nuclear-news

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

Nuclear news – week to 25 February.

Some bits of good news. Nine Asian countries have halved child mortality since 2000.  The Global South is deploying renewables twice as fast as the Global North.  Arctic Cleanup removes 130 tons of trash and aims to improve trash cleanups worldwide

—very difficult now to stay off the subjects of Ukraine and Israel, but I have tried… (both are so on the nuclear brink)

TOP STORIES. Democrats want nothing to do with making peace in Ukraine and possibly preventing nuclear war.
President Trump Wants to Cut the Pentagon Budget in Half. How?Trump Looks to Correct a Disastrous 1990’s Mistake. 

Conveniently forgotten and ignored – the 8 years war in Ukraine up to 2022 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYKetrodpoY

From the archives. Restless radioactive remains are still stirring in Chernobyl’s nuclear tomb.

Climate, World’s glaciers melting faster than ever recorded.

Noel’s notes. A dramatic development in the Ukraine situation.

NUCLEAR ITEMS

ECONOMICS

MEDIA. Film Review- Special Operation: The Invasion of Chornobyl.
PERSONAL STORIES. Heartbreaking tale of American deformed by nuclear radiation who was abandoned and viewed as a ‘monster’.
POLITICS. French State Spars With EDF Over Multibillion-Euro Reactor Plan . UK Government Revisiting the nuclear roadmap Inquiry, UK’s first new nuclear site since the 1970s begins licensing. Starmer’s shortsighted push for more nuclear power. Louth MP welcomes council’s decision to pull out of nuclear waste dump group.
Greens opposed to nuclear power plant plans. UK to Partner with Big Tech on Nuclear Powered Data Centers . Technogarchy Goes to Washington..
POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY.
Amid ‘clear’ threat of nuclear war, Guterres tells Security Council multilateral off-ramp is essential.
Trump can’t denuclearize North Korea. South Korea’s next leader should pursue risk reduction instead.
Hating Trump no reason to oppose Trump Ukraine peace initiative.
SAFETY.
Incidents.  IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine.  Efforts continue to eliminate fires in Chernobyl shelter’s roof. Nuclear expert issues Chernobyl update after it emerges fires are still burning. Damage to Chernobyl shelter being assessed after drone strike – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC3Wz5oX68I
“Radioactive Russian Roulette” at San Onofre: Exposing Critical Safety Failures.
NFLA Policy Briefing 313: Correspondence with the Nuclear Regulator over AGR Extensions
.5.0-magnitude quake strikes off Japan’s Fukushima: JMA.
SECRETS and LIES. Burying The CIA’s Assange Secrets.
TECHNOLOGY. Dr. Gordon Edwards Testifies on the BWRX-300 Reactor Design Feb 9 2025.  Pioneering micro nuclear reactors to be built in Britain,
WASTES. Debris extracted from Fukushima nuclear plant revealed to media. 
So Called Small Modular Reactors Would Be Nuclear Nightmares.
Nuclear waste dump agency pumps money into community projects in Mablethorpe.
Ancient historic sites under threat from South Copeland nuke waste dump- ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2025/02/19/1-b-ancient-historic-sites-under-threat-from-south-copeland-nuke-waste-dump/NWMO closing Teeswater office, to dispose of DGR site lands.
WAR and CONFLICT. US Strategic Bombers Fly Near Gaza as Israel Threatens To Open ‘Gates of Hell’
WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. New Zealand’s Rocket Lab ‘ready to serve’ Pentagon.
Why it would be a bad idea for the Trump administration to conduct a “rapid” nuclear test.
Donald Trump wants to end nuclear weapons funding.

February 24, 2025 Posted by | Weekly Newsletter | Leave a comment

The IAEA comments on the state of Ukraine’s Nuclear Power Plants

The Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant has been relying on a single off-site power line for more than a week now after the other 9 have been taken offline due to the war – this single power line is critical to prevent massive radioactive releases at the site.

At the Chornobyl plant, firefighters are continuing to put out small fires that keep smouldering and spreading on the roof of the reactor shield hit by a Russian drone.

Ukraine’s other nuclear plants have continued to report frequent air raid alarms over the past week due to the presence of drones around the sites.  

https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/update-277-iaea-director-general-statement-on-situation-in-ukraine

February 24, 2025 Posted by | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

UK’s Hinkley Point C nuclear plant yet to attract new investors, says EDF boss .

 French energy group EDF has not yet found alternative investors for the
flagship Hinkley Point C nuclear project as a freeze in funding from its
Chinese partner places an “extra weight” on the debt-laden company.

Luc Rémont, chief executive of France’s state-owned electricity company,
said it had held talks during 2024 with “lots” of potential funders for
the Hinkley Point C project in Somerset, but was not yet able to proceed
with any of them. EDF was continuing to meet the financing costs but was
working to find alternative investors for the project with the support of
the British government, Rémont said, as the company reported its annual
results on Friday.

“In the current circumstances, the fact that our
partner CGN is not injecting any more capital into Hinkley Point
is . . . an extra weight for EDF,” he said, but added that the
project remained a potentially profitable investment.

His comments raise further questions for the future of Hinkley Point C, the first new nuclear
power station being built in the UK in a generation and a vital part of the
government’s plan to decarbonise power supplies. Hinkley Point C was
initially set to cost £18bn and to be completed in 2025, but the estimated
cost has since swelled to roughly £46bn in 2024 terms while the start date
has been pushed back to 2029 at the earliest, because of construction
delays.

EDF is developing the project with Chinese state-owned CGN as a
junior investment partner, which agreed to finance 33.5 per cent of the
original costs. However, CGN has balked at making further contributions to
help meet cost overruns after the UK government in November 2022 bought it
out of a sister project, Sizewell C in Suffolk, amid concerns about
China’s involvement in critical national infrastructure. Asked on
Thursday whether he was also interested in investing in Hinkley Point C,
Centrica’s chief executive Chris O’Shea said: “We clearly like
nuclear power. And I am open to any kind of conversation. “My focus at
the moment is on hopefully getting to a good place with Sizewell C.”

 FT 21st Feb 2025 https://www.ft.com/content/c546117d-1fbc-47c8-93a8-dd823311d2ac

February 24, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Debris extracted from Fukushima nuclear plant revealed to media

Friday, Feb. 21,  https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20250221_08/?fbclid=IwY2xjawInSAlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHSRSw2PSosgQ6p28ndBqzler46N1Sr9mAHZH_X5SQL5hfjsJ5Tr3M48JTg_aem_xXho8cY6EkFQUvxp6aOcZQNuclear fuel debris that was extracted from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant last year has been revealed to reporters for the first time.

The debris taken from the plant’s No.2 reactor consists of molten fuel mixed with surrounding structural components. The operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, successfully retrieved 0.7 grams of the material in its first test extraction operation through November last year.

The debris was first transferred to a research facility of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency in Oarai Town, Ibaraki Prefecture, for the initial analysis, including surface observation.

The researchers then split the debris into smaller pieces to be examined at five research facilities, including a large one in Hyogo Prefecture.

Reporters were given the opportunity to observe the samples, which were placed in two separate transparent containers at a facility in Ibaraki Prefecture. One container held a particle about 2 millimeters in size that appeared silver, while the other had multiple dark fragments.

So far, the researchers have detected uranium, which is contained in nuclear fuel, on the surface of the debris, as well as metals such as iron, which are believed to have come from the reactor’s structure.

The researchers plan to examine the characteristics of the debris, including its hardness and adhesiveness. They will also expose the samples to lasers to determine whether the uranium inside is prone to triggering a nuclear fission reaction.

The agency says it will use these analyses to evaluate potential methods for full-scale extraction of the debris, and to determine the risk of a renewed criticality event, in which a self-sustaining chain reaction could occur.

The agency plans to release the findings of the major analyses in the middle of this year.

Ogino Hideki, the chief engineer at the agency’s Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science, spoke to the reporters.

He said it is difficult to fully grasp the overall characteristics of the debris based on the ongoing analyses alone. But he expressed his commitment to contributing to the decommissioning efforts through analyzing the samples using the technology that he and his fellow researchers have developed.

It is estimated that there is a total of around 880 tons of fuel debris in the No. 1, 2 and 3 reactors.

February 24, 2025 Posted by | Fukushima continuing, wastes | Leave a comment

5.0-magnitude quake strikes off Japan’s Fukushima: JMA

TOKYO, Feb. 21 (Xinhua)  https://english.news.cn/20250221/1a62306993674102b4bf547c66308416/c.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawInSGJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHaLmlIJlO8LIDD4_tC9mDYzpZnPQTSalQEzW0hj-j5vNUxWQ8hVw_Wrelw_aem_JSAQL14AGKbnrwbZ10cXPA

— An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.0 struck off the northeastern Japanese prefecture of Fukushima on Friday, the country’s weather agency said.

The temblor occurred at around 10:01 p.m. local time at a depth of 50 km, measuring 4 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

The epicenter was located at a latitude of 37.5 degrees north and a longitude of 141.5 degrees east.

There was no tsunami warning, the JMA added

February 24, 2025 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

UK to Partner with Big Tech on Nuclear Powered Data Centers

By Felicity Bradstock – Feb 22, 2025

  • Prime Minister Starmer announced plans for a major nuclear power expansion across England and Wales, including the development of small modular reactors (SMRs).
  • The government aims to streamline regulations and partner with the private sector to accelerate nuclear technology development, despite concerns about costs and safety.
  • While nuclear power is seen as a key component of the UK’s clean energy transition,  there are debates about the practicality of SMRs and the potential distraction from renewable energy deployment.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. many are concerned that the development of the U.K.’s nuclear energy capacity could create a distraction from the deployment of renewable energy projects. In addition, many advocacy groups stress the existing delays in developing the U.K.’s nuclear energy sector, with companies having faced severe delays and cost increases in developing new nuclear projects in recent years. 

Industry experts warn that SMRs could be extremely expensive to develop and run. The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, which is investing in SMR development, has said that the technology “could have higher costs per MW compared to gigawatt-scale reactors”. There are also safety concerns, particularly as SMRs could be constructed on remote, non-conventional sites. This means that there must be rigorous regulations on the technology to mitigate any risk. 

 Oil Price 22nd Feb 2025, https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/UK-to-Partner-with-Big-Tech-on-Nuclear-Powered-Data-Centers.html

February 24, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Hating Trump no reason to oppose Trump Ukraine peace initiative.

Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL , 23 Feb 25

Some of my progressive comrades are bombarding social media in opposition to Trump’s peace plan to end the Russo Ukraine war. For the first 2 years, 11 months of America’s proxy war against Russia using Ukrainian cannon fodder, they were largely silent. They were loath to criticize President Biden and Vice President Harris, particularly during a presidential campaign. Their focus was laser like on domestic issues to prevent a return of the despised Trump to the presidency.

Trump not only won, he immediately pivoted to peace in Ukraine. He totally overturned the Biden war playbook. He announced Ukraine (really the US) had lost, must never join NATO, and not get back the Russian leaning Eastern Ukraine Russia annexed.

More. Trump announced a complete reset of the US Russia relationship to include diplomatic engagement and friendly relations with Russia that Biden had jettisoned during his entire term.

More again. Ending the war and reestablishing diplomatic relations will reduce the risk of nuclear war present for every one of the 1,095 days of this senseless war. It makes possible renewing the three nuclear treaties the US abandoned this century, two of them by Trump.

But instead of supporting this astonishing breakthrough, progressives have gone ballistic. They charge dictator wannabe Trump is selling out Ukrainian sovereignty, like Chamberlain did to Czechoslovakia at Munich in 1938. They claim this will allow Russia to recreate the Soviet Union, then march into Western Europe. Preposterous.

In doing so they ignore this war was provoked by Biden to weaken Russia. It would never have resulted in war had Biden honored Russia’s security concerns regarding no Ukraine NATO on Russia’s border.

Worse yet, progressives are blind to the fact that the war was lost on Day One when Biden announced the US would not participate with US military. Why? He wisely advised that would result in WWIII.

The result? Ukraine is on the brink of defeat, having upwards of a million dead or wounded. Over ten million have fled Ukraine for safer climes. Potential draftees are deserting en mass. The economy is on life support. President Zelensky cancelled elections, banned free press, outlawed the Russian Orthodox Church on his march to becoming dictator for the war’s duration. Once it’s over…so is Zelensky.

None of this made a dent in progressives till Trump demanded this madness end and followed thru arranging lightning fast negotiations with Russian leaders to end it. Then progressives surfaced to demonize Trump and his peace initiative. They have joined the most virulent pro war advocates in the Republican Party, the military, the media determined to sabotage the most hopeful development to end further destruction of Ukraine and depletion of US treasure.

Every progressive opposing Trump’s peace initiative enables another 500,000 dead Ukrainians, another $175 billion in squandered US treasure, and no end to Biden’s catastrophic and failed proxy war to weaken Russia.

Ponder that progressives.

February 24, 2025 Posted by | politics international, Ukraine, USA | 3 Comments