Between a rock and a hard place: How will US nuclear power compete with cheap shale gas?
So, where do you spend the money – on costly upgrades to reactors that cannot be guaranteed as sound, or on cheap gas, which cannot be guaranteed to be climate friendly unless combined with extensive deployment of carbon capture and storage technology?
Image source : Nuclear, oil, gas or coal? Pick your energy poison (3/21/2011 USA Today)
http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2013/nuclear%20and%20fracking
19/02-2013
A recent decision by US giant Duke Energy to shutter instead of repair the Crystal River nuclear plant in Florida could signal the shutdown of other older reactors as low shale gas prices undercut the cost of atomic energy plants, making investment in their upkeep bad economics
Several energy analysts postulate many more aged reactors could follow, unable to compete with cheaper natural gas installations.
But the environmental questions this entails are many: How will spreading shale gas recovery affect the environment? Where will orphaned US coal supplies go?
“What we are experiencing is that the coal mining industry is ramping up exports to Europe and even Asia,” said Bellona advisor Svend Søyland. “Several new export terminals are on the drawing board.”
From the touchy nuclear angle, can the US Government afford a raft of reactor decommissionings? And where will the 64,500 tons of spent nuclear fuel the US has already accrued be stored long-term – a question no country on earth has been able to answer?
Environmentally, many will enthusiastically greet nuclear shutdowns, despite the unresolved challenge of a permanent repository for nuclear waste.
But that enthusiasm is somewhat dampened when the booming shale gas industry is the alternative. The methane leaks at these gas sources are not yet properly assessed and the oil and gas industry thus far have been allowed to operate them with weak regulation decided on a state by state basis.
These methane leaks could outweigh the climate benefit of naural gas. Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas that is far more effective than CO2 at trapping heat. The same mass of methane would trap 72 times more heat than carbon dioxide over 20 years.
Shale gas a transitional energy source at best
“The US shale gas revolution on one hand is good because it replaces coal power and old nuclear plants,” said Nils Bøhmer, Bellona’s general manager and nuclear physicist. “But it should also put a big emphasis onmethane emissions associated with the production of Shale Gas.”
Bøhmer said Germany was managing a total phase out by 2022 of nuclear power by concentrating on the development of renewable energy sources.
“Shale gas cannot be an end goal in itself,” said Bøhmer. “The US must focus on the development of renewable energy lest it find itself far behind the rest of the world should shale gas demand spike, making it a no longer economically viable alternative.”
Bellona Advisor Keither Whiriskey added that, “Rapidly increasing demand for shale gas will quickly erode present cost advantage.”
Repair costs versus gas plant construction
Japan, Kazakhstan to work on building nuclear plants and defrauding voters??
Earlier this month, Japanese automobile firm Toyota announced it would launch a factory to produce SUVs in northern Kazakhstan.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013 –
Japan Atomic Power Co. signed on Monday an agreement with a Kazakh nuclear research facility to develop nuclear plants in the Central Asian state.
The Japanese firm reached the agreement with the National Nuclear Center, a research facility under state-operated nuclear firm Kazatomprom, Kaznex Invest reported Monday.
Kazakhstan, the world’s top exporter of nuclear fuel uranium, had been negotiating with Russian nuclear firm Rosatom to build Kazakhstan’s first nuclear plant.
As late as June 2012, Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko said that the Russian nuclear agency was still waiting on Kazakhstan to choose a site for the nuclear site.
Image source : Kazakhstan’s ‘dirty’ election keeps Nursultan Nazarbayev in seat of power
see also,
According to the new agreement signed with Japan, the two countries will work together to build and launch nuclear plants and train personnel.
Japan also signed an agreement to enter a joint project to develop the Kokten-Kol deposit for tungsten and molybdenum.
“Talks on an investment accord between Japan and Kazakhstan saw a substantive agreement,” the Japanese foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.
“Kazakhstan has abundant reserves of rare metals, rare earths, oil and natural gas, and Japanese companies have shown strong interest in advancing into the country.”
Earlier this month, Japanese automobile firm Toyota announced it would launch a factory to produce SUVs in northern Kazakhstan.
Wind Surpasses Nuclear in China
19 Febuary 2013
Earth Policy Institute
Wind has overtaken nuclear as an electricity source in China. In 2012, wind farms generated 2 percent more electricity than nuclear power plants did, a gap that will likely widen dramatically over the next few years as wind surges ahead. Since 2007, nuclear power generation has risen by 10 percent annually, compared with wind’s explosive growth of 80 percent per year.
Before the March 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan, China had 10,200 megawatts of installed nuclear capacity. With 28,000 megawatts then under construction at 29 nuclear reactors—19 of which had begun construction since 2009—officials were confident China would reach 40,000 megawatts of nuclear power by 2015 and perhaps 100,000 megawatts by 2020. The government’s response to the Fukushima disaster, however, was to suspend new reactor approvals and conduct a safety review of plants in operation and under construction.
When authorities finally lifted the moratorium on approvals in October 2012, it was with the stipulation that going forward only “Generation-III” models that meet stricter safety standards would be approved. China has no experience in operating these more advanced models; several of the Generation-III reactors it has currently under construction are already facing delays due to post-Fukushima design changes or supply chain issues.
Over the course of 2011 and 2012, China connected four reactors with a combined 2,600 megawatts of nuclear generating capacity, bringing its total nuclear installations to 12,800 megawatts. Although officials still claim that China will reach 40,000 megawatts of nuclear capacity in 2015, the current pace of construction makes this appear increasingly unlikely. China’s inexperience with Generation-III reactors also casts doubt on its prospects for achieving what the government now sees as a more reasonable 2020 goal, some 70,000 megawatts.
The outlook for wind in China is much more promising. Wind developers connected 19,000 megawatts of wind power capacity to the grid during 2011 and 2012, and they are expected to add nearly this much in 2013 alone. An oft-cited problem for China’s wind energy sector has been the inability of the country’s underdeveloped electrical grid to fully accommodate fast-multiplying wind turbines in remote, wind-rich areas. Recent efforts to expand and upgrade the grid have improved the situation: by the end of 2012, 80 percent of China’s estimated 75,600 megawatts of wind capacity were grid-connected.
China should easily meet its official target of 100,000 megawatts of grid-connected wind capacity by 2015. Looking further ahead, the Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association (CREIA) sees wind installations soaring to at least 200,000 megawatts by 2020. With the seven massive “Wind Base” mega-complexes now under construction in six provinces—slated to total at least 138,000 megawatts when complete in 2020—the CREIA projection seems well within reach.
China’s overall wind energy resource is staggering. Harvard researchers estimate that China’s wind generation potential is 12 times larger than its 2010 electricity consumption.
Wind Power Potential in China Compared with 2010 Electricity Consumption’ data-cke-saved-src=’/images/uploads/graphs_tables/highlights35_potential.PNG’ />
Wind power clearly has its advantages. The immense wind resource cannot be depleted; wind farms can be built quickly; they emit no climate-destabilizing carbon; and no costly fuel imports are needed to run them. (China spends billions of dollars each year importing most of the uranium needed to fuel its reactors.) Wind power is also ideal for countries such as China that face severe water shortages: unlike coal and nuclear power plants, wind farms need no water for cooling. As concerns about climate change and water scarcity mount, wind becomes increasingly attractive compared to conventional electricity sources.
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For more information, see Earth Policy Institute’s Wind Indicator and the Plan B Update “Fukushima Meltdown Hastens Decline of Nuclear Power,” or visit our Data Center at www.earth-policy.org.
Copyright © 2013 Earth Policy Institute
Photographs Surface From the First Underwater Nuclear Explosion at Bikini Atoll
19 February 2013
When vintage photographs surface, they usually remind us of how quaint and odd the past was…or at least seems to us now, years ahead. These vintage flicks, however, aren’t as positive or nostalgia-filled. Operation Crossroads was a series of nuclear weapon tests on Bikini Atoll, an island off of the Marshall Islands. Two bombs were detonated, named Able and Charlie, yielding 23 kilotons of TNT. As the first nuclear tests in the U.S., these photographs show us how momentous and massive the result was.
More here
To online activists – Sandia Draws From Nuclear Science in Inaugurating New Cyber Lab!
Sandia took an early interest in cybersecurity education about 10 years ago, with the creation of a cyber defenders student internship program. Cook explained, “With the advent of modern microelectronics and communication systems several decades ago, Sandia had to develop a very deep understanding of cryptography and other foundational cybersecurity concepts — ranging from the device physics to the application level — to rigorously protect weapon systems.”
A Sandia reseracher inspects a Thunderbird supercomputer component. // Sandia National Laboratories
19 February 2013
Sandia National Laboratories on Tuesday will inaugurate a cybersecurity center to perform offensive and defensive warfighting techniques that onsite nuclear weapons scientists have been practicing for decades.
The Cybersecurity Engineering Research Laboratory, which began operating in 2011, draws from nuclear research and development to test hardware vulnerabilities in closed facilities and model cyberweapons on supercomputers, Sandia officials said. Cybersecurity is one of the New Mexico-based lab’s defense systems missions.
“Sandia’s cyber R&D capabilities are rooted in our [nuclear weapons] mission, and specifically weapons use-control engineering and adversarial threat assessment,” said Ben Cook, a senior manager for Sandia’s research and development science and engineering group.
Officials on Tuesday are expected to showcase several of the new lab’s capabilities in deflecting cyberattacks against citizens, businesses and governments. “Sandia was doing cyber before the term cyberspace existed,” states the national laboratory’s website.
Russia Meteor Blast Was Largest Detected by Nuclear Monitoring System
In a CTBTO statement discussing the Russian bolide, Pierrick Mialle, an acoustic scientist for the group said: “We saw straight away that the event would be huge, in the same order as the Sulawesi event from 2009. The observations are some of the largest that CTBTO’s infrasound stations have detected.”
By Leonard David | SPACE.com
19 February 2013
A far-flung system of detectors that make up a Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty network made its largest ever detection when a meteor exploded over Russia’s Ural mountains last week.
The Vienna, Austria-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) runs the International Monitoring System made up of infrasound stations. Infrasound is low frequency sound with a range of less than 10 Hertz. Humans cannot hear the low frequency waves that were emitted by the meteor blast over Russia on Friday (Feb. 15), but they were recorded by the CTBTO’s network of sensors as they travelled across continents.
When the space rock detonated, the blast was detected by 17 infrasound stations in the CTBTO’s network that track atomic blasts across Earth. The furthest station to record the sub-audible sound was some 9,320 miles (15,000 kilometers) away in Antarctica.
Peace activists close nuclear facility, cause historic security breach update!
In the tradition of past Plowshares actions, the combination between tactical sophistication and principled motivation helps draw attention to the action in ways that just tactics or conviction couldn’t do alone. By engineering such a significant break-in, the activists were able to take advantage of public anxieties about security to spread their message to a much broader audience than, for instance, the annual, ritualized trespasses at the SOA Watch protests generally do
In the report on the incident that appeared in Reuters yesterday, the emphasis was much more on the gravity of the security breach that the action represented than on its actual intent. The writer seems to struggle with the idea that those who perpetrated the breach, including a 82-year-old nun, were neither terrorists nor citizens acting out of a sense of concern for their nation’s security apparatus:
Tuesday, February 19, 2013 15:54
In the early morning on Saturday, July 28, three gray-haired trespassers made their way into a nuclear weapons facility in Tennessee. They were armed with human blood, hammers, candles, flowers, crime-scene tape and a Bible. In the process of their break-in and after, they managed to close down operations at the facility for days on end and raise searching questions about how secure — and how justified — the United States’ vast nuclear stockpiles really are.
According to Transform Now Plowshares’ own account:
Michael R. Walli (63), Megan Rice, SHCJ (82), Greg Boertje-Obed, (57), succeeded in a disarmament action at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Nuclear facility before dawn today.
Calling themselves Transform Now Plowshares they hammered on the cornerstone of the newly built Highly-Enriched Uranium Manufacturing Facility (HEUMF), splashed human blood and left four spray painted tags on the recent construction which read: Woe to the empire of blood; The fruit of justice is peace; Work for peace not for war; and Plowshares please Isaiah.
Under the cover of darkness they intermittently passed beyond four fences in a walk for over two hours through the fatal force zone. “We feel it was a miracle; we were led directly to where we wanted to go” said Greg.
After navigating through the complex they came to a long, white, windowless building marked HEUMF. “It was built like a fortress”, Greg said describing the four guard towers.
Unimpeded by security, they attached two banners to pillars of the building. “Transform Now Plowshares” read the first with a green and black icon showing part bomb part flower. A second stated “Swords into Plowshares Spears into Pruning Hooks–Isaiah”. In addition, between the pillars they strung red crime tape.
The action was more successful than anyone could have imagined. The local paper reported on Wednesday (as part of a blog with detailed and ongoing coverage):
In an apparently unprecedented action, the government’s contractor today ordered a “security stand-down” at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. All nuclear operations are being put on hold and all nuclear materials will go into vaults while plant workers focus solely on security.
The order by B&W Y-12, and supported by the National Nuclear Security Administration, comes because of the security lapses that allowed peace protesters to penetrate the plant’s highest security area on Saturday morning.“The National Nuclear Security Administration fully supports this step which is necessary to ensure continued confidence in safe and secure operations at Y-12,” the federal agency said in a press statement.
The statement said the stand down is effective today and is expected to end sometime next week.
The activists made their anti-nuclear convictions evident in a declaration, which opens with a passage from the Book of Isaiah:
We come to the Y-12 facility because our very humanity rejects the designs of nuclearism, empire and war. Our faith in love and nonviolence encourages us to believe that our activity here is necessary; that we come to invite transformation, undo the past and present work of Y-12; disarm and end any further efforts to increase the Y-12 capacity for an economy and social structure based upon war-making and empire-building.
A loving and compassionate Creator invites us to take the urgent and decisive steps to transform the U.S. empire, and this facility, into life-giving alternatives which resolve real problems of poverty and environmental degradation for all.
Breaking ! Fury as government plans 40-year nuclear subsidies! UK
“This is a real possibility because the incentive to build new gas power plants is lost if market prices are distorted by significant nuclear capacity supported by very rich contracts for difference,” said Nigel Robinson, head of power advisory at Investec bank.
by Paddy McGuffin Home Affairs Reporter
Campaigners hit out at reports today that the government is to offer huge subsidies to energy firms building a new generation of nuclear power stations in breach of its coalition pledge.
The 2010 coalition agreement promised that there would be no public cash for new nuclear power stations but reports today indicated that ministers were proposing to guarantee firms subsidies for up to 40 years.
It is believed the U-turn is a response to a number of firms, most recently Centrica, pulling out of planned projects.
According to the Guardian ministers are planning to extend contracts from the previously proposed 20 years to 30 or 40 years in a bid to keep the guaranteed wholesale cost per unit of energy to below £100 per megawatt hour.
The paper quoted industry sources as saying that the likely price per unit from the first planned project – the building of two 1.6 gigawatt reactors at Hinckley Point by EDF – would be just under £100 per MWH, more than double the market price for electricity.
Labour MP for Newport Paul Flynn said on Twitter: “(Energy Secretary) Ed Davey says there will be nuclear subsidies – enormous ones. But it’s a secret until it is too late to change.”
Britain was “being secretly seduced into a hideous nuclear black hole that could rob us for 50 years,” he added.
China urges calm on DPRK
“..Zhang Tuosheng, a researcher at the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies, said parties including Seoul, Washington and Tokyo should also keep calm and restrained in comments because dialogue is more ideal than a war…”
“..Liu Jiangyong, a professor of international relations at Tsinghua University, said history has proven that when Washington and Seoul carried out the so-called sunshine policy toward the DPRK, tensions on the Korean Peninsula would be eased, which would provide conditions for realizing denuclearization…”
Updated: 2013-02-19 00:56
China on Monday dismissed a media report stating that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea had informed Beijing of plans to carry out more nuclear tests.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman warned against any actions that could worsen the situation on the Korean Peninsula.
Diplomacy is ongoing amid tensions on the peninsula. Japan will send a veteran diplomat to China for three days from Tuesday, according to Japan’s Kyodo News Agency.
Observers said averting a looming crisis requires a restrained approach, and more attention should be paid to diplomacy.
Spokesman Hong Lei said he “did not know where the Reuters report came from” when asked to confirm the report on Friday.
The story said the DPRK had told China that it is prepared to carry out one or even two more nuclear tests, or another rocket launch this year.
The current situation of the peninsula is “sensitive and complicated”, and China calls on relevant parties to exercise calm, Hong said.
China -Thyroid cancer cases continue to increase at double-digit rate
Chen Wanqing, deputy director of the National Central Cancer Registry, added: “The reasons for the increases aren’t exactly clear, but factors like increasing exposure to radiation, mounting workload and mental pressure, and irregular lifestyles could be significant.” Qoute from Chinese article,,,
“…A new study analysing National Cancer Institute data proves some unknown factor is contributing to the increasing rate of thyroid cancer.
“It’s not just improved medical surveillance and diagnosis,” Ron said….”
Image/Qoute source http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/thyroid-cancer/story/thyroid-cancer-increase-baffles-researchers/
Updated: 2013-01-26 03:47
Top cancer specialists have revealed a double-digit annual rise in the number of thyroid cancer cases in China over the past decade, especially among young and middle-aged women.
Last year, the incidence rate was 6.56 cases per 100,000 people, making it among the top 10 most common forms of cancer on the mainland, according to the latest national cancer report released by the National Central Cancer Registry under the Ministry of Health.
The report showed that women are at far higher risk than men, with an incidence rate of more than 10 per 100,000.
The thyroid is a gland in the neck which produces hormones to regulate vital body functions like the heart rate and blood pressure.
“Thyroid cancer is among the fastest growing cancers in recent years in China, and these figures might still be an underestimation,” said Liu Yuewu, a leading cancer specialist at Peking Union Medical College Hospital.
A veteran thyroid cancer oncologist, he said each year his hospital performs more than 1,100 thyroid surgeries on average, against around just 10 back in 1986.
The disease took off particularly in the 1990s on the mainland, and today at least 80 percent of those affected are young and middle-aged females.
“I have treated a 5-year-old girl with the cancer,” Liu added.
STRONTIUM-90 IN BABY TEETH AS A FACTOR IN EARLY CHILDHOOD CANCER
Sunday, 17 February 2013
h/t Mia and friends
http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/strontium-90-in-baby-teeth-as-factor-in.html
{Source） http://www.radiation.org/reading/ijhs/ijhs_9_2000.html
Jerry Brown, William McDonnell, Joseph J. ManganoInternational Journal of Health Services
Volume 30, Number 3, Pages 515-539, 2000
Copyright Baywood Publishing Co., Inc
Note: This is the draft of the article.
Abstract
Strontium-90 concentrations in baby teeth of 515 children born mainly after the end of worldwide atmospheric nuclear bomb tests in 1980 are found to equal the level in children born during atmospheric tests in the late 1950s. Recent concentrations in the New York-New Jersey-Long Island Metropolitan area have exceeded the expected downward trend seen in both baby teeth and adult bone after the 1963 ban on atmospheric testing.
Sharp rises and declines are also seen in Miami, Florida. In Suffolk County, Long Island, Strontium-90 concentrations in baby teeth were significantly correlated with cancer incidence for children 0 to 4 years of age. A similar correlation of childhood malignancies with the rise and decline of Strontium-90 in deciduous teeth occurred during the peak years of fallout in the 1950s and 1960s. Independent support for the relation of nuclear releases and childhood cancer is provided by a significant correlation with total alpha and beta activities in local surface water in Suffolk County. These results strongly support a major role of nuclear reactor releases in the recent increase of cancer and other immune system related disorders in young American children since the early 1980s……….
|
Sr-90 Concentration in Baby Teeth, St. Louis vs. Cancer Incidence Age 0-4, Connecticut 1954-1970
* Connecticut cancer rates represent 3-year moving averages |
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Sr-90 Adult Dietary Uptake, New York City vs. Cancer Incidence Age 0-4, Connecticut 1954-1970
* Connecticut cancer rates represent 3-year moving averages |
Fetuses can be harmed by very low dose radiation, first demonstrated in the 1950s when exposure to pelvic X-rays in utero was linked with elevated levels of leukemia and cancer deaths before age ten. (13) (14)
Russia to spend billions on asteroid defense- megaton class nuclear warheads are our only defence! Maybe?
“…We know about 90 per cent of kilometer-class asteroids, their orbits are well known and predictable. As for the smaller 40-50 meter ones – we still have insufficient observation apparatus. The more we observe – the more of them we find,” Rykhlova acknowledged.
[…]
“Therefore our emergency aid is a rocket with a nuclear warhead,” she concluded….”
Published: 19 February, 2013, 02:22
RT
Moscow believes an operable national defense against threats from outer space can be built within 10 years’ time. The 500-kiloton explosion of a space bolide above the Urals region has sped-up allocation of some $2 billion to prevent future threats.
Russian scientists have presented a federal program designed to counteract space threats. Elaborated by the Institute of Astronomy at Russia’s Academy of Sciences and the Central Engineering Research Institute, Russia’s leading space industry enterprise, the program has already been approved by Roskosmos, the national space agency.
The program has nothing to do with Hollywood sci-fi movie scenarios; no lasers, annihilators or Bruce Willis drilling a huge peace of rock rushing towards Earth.
The system will consist of a network of robotic telescopes monitoring space around our planet, some of them delivered to orbit, others operating from the surface.
Destruction of an asteroid in emergency cases may be performed by a rocket with a powerful megaton-class thermonuclear warhead. If the threat is detected early, more advanced means of changing an asteroid’s orbit may be considered.
The program costing 58 billion rubles (over $1.9 billion) has already been handed over to the head of Russia’s defense industry, Deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin who is expected to present it to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
Lidia Rykhlova from the Institute of Astronomy (RAS) who presented the project, reported that Russia will need to modernize and fully computerize the 60 cm lens telescopes it already has. Several larger telescopes with 2 meter lens will have to be additionally installed.
Rykhlova announced that an analytical center will be created to collect the data from various sources and analyze it in real time mode.
Iran Leader: Having Nukes is ‘Crime Against Humanity’ – US Sanctions Actually Target Fuel Enrichment
Posted on 02/18/2013 by Juan
Juan Cole
http://www.juancole.com/2013/02/sanctions-actually-enrichment.html
Welcome to Informed Comment, where I do my best to provide an independent and informed perspective on Middle Eastern and American politics.
The USG Open Source Center translated the entirety of Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s speech in Tabriz on Saturday. In it, Khamenei for the nth time called nuclear weapons a ‘crime against humanity’ and affirmed that Iran does not want them. Although this speech was covered by US media such as the New York Times, its editors gave the article the confusing title of “Ayatollah Says Iran Will Control Nuclear Aims” instead of just saying, as The Guardian and others did, that he renounced making or having nuclear weapons.
Long-time readers know that I think Iran wants nuclear latency or ‘the Japan option,’ i.e. they don’t want to make or stockpile nuclear warheads, but do want the deterrence of invaders that comes with the known ability to put one together in short order. I believe that the US in Israel know that there is no weapons program in Iran, but don’t want that country to have latency, either, since they’d like the option, as regional hegemons, of attacking Iran and overthrowing its government.
In this speech, Khamenei also slammed president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his public attack on speaker of parliament Ali Larijani, in which he accused the 5 Larijani brothers of corruption, perhaps in a bid to derail Larijani’s possible bid for the presidency this June (Ahmadinejad can’t run this year).
He also slammed the US human rights record, instancing the global network of black prisons for torture, continual drone strikes, and the defects of US campaign financing.
I’ll start with a key excerpt and then give the text from where it starts getting interesting, after the compliments to Tabriz and the affirmation that enemies’ attempts to break up Iran along ethnic lines (Azerbaijan is a Turkic area, not a Persian one) have signally failed.
“They want to talk (with Iran) and solve their problems. This is what they say, but in practice they resort to imposing sanctions (on Iran), lying and making inappropriate statements . . . A few days ago, the American President made a statement about Iran’s nuclear issues. He spoke as if the difference between Iran and America was that Iran wanted to build nuclear weapons, and he said that as far as they (American officials) could, they would not allow Iran to build nuclear weapons. . .
We do not want to build nuclear weapons. Not because America would be upset if we do so. It is rather what we have decided. We believe that nuclear weapons are a crime against humanity and should not be built; and whatever weapons there are in the world should be destroyed. This is what we believe in; and this has got nothing to do with you (Americans).”
Khamenei went on to say that in any case the US opposition to a country building nukes has seldom stopped them from doing so (India, Pakistan, North Korea), but that Iran doesn’t in any case want such weapons.
Khamenei holds that severe US sanctions against Iran are intended to halt its fuel enrichment, whereby it is making fuel for its Bushehr reactors and its one medical reactor. Many oil countries, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia, are going in for nuclear reactors because in those countries, they use oil for electricity generation, and they’d rather save the oil and sell the oil on the world market. They could also use natural gas, but much of the gas in the area is relatively dirty (the UAE has this problem), and Iran in any case has been cut off from the expertise in gas development at Total and Shell by US sanctions.
The ayatollah also believes that offers of direct talks with Iran by the Obama administration are a trap, whereby the US can then allege that its severe sanctions brought Iran to the negotiating table and make Iran lose face. He wants a token of good faith from the US, such as easing sanctions (which reduced Iranian oil exports by 40% last year) so as to be able to go into talks without being humiliated.
Here’s the speech:
Supreme Leader Says Iran Will Respond If US Proves Its ‘Good Will’
Speech by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i to a gathering of people from Tabriz, East Azarbayjan Province, in Tehran on 16 February — recorded
Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran Radio 1
Sunday, February 17, 2013 …
Document Type: OSC Translated Text…
West silence fuels killing of Muslims in Myanmar: Iran MP
“….Any time terrorists, backed by Western powers, commit crimes in Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the West stays put in an implicit endorsement of the crimes…..”
Mon Feb 18, 2013 6:48PM GMT
Press TV
An Iranian lawmaker has denounced the Western countries’ inaction vis-à-vis the ongoing violation of human rights in Myanmar, saying the West’s silence is intensified the killing of Muslims in the Southeast Asian country.
“The West’s double standards in its alleged struggle against violation of human rights and defense for human dignity make it react to the execution of a criminal and press charges against an independent country, but when such crimes are committed by Western-backed governments on a large scale, no reaction – even from international bodies – is seen,” a member of Iran Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Hossein Sobhani-Nia said on Monday.
The lawmaker added that the death of innocent Muslims in Myanmar is a clear example of the violation of minorities’ rights, stressing that a firm international determination is required to counter crimes against humanity.
On Saturday, the United Nations expressed concern over rights abuses by the government of Myanmar, calling for an end to discrimination against ethnic and religious groups in the country.
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on rights in Myanmar, said in a press conference that the use of excessive force by Myanmar’s government against local communities and ethnic groups worried the UN.
The persecuted Muslim minority has faced torture, neglect, and repression in Myanmar since the country achieved independence in 1948.
The Iranian legislator further said that the West’s dual policies have also given rise to a tragedy in the Middle East.
Any time terrorists, backed by Western powers, commit crimes in Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the West stays put in an implicit endorsement of the crimes.
SF/KA/SS
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/02/18/289651/west-silence-fuels-myanmar-crisis/
HOW GEORGE MONBIOT RUINED MY LIFE! OP-ED
“…MONBIOTISM – SHOULD YOUR BABY BE VACCINATED AGAINST IT? Dr. Angharad’s third cousin explains why she prefers nettles..”
http://ianbone.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/how-george-monbiot-ruined-my-life/
(some strong language with swearing and utter hate etc bit of humor.. not for the faint hearted!! 🙂 )
January 19, 2012 · 8:38 am
Great piece from Dick Gherkin of FROM BRISTOL WITH LOVE here:
I went to see George Moonbat last year at the St. George Hall in Bristol. It was advertised as ‘come and have an argument’, so one of my “straight mates” (i.e. liberal) told me it was time i put my money where my mouth was, I had been badmouthing George all this time, now it was time to Speak Truth to Moonbat!
I quite liked the sound of it. So I cycled ‘uptown’ and took my seat in the fine, Roman-pillared concert hall.
I don’t think i actually was, but it felt like i was the only working class person in there. I have NEVER felt more aware of my class, and felt more oppressed by it, I suppose because i don’t normally put myself in those kinds of situations.
‘Himself’ started off, arguing for nuclear power, with a series of deeply researched, peer reviewed arguments he had stress-tested and adapted over a long Spring and Summer tour. He then asked the audience to ‘have a go’.
A few in the audience were actually qualified climatologists and geologists (it was that kind of crowd) and so they at least got to the stage of disputing peer-reviewed evidence. The rest were left to flail about in the spotlight, every supporter of the Severn Barrage or sea wind farms stopped in their tracks by some statistical revelation from the increasingly bullish Moonbat.
We took an Interlude. Everyone was ‘democratically’ asked to provide written suggestions of topics The Master could focus his lighthouse of intellect onto. Open, horizontal, decision making. I secretly scribbled “why are you such a fucking cunt?” on a card, dropped it in the suggestion box and returned to my seat, feeling a bit better.
1 This Month
26 April – Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown airs on National Geographic on Sunday 26th April from 4pm
29 April – Nuclear Expert Webinar #1 – Radiation Impacts on Families with Mary Olson and Cindy Folkers
- 12:15 PM MT – 1:45 PM MT
- Location: Virtual – REGISTER TODAY
4 May -West Suburban Peace Coalition to discuss Iran war at May Educational Forum
Monday, May 4, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central Standard Time
Title: : How Trump’s Narrative Tries to Shape the Reality of the War on Iran.
Contact Walt Zlotow, zlotow@hotmail.com 630 442 3045 for further information
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
Pine Ridge Uranium is the real threat, not Tehran- Tell Burgum: Stop the Extraction.
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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