdraws from plans for Swedish nuclear power.
South Korean KHNP has withdrawn from discussions with Vattenfall about possibly
building new nuclear power in Sweden. KHNP is one of three companies that
have been considered for building large-scale, conventional nuclear power
in Sweden. “The evaluation of other suppliers is progressing according to
plan,” writes Vattenfall to Ekot.
Swedish Radio 18th Dec 2024 https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/sydkoreanskt-foretag-hoppar-av-diskussioner-om-svensk-karnkraft
France’s most powerful nuclear reactor joins grid after €13bn holdup

RFI 20th Dec 2024
France’s flagship Flamanville nuclear reactor in Normandy was to start supplying electricity to homes on Friday when it’s reconnected to the power grid after a dozen costly years of technical setbacks.
…………………………………………. The start of the new generation European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) comes 12 years behind schedule after a slew of delays and cost overruns.
The cost of the project, initially estimated at €3.3 billion, has ballooned to over €13 billion.
A test run in September had to be interrupted after one day due to an “automatic shutdown”, before starting again days later.
Betting on nuclear
Flamanville 3 is the fourth EPR reactor in the world and the most powerful in France, with a capacity of 1,600 MW. It is the 57th reactor in the French nuclear fleet, which generates around three fifths of the country’s energy.
France continues to bet on nuclear as a way of providing relatively cheap and carbon-free electricity.
The government has committed to building six new-generation EPR2 reactors at a cost of tens of billions of euros, with plans to eventually increase this number to 14.
But questions remain about EDF’s ability to deliver on its ambitions. The energy giant is already heavily in debt, as is the French state – EDF’s sole shareholder……………………………… https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20241220-france-s-most-powerful-nuclear-reactor-joins-grid-after-%E2%82%AC13bn-holdup-flamanville
Starmer backs minister accused of embezzling billions in Bangladesh
Tulip Siddiq denies claims that she brokered corrupt deal with Russia to build nuclear power plant.
Keir Starmer has given his full support to Tulip Siddiq, the Treasury
minister, after Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission accused her and
family members of embezzling billions as part of a deal for a nuclear power
plant. Siddiq, whose role as economic secretary to the Treasury includes
responsibility for tackling financial corruption.
She has denied any involvement in the claims. While Downing Street strongly defended her, it
is another headache for Starmer after a turbulent few months that included
the sudden departure of another minister, the former transport secretary
Louise Haigh.
Guardian 19th Dec 2024m https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/dec/19/labour-minister-accused-of-involvement-in-embezzling-billions-in-bangladesh
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